Severn Stars netball franchise has announced that it is launching a new Nova Academy at Oswestry School.
The school will host a Severn Stars U17 Nova Academy from September 2020 in partnership with Stars, which is a joint franchise between the University of Worcester and University of Gloucestershire.
Anita Navin, Executive Director and Co-founder of Severn Stars, commented: “[I’m] really thrilled to see the Nova Academy programme extend to partners in locations into the wider territory of the Severn Stars Super League Club. Oswestry School will add value to the programme in many ways and most of all give opportunity to a new cohort of developing players.”
Severn Stars currently runs Nova Academies for U17s in educational centres across the West Midlands and South West region. The aim is to engage with the surrounding area and develop a pool of young talent. Each education centre that hosts a Nova Academy provides U17 players with weekly training sessions, strength and conditioning programmes, along with high-level technical training, sports therapy and off-court support.
Players attending the Nova Academies will be working towards competing in the Severn Stars U17 National Performance League team and, beyond that, the U19, U21 and professional side. They have the opportunity to put what they have learned into practice when the Nova Academies compete against each other with monthly match play sessions. The season usually culminates in the Supernova Tournament in May.
Sofie Suckley, Assistant Director of Sport at Oswestry School, stated: “The School is delighted to be working with Severn Stars to offer performance netball provision for Oswestry and it’s wider community. The U17 Oswestry Nova will provide an elite platform for young girls to enhance their game play and skills, both on and off the court. We are very lucky to have a superb indoor two court netball facility, plus access to our strength and conditioning studio along with our qualified expert.”
Oswestry School has a proud reputation for the high quality of its sporting provision and the dedication and expertise of the School’s coaching and teaching staff. There is a strong tradition of sporting excellence, and netball is one of two main sports played by girls at Oswestry School. The U18 team won the County plate competition in 2019 and the U15 team are current North Shropshire Champions.