Commonwealth Games England together with England Netball announced today the 12 strong squad that will be travelling to Delhi in October; to challenge Australia for the Gold Medal.

England’s netballers won bronze to mark the sport’s Games’ debut in 1998 and repeated that feat in 2006 in Melbourne.

Karen Atkinson and Sonia Mkoloma will Co-Captain the team and together they have accumulated 193 caps. On learning of the players named in the squad, Karen Atkinson commented; “The selection for the Delhi Commonwealth Games was the most closely fought of any I have ever been part of. The selected team is an exciting mix of youth and experience and we are now looking forward to our up coming tour of Jamaica. We’re all very excited about India and can’t wait to compete as England”.

Sue Hawkins, England National Coach worked closely with the selectors to select the final 12. Having recently travelled to Australia to complete a two week training tour with the England Netball long squad, Sue Hawkins is confident the team will succeed in Delhi; “The team of 12 will represent all netballers in England and we are committed to showing the world that England is a force to be reckoned with. With Karen and Sonia as Co-Captains and Pamela Cookey as Vice Captain, we’ve got a leader in each third of the court so we’re aiming high and coming home without a medal isn’t an option.”

England Chef de Mission Craig Hunter welcomed the netballers into the England team today. He said: “Netball has always been a strong sport for England at the Games and we know that the current crop of players has been pushing the best in the world recently. We look forward to seeing them perform in Delhi”.

The England Netball team leave for Delhi on September 28th and arrive in time to acclimatise and enjoy the opening ceremony on October 3rd before competing against, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, The Cook Islands, South Africa and Barbados in the Pool Play beginning October 4th.

The England netball team for 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India is:

Co-Captain Karen Atkinson

Born: 07.06.1978

Home town: Wigan, North West

Lives: Marlow, Buckinghamshire, South East

Netball Superleague team: Hertfordshire Mavericks

 

Co-Captain Sonia Mkoloma

Born: 17.01.1979

Home town: London

Lives: London

Netball Superleague team: Surrey Storm

 

Vice Captain Pamela Cookey

Born: 02.09.1984

Home town: Birmingham, West Midlands

Lives: Bristol, South West

Netball Superleague team: TeamBath

 

Sara Bayman

Born: 23.12.1984

Home town: Manchester, North West

Lives: Manchester, North West

Netball Superleague team: Northern Thunder

 

Eboni Beckford Chambers

Born: 27.02.1988

Home town: Solihull, West Midlands

Lives: Bristol, South West

Netball Superleague team: TeamBath

 

Louisa Brownfield

Born: 14.04.1984

Home town: Rochford, Essex, East

Lives: Essex, East

Netball Superleague team: Hertfordshire Mavericks

 

Jade Clarke

Born: 17.10.1983

Home town: Manchester, North West

Lives: Manchester, North West

Netball Superleague team: Northern Thunder

 

Rachel Dunn

Born: 14.11.1982

Home town: Cambridge, East

Lives: Cambridge, East

Netball Superleague team: Surrey Storm

 

Stacey Francis

Born: 01.01.1988

Home town: Birmingham, West Midlands

Lives: Bath, South West

Netball Superleague team: TeamBath

 

Joanne Harten

Born: 21.03.1989

Home town: Harlow, Essex, East

Lives: Harlow, Essex, East

Netball Superleague team: Loughborough Lightning

 

Tamsin Greenway

Born: 06.10.1982

Home town: Leicester, East Midlands

Lives: Trowbridge, South West

Netball Superleague team: Surrey Storm

 

Geva Mentor

Born: 17.09.1984

Home town: Bournemouth, South West

Lives: Bournemouth, South West

Netball Superleague team: Surrey Storm

 

England Netball National Coach – Sue Hawkins

England Netball Assistant National coach – Anna Mayes

England Netball Team Manager – Liz Bloor

England Netball Team Physiotherapist – Emma Batchelor

Notes for Editors

Commonwealth Games – Netball

Netball has been included in the Commonwealth Games since 1998 and is a core sport. In 1998 Australia won the Gold Medal, New Zealand Silver and England Bronze. In 2002 Gold and Silver were again won by Australia and New Zealand as in 1998, with Jamaica taking Bronze and in 2006, top spots were again a repeat of 1998, with England again taking Bronze.

England Netball

England Netball is the national governing body for Netball in England and is responsible for delivering the sports development and participation programme in line with Sport England’s Whole Sport Plan. Sport England funds national governing bodies to deliver three outcomes - grow, sustain and excel.

England Netball is a membership based organisation with over 70,000 affiliated members currently registered. This figure is set to increase as is the participation level for the sport. As recorded by the Active People Survey March 2010, Netball has already achieved its 4 year target, with over 143,000 women playing Netball every week. Netball is one of only four sports to have consistently increased its participation figures and despite overall female participation in sport showing a decline, Netball is successfully bucking this trend.