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Netball and Tournament News |  ... back to Superleague It was a busy return to the bread and butter of the Co-operative Netball Superleague after the international break. Surrey Storm maintained their unbeaten run with a tough work out against Hertfordshire Mavericks. Geva Mentor and Sonia Mkoloma made their final appearances before heading off to the ANZ, coach Mary Beardwood apparently ruling out a return should Storm make it to the Grand Final. It was a great defensive performance by both sides as Storm pushed on to win 39-31.Glasgow Wildcats had a weekend of two halves. On Saturday they played well in the second half of the match against Northern Thunder, who are the ones to watch in the Superleague according to England head coach Sue Hawkins. A rolling Thunder side are a sight to behold and efficiently bagged the two points against the fast finishing Wildcats.It was different story for the Glasgow side on Sunday when Team Northumbria arrived to get the fixture from round 5 completed. Northumbria had lost to an impressive TeamBath squad run-out in Newcastle the night before. Wildcats had their captain Lesley MacDonald back under the posts, and maybe that was inspiration enough for them to nail their first win of the season in emphatic style 53-40.The final match of round 11, the televised match on Sky Sports 4 on Thursday 4th March provided something special. Leeds Carnegie's first TV home match of the term was against Celtic Dragons and the score belies how tight the match was. The highlight was the perfect performance by Australian shooter Carla Dziwoki. Thirty times she hoisted the ball high and thirty times it sank through the net. Superleague is starting to live up to its hyperbole. |  The Netball Pod Returns The Netball Pod is back, Thursday 25th February, bringing Netball fans across the world a full round up of The Co-operative International Netball Series as well as a look ahead to Rounds 11 and 12 of The Co-operative Netball Superleague. Guest panelists include Sue Hawkins, Sonia Mkoloma and Sara Bayman and host Lisa O'Sullivan will be getting answers to all those questions Netball fans are dying to ask following England's defeat to Australia at the final test match at The O2 on Tuesday. Fans will also get to listen to an exclusive comment from Dame Kelly Holmes. Dame Kelly presented the winning trophy at The O2, have a look know at our International Series picture gallery! The Netball Pod is available to download for free so visit www.thenetballpod.com now to get exclusive snippets from your favourite Netball stars and get ready to download the full Netball Pod Thursday 25th February from 12 noon. |  Jade Clarke 'megs' Eboni Beckford-Chambers Check out Jade Clarke getting the better of Eboni Beckford-Chambers on YouTube Jade bounced the ball through Eboni's legs at the Valentine's Day Northern Thunder v TeamBath fixture, much to the delight of the crowd and Northern Thunder players! Have a look now and add to the 550+ people that have already taken a peek.Click on the image to view :-) |  Netball Mania Comes to Liverpool To celebrate the start of The Co-operative International Netball Series at Liverpool's Echo Arena later this month, some of the North's best netballers are heading to Liverpool early to give young netball players a taste of what's to come. Northern Thunder, from The Co-operative Netball Superleague is hosting a youth training camp at Sutton Sports Centre in St Helens on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th February. The camp will develop the netball skills of over 50 young players aged between 10-14 years old from throughout the region.Recent statistics show that more and more people are getting involved with netball in the North West and 15 % of participants aged 16 years old and over who play netball at least once a week come from the region and over the past four years the number of participants has increased by over 18%. Northern Thunder's very own England stars, Jade Clarke and Sara Bayman will be present at the training event and hope to develop some of the grassroots talent in Liverpool. Clarke said: "It's great to see so many young people wanting to learn and progress in a sport like netball. There is so much talent in Liverpool and a lot of netball enthusiasts so I'm really looking forward to the camp and returning back to Liverpool on the 19th February to play Australia in The Co-operative International Netball Series."The training camp falls the week of The Co-operative International Netball Series when England will play Australia in the first of a three part series. Clarke continued; "This is the first time that England has played in Liverpool's Echo Arena. We've got a strong squad this year and I have every confidence we can pull off a win in Liverpool. This International is crucial to see where we are in terms of the Commonwealth Games preparation and the squad is excited about a massive competition in the brilliant new arena and we hope to have lots of fans there to support us."Australia remain ranked first in the world, England remain third. New Zealand continues to hold second place in the world rankings and Jamaica fourth. |
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