England Netball is delighted to reveal the launch of its new Liverpool community netball project, ‘Together We Will’, which aims to encourage less active women in Liverpool to get involved in netball and physical activity.
Aiming to engage over 1,000 participants, volunteers and coaches, the initiative will focus on four wards within Liverpool; Everton, Anfield, Kirkdale and Clubmoor. These areas are being targeted as Liverpool City Council found that a higher than average number of women within these areas of the city are currently inactive.
The project, which has received a £75k funding award from the Sport England Major Events Engagement Fund, will also receive support from a number of key partners, including Liverpool City Council, Everton in the Community & the Liverpool FC Foundation, Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool ONE.
The funding award for this project is in addition to the £19.7m of funding from Sport England to England Netball between 2017-21.
Phil Smith, Director of Sport at Sport England said: “We’re delighted to support England Netball to deliver the ‘Together We Will’ project and hope that it inspires many women in Liverpool to become more active and rediscover a love of sport and physical activity.
“Sport England believes in the power of sport to transform lives. This project is uniquely designed to give women in four inner-city Liverpool wards, all within a couple of miles of the World Cup venue, an opportunity to change their lives through netball. England Netball’s commitment to offering sport alongside personal development sessions is genuinely exciting, and we look forward to celebrating the success of the project alongside a memorable World Cup.”
With the Vitality Netball World Cup taking place in Liverpool this July, the city centre is set to become a hive of netball activity, with over 60,000 spectators expected to arrive in the city across the tournament period. ‘Together We Will’ will also become another piece in the jigsaw in England Netball’s Biggest Summer of Netball campaign; a campaign designed to get more women and girls across the country playing netball this summer.
Regular netball sessions will take place in local children’s centres, parks and community facilities, with the focus not only on developing skills within the sport, but also developing the individual’s life skills.
The project is also supported by the city’s physical activity campaigns, Fit for Me (www.fitforme.info) and This Girl Can Liverpool (www.thisgirlcanliverpool.co.uk), which aim to inspire people in Liverpool to be more physically active. The campaigns form part of the Liverpool Active City Strategy which sets out the vision for Liverpool to be the most active core city by 2026.
Councillor Wendy Simon, Deputy Mayor of Liverpool and Cabinet Member for Sport and Culture, said: “We’re delighted to be working with England Netball on the ‘Together We Will’ project, it’s a great example of how the city is using sporting partnership at the elite level to benefit our wider community.
“Hosting the Netball World Cup is a huge coup for Liverpool and we hope the success of the tournament will inspire a new interest in the sport and provide women and girls of all ages a route to fitness and fun that will benefit them for years to come.”
More than 100 women have already registered their interest in attending these weekly sessions, which encourage a community ethos whereby women can meet other like minded people, have some time to themselves, take part in a tailored netball session and select a personal development session relevant to their lives, such as nutrition and healthy eating workshops.
CEO of England Netball, Joanna Adams, was keen to express the importance of giving back to the host city’s community initiative. She said: “Through this project we are hoping to target an audience that generally don’t take part in any or very little physical activity and who are less likely to do so in the future. We see so many women across the country, from all different backgrounds, benefiting from our participation programmes and we want to ensure that those harder to engage areas are also getting the opportunity to hit a netball court near them.
“It is the perfect time for us to be targeting Liverpool as it is this year’s Vitality Netball World Cup host city. It is a huge summer for the sport and a great way to inspire women to get active and have a go at netball. Thank you to everyone who is helping to make this project possible, which will make a big difference to many women in Liverpool.”
Participants and volunteers involved in the programme will also have the opportunity to attend a ‘Get Inspired’ event which takes place at the M&S Bank Arena on 17 July.
Attendees will be treated to a player Q&A with England Player and Vitality Rose, Jodie Gibson, pamper packages, including beauty treatments, massage and make up tutorials, a mini World Cup session and mocktail making, before witnessing all the live action with tickets to see England play.
To be in with the chance of gaining a place at this event, women are encouraged to come along to a session before the 17 July as spaces are limited.
Details on how to find your closest session can be found on the ‘Together We Will’ Facebook page or by emailing jewel.uchegbu@englandnetball.co.uk
Courtesy of England Netball
