Developing the young for world stage

As the season kicks off for netball the next few days will see netball gearing up into the new season with a busy calendar ahead.
This week sees the start of the weekly Netball Tots sessions, aimed at children aged 3-6years old.
This will see a Free Taster Session on Thursday 28th Sep, 5.00-6.00pm at the MUGA
Netball Tots entails 15 minutes of free play with parents at the beginning followed by 30 minute session for Preschool & Reception. This a chance to watch your child grow in confidence as they get a head start with Netball Tots.
The importance of the sessions can be seen as netball continues to gather momentum through its grassroots.
Last week the Under 17s trial saw some 70 players participating. As Gibraltar heads towards its hosting of the Netball Youth World Championships the opportunities now opening for young players continues to be evident.
With the Under 21 squads already preparing for their internationals and players bidding for a place in the 2025 World Championships, up and coming talents from the Under 17s will also be looking to make a bid for the squads.
The importance of the Youth World Championships in 2025 were last week highlighted across the globe as teams such as Scotland and News Zealand highlighted how they were already preparing their squads for the competition which will take place in Gibraltar.
With still over a year and a half to go the big guns in youth netball, whose players will be looking towards claiming a place in their respective seniors squads and even bid for the professional game, were already getting their teams ready.
Gibraltar is likely to see some of the top young players gracing our courts. Importantly the Gibraltar selection will be able to compete on the same court against these players, possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity with Gibraltar secured a place in the competition due to its status as hosts.
Netball, whose success last season has seen it climb to 31st places ranking in World Netball, alongside the likes of the USA, continues to build on its grassroots programmes.
Today, Wednesday will see the annual extravaganza which is hoped will attract new talents onto the Court.
For the first time netball has introduced an opportunity for boys to play starting with the younger year groups. Something they hope to develop into the future as netball also aims to provide the sport for the men in the future.
Gibraltar Netball hopes that the 2025 Youth World Championships will provide a legacy for the sport to continue its push into the future, providing new opportunities. With the sport already looking at the possibility of using portable surfaces for the World Championship venues, after it was confirmed that the current Europa Sports Complex surface would not be replaced. The possibilities of emulating what was done in the South Africa world Cup recently is seen as a possible opportunity for the future. The sport also having among its wish list to one day have its own home, similar to football, rugby, hockey, athletics, swimming, squash, beach volleyball and cricket, all of which have a venue they can call their home from which to develop. With netball the second biggest sport in terms of numbers participating, with only football having greater numbers, the continued issues with allocations and its lack of a home base does hamper its development programme plans which many feel would set netball onto a pathway in which it could be competing to enter the elite levels considering its fast progress even though its financial and allocation resources are limited.