Luke Farrugia
With England Netball's annual Goalden Globes awards taking place this Saturday, we take a look at the final nominees for the 'Teachers Award', sponsored by MasterClass Sports Tours.
Name: Charlotte Haigh
School: Churston Ferrers Grammar School,
About me:
I have been teaching at Churston for the past 9 years, I have a passion for sport but especially netball. I have been playing myself since the age of 7 where I was at primary school in Australia. Teaching has given me the opportunity to teach/coach the sports I love everyday and feel honored to be involved in the education of so many young people of the last 9 years. I am also the lead coach and chairwoman of Dart Netball Club who have been working very closely with the local schools in Torbay in getting more young girls playing the game. In just 12 months the club has grown to over 150 members, we have 9 junior teams and 4 senior and to enable all of them get to play last year we set up a new Junior league to run once a month. This attracted over 30 teams from 8 clubs across Torbay, South Hams, Exeter and Plymouth.
Most memorable volunteering experience?
My most memorable coaching experience has been in the past year, netball is becoming really strong at Churston and we have lots of girls playing both for the school and within club. Most recently I have been overwhelmed with the continuation of girls still playing after Year 9, I will again this year be able to put out an A/B/C from Years 7/8/9/10 from a school where we only have 60-70 girls per age group I am really pleased. I strive for participation, I am highly competitive but just want as many girls and boys playing as possible.
Why do you believe you won your regional awards and have been nominated for the national netball teachers award?
Organising and delivering outreach satellite sessions in Brixham and Torquay which have attracted over 40 new girls to netball. Setting up and successfully running the central venue leagues for netball in Torbay, meaning girls are gaining longer and valued game play. Also ran the Netball Devon Youth Games team for the past three years, Securing a medal each year twice a bronze and this year a Gold in the U18's category. From my nomination they feel that I through my enthusiasm to sport I have increased the level of activity in young girls across the Torbay region. They also feel I am always looking to provide netball opportunities for all ages and abilities. Also using the club starter funds to set up all ages groups, most recently the Netball Tots and High 5 sections, meaning that we are getting into primary and delivering sessions for all.
Have you ever been on a netball tour, if so where to and how was your touring experience?
I have indeed. We went to Holland with Absolute in October 2015, on a joint boys Football and girls Netball tour. The organisation was good and value for money excellent. However, when we got there we soon discovered there weren't any teams for the girls to play against in a tournament so all we had was coaching. The boys football organisation was better and they got to play local teams, but we won't be taking the girls on tour with them again! I'm sure MasterClass would do a much better job!
Name: Charlotte Christian
School: St Ninian’s High School, Isle of Man
Most memorable volunteering experience: Coaching the U12’s into U14’s and them winning their competition at Disneyland Paris.
Have you ever been on a netball tour, if so where to and how was your touring experience?
Yes – I recently led a netball tour to Disneyland Paris. This was an unusual tour experience as our flight from the IOM got cancelled at the start of the tour meaning our connections to Disney were disrupted too. When we finally got to Disney the experience was ok but in my opinion needed to be organised better. The girls enjoyed their time at the event though.
Why do you believe you won your regional awards and have been nominated for the national netball teachers award?
I am extremely passionate about my sport and providing opportunities for my school girls to compete at any and all levels. I spend 6 days a week involved in coaching and running teams for the girls, as I want them to experience being part of a team and taking part in one of the biggest female sports in the country. Along side running my school teams, I also organise and run all the district school leagues and also organise and coach the schools district netball team.
Name: Rachael Masterman
School: Egglescliffe
About Me:
I currently have 11 school netball teams that compete in regular local leagues. My U16A & B and U13B teams all won there respective leagues. U15A, U14A, U12A all came runners up in their leagues.
It's incredible to see the dedication of the girls turning up to practice at 8am on their age group morning during the week. We now have just over 140 girls taking part in netball within the school.
I also run all the district netball leagues (8 in total this year). It is so hard for teachers to find the time now to train teams, arrange and complete fixtures with the amount of additional work that is pushed our way from the educational system. Full credit to all teachers that have managed to balance all the demands of the job whilst still keeping teams running.
I consider myself lucky to have the time, enthusiastic girls and a very understanding partner that allow me to spend so much time at school and coaching.
Most memorable volunteering experience:
I have too many fantastic experiences volunteering within netball, if I absolutely had to choose one it would be during the netball 12 hour sportathlon at Egglescliffe. 30 plus netball girls taking part in sports from 7pm till 7am, (the girls did incredibly, raising £1100 for charity that night)!
Have you ever been on a netball tour, if so where to and how was your touring experience?
I have organised netball tours to Malta , Shropshire, and more recently Disneyland, Paris.
England Netball ran tour to disneyland saw 33 young ladies from the age of 11-17years head over to compete across 4 teams. All the girls and myself, thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the Disney experience (i think I enjoyed it even more than the kids). As much as we all love winning, for me if the girls enjoy themselves and they are wanting to continue with a life long participation of netball then that's the biggest success you can ask for.
Find out more about our official netball tours in association with England Netball, which include our netball tours in Holland, Dubai and Barbados.