Netball plan for young players

A junior netball development programme has been set in motion at Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC) in order to mould youngsters for future local and international tournaments, writes Mai Al Khatib-Camille.

The programme, which is being introduced under the auspices of the Bahrain Netball League, is open to children between the ages of 11 and 14 with a love of the sport.

Coach Hilary Rowark, pictured above refereeing a match, an assistant head teacher and IB Psychology teacher at St Christopher’s Senior School, will be working with the players on developing their game and getting them competition ready.

Rowark first started coaching at BRFC in 2009, working with juniors aged six to 11. For the past two years she has been coaching the senior squad and earlier this year led them to a double victory clinching the league title and cup.

She said: “Having come from Hong Kong where there is a huge development programme and where many senior schools play netball, I realised that there was a huge gap from coaching six-to-11-year-olds and then having to wait until they are 14 before they can play within the adult league.

“Our 11-to-14-year-olds currently have very little exposure to netball apart from what they do in school in their regular PE programme, with the occasional competition between schools around the Gulf under the British Schools in the Middle East (BSME) umbrella.”

During the Inter-Gulf competition last March 2013 teachers and coaches from Bahrain met their counterparts from schools in the UAE. “We discovered that they had a vibrant programme for netball development and were keen to include Bahrain in it. This was the starting point!” explained Rowark.

Rowark along with Ruth Kenna, Katy Brady and Sarah Hobday will start the new training initiative every Sunday evening from 5.30pm to 7pm with the first session starting this week. Anyone interested in playing netball is welcome to attend and they do not have to be part of a team or school or belong to any club to do so.

Rowark said: “We are grateful to the BRFC for allowing us to use their facilities and their constant support. We are hoping to have two groups, Under 12 and Under 14.

“Selection for the teams will be based upon attendance, attitude as well as skill level.

“We have already organised a game in Dubai on December 6 for these teams and are discussing a game in Abu Dhabi in late January or early February against representative sides. 

 We expect the competition to be really tough, but we have to start somewhere. Apart from the two games, we are hoping to organise a return fixture in Bahrain the day before the Inter-Gulf starts which Bahrain is hosting next March. We hope that this will be the start of a Junior Inter-Gulf tournament.

“Unfortunately we do not have a huge netball following in Bahrain but what we don’t have in numbers, we make up for in enthusiasm!”

There is a joining fee of BD10 to cover running expenses. For more information, contact 39581406 or email hilaryrowark@hotmail.com