Severn Stars and Netu have partnered together to help Nova Academy netball players maintain health, skills and fitness during the lockdown period.

Following the announcement by England Netball calling for all community netball to stop any face to face activity, the Severn Stars U17 Nova Academies who train at nine educational institutions (Oswestry School, Stafford Grammar School, Wrekin College, Kings School Worcester, Royal Grammar School Worcester, Birmingham Metropolitan College, Wycliffe College, Crypt School and Monmouth School for Girls) had to holt their training sessions. Therefore, Severn Stars took this opportunity to partner with the company Netu Fitness to provide Nova Academy athletes with online training sessions and support throughout the lockdown period.

This is a very exciting development for Severn Stars Nova Academy athletes which allows their development along the Severn Stars performance pathway to not be interrupted by Covid-19 restrictions. Netu is a netball specific coaching and training company, set up by sisters Lucy, Rosie and Molly Harris. Lucy is currently a Vitality Netball Super League player for Severn Stars, with her sister Rosie playing for rival Super League team Leeds Rhinos. The entrepreneurial sisters are all qualified personal trainers, with over 8 years of Super League and international netball experience between them.

Netu company’s aim is to help netballers grow in confidence on court by enabling them to access circular training programmes designed to address all the elements essential to netball success. Their programming for Nova Academy athletes will include; strength, endurance, flexibility, stability, injury prevention, ball skills, agility, nutrition and mental wellbeing. The Nova players will have access to several netball sessions that they complete each week at home and access to the Netu app for their mobile devices to track their progress and provide regular interaction with the Netu instructors. Severn Stars are confident that being part of the Netu programme, will allow their Nova Academy players to remain motivated, skilled and in peak physical condition despite being in a lockdown situation.

“Netu Fitness provides a training programme for our Nova Academy players to help them become fitter, stronger and more skillful, all while providing insight into the life of an elite netballer” commented Severn Stars Nova Academy Coordinator Louisa Walker. Severn Stars player and Netu Fitness co-founder Lucy Harris added “As a Stars player myself I feel so privileged to be able to work with the future stars generation via Netu and we are already seeing some fantastic engagement from the girls, so watch this space! Lots more to come from this talented group of athletes!”

For further information on Netu please visit their website: www.netufitness.com

For further information on the Severn Stars U17 Nova Academies please contact: l.walker@worc.ac.uk