ABOUT OUR CLUB
 
It all began in in 1986 when Jackie, the current chairman, was helping coach a team of girls at Pokesdown Primary School. Jackie entered the girls into the local East Dorset Junior League as a chance to get more match play, and despite losing every game as they were under 11’s in an under 12 section, they were still keen to do more.  Although they were leaving primary school to go different schools, the girls had all formed strong friendships and were keen to stay together as a team.  Jackie, with the help of a fellow player in her own team, Chris Allen, decided to set up an after school club called Southbourne Netball Club, which to start with consisted of the original girls plus Jackie and Chris’s daughters, Hanna and Jessica, and from there we grew!
 
There was more and more interest from girls from other schools who also wanted to join, so Jackie found different venues for the club throughout the local area, although at the time facilities were very limited.  As the club continued to grow we moved again to the Littledown Centre where we had the use of indoor and outdoor courts and could accommodate more children.  We then adopted the name of Bournemouth Netball Club as we had moved from our original location in Southbourne and also wanted to attract girls from a wider area.  We were already entering numerous teams in leagues and tournaments both home and away.  The Bournemouth Junior Club continued to grow and Jackie was helped by fellow coaches, Sheila Garrett, Annette Summers, Sharon Frame and Maureen Paterson, who all became involved when their daughters joined the club.
 
At this point Bournemouth Junior Netball Club had formed close ties with Rascals Netball Club which was run and coached by Marie Bryson.  Rascals had two teams, who were already playing in the local leagues, and contained both of Marie’s Daughters.  In 1994 Jackie’s original team, and Marie’s oldest rascals entered The English Clubs Nationals at Annerley, along with another team which was a combination of both of Rascals and Southbourne’s younger players – the team contained both Jackie and Marie’s daughters!
 
From this a firm bond was made and the two clubs continued to liase together over the next few years.  As the Rascals and Bournemouth girls progressed to adults they were entered into the Bournemouth Netball League, along with other adults who had expressed an interest in playing themselves.  By this time both Rascals, who were now called West Hants Netball Club, and Bournemouth had numerous teams in the league. As the original girls who advanced to the premier league grew to an age that some were leaving to go to university, Marie and Jackie who also played in teams themselves, decided to merge the clubs officially and in 1994 the Bournemouth Netball Club as we are today was born.
 
Over the years Jackie and Marie have had the help of coaches past and present along with many dedicated parents (dad’s included!) who have helped them to provide the quality of coaching and high performance players that we have in our club today. 
 
We currently have over 100 members in our junior club, and this number grows every week, and over 100 players in our adult club.  Jackie is still at the forefront of the junior club although all her daughters are  grown up – but still playing and coaching netball! She is supported by a dedicated team with Maureen Paterson who is still with the club and has been since 1992 and still dedicates her time to coaching and helping with the organisation and umpiring commitments.  Beverley Bradshaw who came to the club in 2000 is our Honorary Secretary as well as Under 13 Team Coach, and as I am sure you will appreciate has a lot of paperwork on top of her coaching duties. Marie is still heavily involved in the Adult Club and along with Jackie has the job of re-organising teams every season.
 
Both our Junior and Adult clubs are producing players of an exceptionally high standard.  Geva Mentor who plays for England was originally a Bournemouth Netball Club member and was coached by Jackie and a former coach Jill Languish  from the age of 14.  Many of our juniors are also being spotted for England talent camps and Regional development programmes.  Our aim at Bournemouth Netball Club is to provide high quality coaching in a fun and relaxed environment, so even if your child is not interested in the competitive aspect of the game we hope that she will enjoy herself, make new friends and continue playing into an old age.
 
I hope this information will help you appreciate the hard work and dedication that our coaches have for the development of netball, as well as the time that they voluntarily give up every week, including many weekends to help your child’s progression and enjoyment of the sport we love.