Denton are heading in the right direction

Denton Netball Club coach Dawn Day believes the club is growing from strength to strength after a slight shakeup two years ago.

However, she believes the club, which is based at St Thomas More RC Primary School in Denton, could further develop with financial support and is therefore appealing to a local business to come on board as a main sponsor.

Dawn, who has been an influential figure at the club since it was first established in 1995, is currently happy with the 22 teams and feels the foundations are in place to kick on. Speaking to Reporter Sport about her history in the sport, Dawn said: “I’ve played netball since I was in primary school. My boys were in the football club but my daughter wanted to play netball, so I went to their committee and asked if we could have a netball team. I’ve never really looked back, although I had a bit of a break for about seven years and then I returned to it two years ago.

“We formed a new committee about two years ago and have since developed Bee Netball, an England Netball initiative which specifically targets children in primary schools. It’s not necessarily based on netball skills, but friendships, teamwork and commitment.

“We’ve also been running those sessions on Friday nights and they’re really well attended, to the point where we’ve been forced to hire extra sport hall slots in order to accommodate all the children.

“We cater for a wide range of ages, with the youngest aged three and the oldest 68. She joined us through our Back to Netball initiative, which is one of the first things we did when we relaunched. We’ve since developed four teams from that and it’s really encouraging to see older people enjoying their netball and keeping fit, active and healthy.”

Denton’s first team are currently ninth in the Manchester Evening Netball League Division One, having won six and lost 13. In their last outing before the lockdown took effect, Denton beat Manchester Flava 34-21, but due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic they are unsure as to whether they will fulfil their remaining fixtures this season.

Dawn, whose sister works for the NHS, says the club’s players have been supportive throughout the lockdown by communicating on a regular basis. “We’re a family orientated club and it’s a real netball family” said Dawn.

“All the way through the lockdown the group texts have been really supportive and encouraging. Everybody misses netball so much, so when we return, whenever that may be, will be a great occasion.”

Although there’s no physical action on court at the moment, the club has been involved in a virtual tournament with a number of other teams. At the time of writing, Denton were set to play Warrington in the final at 5pm, with a poll asking who will win attracting over 700 votes. Dawn, who only created the club’s Twitter account this month at the request of Trafford Netball Club, said the response online has been great. “It might only be a virtual tournament, but it’s good fun and keeps us engaged with other clubs. Let’s hope we win the final!”

You can keep up to date with the club on Twitter @NetballDenton