Building the Bee Network

Bee Netball is looking to the next generation of Bee Leaders

Bee Netball, England Netball’s fun and nurturing programme for children aged five to 11 at the beginning of their team sport journey, is designed to introduce children to netball skills – throwing, catching, footwork and shooting. However, it is more importantly designed to support every child’s personal development on and beyond the court. Find out all about it here.

Bee Leaders, who coach Bee Netball sessions, are the magic dust who bring the energy to Bee Netball sessions. Equipped with both the knowledge and confidence to deliver brilliantly, our Bee Leaders know that child-first coaching is at the centre of Bee Netball.

We are developing our Bee Leader network so that we have the very best people in child-centred coaching all working together, supporting and sharing ideas with each other, feeding back to each other and inspiring others. As part of this project, we run Bee Leader Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events throughout the country, to help get the very best from our coaches in a nurturing environment.

Our recent CPD event in Manchester (see pictures from the event on this page) saw Bee Leaders and coaches deliver a short session, Bees are pr which they then got honest feedback on, from other coaches, England Netball staff and most importantly, from the children.

This was a really great way to bring the child’s voice into sessions, and helped the coaches adapt to real-time challenges. The coaches and leaders also got to meet others in their local area, so they could start to build their own network of child-centred coaches. This worked as a way to help swap session ideas and connect the clubs and teams for some friendly games in the future. The event also coincided with the Vitality Netball Horizon Series, so our Bee Leaders could go on to watch the match together afterwards!

Here are a few things that the Bee Leaders at the CPD event said: friendly

“It felt like a safe space to discuss and share openly.”

“I loved how the kids got to feedback on what we did. They brought a view which, as an adult, you would not have thought of.”

“I really liked the format and the opportunities to discuss and get feedback from the children.”

“It helped me learn that I need to incorporate more feedback from the children going forward, and ensure I am using that feedback to improve my sessions.”

As well as in-person CPD events to help coaches meet others and Bees work for th team and support everyone. boost their own confidence with coaching, we have also launched a Facebook group, where Bee Leaders can share ideas, get support and feel the buzz with like-minded child-centred coaches. It’s already being used as a great place to swap ideas for fun sessions, get help with challenges and help to keep the buzz around all things Bee Netball!

Join our Facebook group here.