From Team Bath Netball: After a busy summer behind the scenes, Team Bath Netball are ready to relaunch ahead of a 2024-25 season which will see the club and their partners redouble their commitment to the sport across the South West of England.
Fans will once again be able to enjoy Friday night netball live at the Team Bath Arena and cheer on some of the country’s most exciting young netballers as the Blue & Gold contest the U23 Feeder League, a newly-formed competition underpinning the Netball Super League.
The U23s will be one of three age-group squads that Team Bath will field in National Performance League (NPL) competition, with recent trials for the U23s, U19s and U17s, plus additional Player Development Programmes at U21, Senior and Junior level, attracting hundreds of applications. Trials for the U15 squad will take place in the new year.
Supporting the foundations of the Team Bath Netball Player Pathway is a network of Athlete Development Centres – 10 across the region, from Gloucester in the north to Cornwall in the south – which provide young athletes with local and direct access to an elite training environment.
Bath Building Society and Rengen, having backed Team Bath Netball as a Super League franchise, have recommitted their support to the Player Pathway and Development Programme. This will allow more than 250 netballers to continue to benefit from high-quality coaching, plus a range of supportive programmes and services aimed at developing players holistically. In addition, both partners have extended their support to encompass the Team Bath Netball holiday camp programme.
Team Bath Netball Manager Emily Siddy said: “We remain fully committed to providing the same level of care, guidance and excellence to the incredibly talented young netballers coming through the South West, and the ongoing support of Bath Building Society and Rengen is crucial in allowing us to do that.
“They are fully invested in our vision to ensure netball continues to thrive across the region, that young women can access top-class sporting opportunities, and our long-term aim of bringing elite netball back to the South West. It has been a challenging few months but knowing that companies like Bath Building Society and Rengen are excited by what we continue to offer and our future ambitions has reinforced our determination to keep delivering for the region’s young players and netball fans.”
Richard Ingle, Chief Executive of Bath Building Society, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Team Bath Netball Player Pathway. We enjoyed our partnership with the Blue and Gold in the Super League for two years and were very keen to continue supporting netball at the University of Bath. The Pathway will provide future athletes for the Super League, and it’s important for us to support young people as they pursue their dreams, from grassroots sports through to elite leagues.
“The partnership between Team Bath and Bath Building Society is deeper for us than the financial support we give and the brand profile that we gain from the many people following our logo on the team kit and advertising boards. The Society is an active and supportive member of the community that we operate in, aligned to our social purpose, and we are very proud of this partnership.”
Rengen CEO Iestyn Lewis said: “Rengen are delighted to be continuing our relationship with Team Bath Netball. We have been supporters of the club for a number of years and are passionate about ensuring the continued development of elite netball in the South West. We are exciting to see what is to come in the 2024-25 season and wish all the players the best of luck.”
Team Bath’s U23 squad will be revealed shortly, along with fixture and ticket details. The NSL feeder league, featuring Team Bath and the eight Super League franchises, will get under way in February. The U17s and U19s begin their NPL seasons in November and, like last season, all matches will be live-streamed.
For further details about Team Bath Netball’s new-look structure, visit https://netball.teambath.com/about-us. Find out more about Bath Building Society at https://www.bathbuildingsociety.co.uk/ and Rengen at https://rengendevelopments.com.