TWO girls from Worthing have taken the first step towards representing England at netball.
Emelia Jackson and Vicki Bowles, both 14, have been selected to attend the Sussex Regional-Player Development Pathway Programme, which has been set up to develop and bring on young netballers, and to prepare them for the Netball Talent League, and possibly England.
Vicki, who attends Durrington High School, and Emelia, who goes to Davison, both play for NRG Juniors Under-15 side, and both were in the Sussex Under-14 Satellite Academy last year.
Vicki had trials for the DPP in January, and Emelia in April. Both were accepted, before they had to retrial in September and were successful again (two of only eight girls selected).
Vicki said: "Each season, I set myself a target. Last season's was to get into the DPP, which I have now achieved.
"I will keep setting myself targets, and hopefully, one day, I will get into the England squad, although I know it will be a lot of hard work and commitment."
Emelia said: "I am really pleased to have got into the centre. In the future, I would love to play in the Super League or for England. But at the moment, as long as I am training hard and improving my game, anything else is a bonus."
NRG Juniors head coach Tina Price said: "Vicki works extremely hard to be successful and practises skills over and over again until she has conquered them.
"Emelia is working hard on her balance and co-ordination. She has the height that England talent scouts are looking for.
"They are both smashing girls, who have been part of a very successful club.
"There are 10 in the team, and Vicki and Emelia are in the DPP, Katie Pearcey is in the Under-16 Sussex Academy, and Katie Taylor and Sian Rance are in the Under-15 Satellite Academy."
Sussex head coach Peter Carter added: "Emelia and Vicki were selected from 70 players from all over the South Region. We have three Talent and Perfor-mance Cen-tres in the region, Sussex, Winchester and Oxford, and the players selected attend the centre closest to them
"We concentrate on their skills and fitness at our training sessions, and they are expected to do their own fitness training during the week.
"We do not select a team, just individual players with potential. Two players from Sussex, Scarlett Williams and Rosie Allison, have progressed through the system, and are now playing for England Under-21."
Any girls interested in trying netball, from school Year 4 upwards, can contact NRG Juniors coach Tina Price at tina.price2@ntlworld.com
