A TEAM-England netball player has visited and inspired young members of her former club in Woodley.

Francesca Williams, Commonwealth games 2022 hopeful, visited Woodley Netball Club on April 21, hoping to help with training and to inspire the under-11’s team.

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Ms Williams was a former member of the club, based in Woodford park Leisure Centre, and joined in with the club training session in the evening.

She said: “It was the first club I played for when I was an under-11, so it’s always nice to go back to see my old club - some of my old coaches are still there now.

“I think it’s really important that I can go back and help the girls with some of their coaching, give them tips and advice and hopefully inspire them to keep wanting to train.

Picture by Ben Lumley.

Picture by Ben Lumley.

“I want to show that there is progression within sport if you stick at it, and you can achieve lots of things in netball - there’s a lot of exiting opportunities.

“It’s exiting to be apart of Team England and working alongside them to get people excited about the Commonwealth games, not just to get exited about netball but about us (the UK) hosting such a major event.

“Things have been so restricted with sport, particularly with spectators, so we hope next year people will be ready to throw themselves into supporting the commonwealth games.

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“It would mean a lot to be able to represent Team England and to be apart of the commonwealth games in Birmingham - I go to university and I am a student in Birmingham so that’ll be nice as well.

“Any chance I get to represent England I just feel so much pride, and in such a major competition with a range of different sports, it’s exiting to be apart of a multi-event sporting competition.”

For more information on Wooley Netball Club, visit https://www.woodleynetball.co.uk/.