NETBALLHer

England Netball has appointed 13 individuals to a new NETBALLHer Advisory Board which will guide the future of the initiative and contribute to shaping the broader sports landscape to better meet the needs of women and girls.

Over the last 20 months or so, NETBALLHer has emerged as a beacon of change towards empowerment and inclusivity for women and girls in sport, educating and supporting women and girls at all levels of sport about their female health across the different life stages and creating netball environments that are more supportive of female health and fit for purpose for women and girls.

The initiative was launched in April 2023 to better educate and support women and girls at all levels of the sport about their female health, driven by the knowledge that, whilst we know that netball enriches the lives of players aged five to 95, we cannot ignore that a number of life stages impact female lives both on and beyond the court. During these vulnerable times, women and girls are more likely to worry about showing up authentically, and stop playing just when they need support the most, with 69% of women taking a break from playing netball at some point in their life and 41% of teenage girls taking a break or dropping out of playing netball completely.

NETBALLHer provides expert advice, resources, infographics, and personal testimonies on topics ranging from pelvic health, puberty and the menopause to nutrition, bras and kit. England Netball staff, coaches, officials, volunteers and players across the country have embraced and embedded their learnings into their netball clubs, leagues and community programmes, creating environments in which players at all life stages feel educated and empowered to talk about their own bodies and female health in ways which they haven’t previously.

The creation of the Advisory Board marks England Netball’s commitment to continuing to drive transformative change for women and girls in netball and beyond, and the Board will continue to build on this with a focus on inclusivity, empowerment, and creating meaningful opportunities for women and girls through sport. In short, the Board unites an exceptional group of leaders with influence and experience working across grassroots sport, health, governance, policy, elite sport, law and advocacy, all of whom are dedicated to advancing opportunities for women and girls.

Chair of the NETBALLHer Advisory Board Kelly Gordon says: “This is a pivotal moment for NETBALLHer. The Board, with its wealth of expertise and forward-thinking leadership, will play a critical role in pushing the boundaries of what is possible, not just in netball but in shaping the future of women’s and girls’ sports as a whole.”

The Board members are:

• Kelly Gordon – Chair, NETBALLHer Executive Lead at England Netball, and independent consultant

• Fran Connolly – CEO, England Netball

• Jeanette Bain-Burnett – Executive Director of Policy and Integrity, Sport England

• Gemma Duff – Solicitor and Partner, Thrings LLP and NETBALLHer champion

• Dr Layla Guscoth – former Vitality Rose and doctor

• Sarah Gandon – Director of Player Services, Netball Players Association

• Kate Hannon – Director, Fearless Women

• Natalie Haskell – CEO, CoppaFeel!!

• Dr Helen Kini – NHS GP/Trainer, Lifestyle Medicine Physician, British Menopause Specialist, Director of Flourish for Life

• Lisa O’Keefe MBE – Secretary General, International Working Group (IWG)

• Emily Reynolds – National Programmes Director, Youth Sport Trust

• Andy Taylor – CEO, Active Partnerships National Organisation

• Lisa West – Head of Policy, Partnerships and Public Affairs, Women in Sport

We spoke to three of the new Advisory Board members to find out more about their vision for NETBALLHer.

Gemma Duff

“I’m a lawyer with a background in management and strategy and I’ve played netball since primary school. I’ve played at all of the life stages essentially – all the way through school and then as a busy working mum. Obviously pre- and post-natal with the kids, then I went back to netball and it also supported me when I was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at the age of 36. I kept on playing through my treatment because it was a bit of normality and now, because of my medication, I’m in medical menopause, which means that I then touch on that other life stage as well. It’s all relevant!

“I’ve got a daughter and I see that there’s already a gap, even at primary school, in terms of what opportunities are available for girls and for boys with exercise. So I’m super passionate about girls being able to participate in physical exercise and also taking away the barriers that might stop them from feeling that they can continue with exercise.

“With NETBALLHer, we recognise that we’ve got great resources for netball with the videos and information already available online. But I think it’s quite difficult to get busy women and girls to take the time to look at these resources. We need to get them to recognise that their body needs them to prioritise their health and physical exercise.

“England Netball are leading the way in having these resources available, but often, until we get sick and our body starts to tell us that something’s wrong, we actually don’t give them the time that we should or realise that some signs and symptoms aren’t normal. And I feel like everybody on the Advisory Board is on the same page. We want women to prioritise their health and prioritise exercise. The message that we’re trying to get home is that our body will often give us signs that something’s not right. And I think it’s being educated on what those signs might be and then being empowered to go and find help. We want people to be curious about their bodies. We don’t want to be reactive, we want to be proactive in terms of our health, so we should always be curious about what is normal for us and react when something seems different/wrong.

“And we’re all committed to systemic change across the board. We all see that netball is leading the way but we also see it as something bigger than netball. The measurables for netball will be that we’re not losing girls and women at certain life stages. We want them coming back to netball, but more than that, we want them prioritising their health and coming back to sport and to physical activity.”

Natalie Haskell

“When it comes to breast cancer diagnosis, especially early diagnosis, what I can contribute is an understanding of where the audience is at. Netball can help facilitate awareness and can educate and support women about the importance of getting to know their bodies, being confident in knowing what’s normal for you. From my point of view and from a CoppaFeel! perspective, that’s through a breast cancer lens, but it can apply to absolutely anything.

“It’s something I’m really passionate about and it’s an honour to participate in. There’s so much learning opportunity and the chance to better ourselves in the work that we do, and to be able to bring learnings from the Board back into our respective organisations and to collaborate with one another to further the mission of NETBALLHer.

“One of the areas I’m looking into alongside Gemma is a health messaging and advocacy piece – we are working on a broadcast media campaign that should reach a huge number of people. We’ve found at CoppaFeel! that it’s face-to-face, peer-to-peer interaction that gives the greatest kind of awareness. There’s huge potential for NETBALLHer to genuinely save lives.”

Dr Helen Kini

“As a GP, I look after a lot of women’s health throughout all the different life stages and I have been a massive advocate for physical activity of any type during those stages. I have seen a lot of the barriers that women face, both mental and physical. Over the last five or six years, I’ve become a Lifestyle Medicine Physician through the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine. And that’s very much using the pillars of lifestyle, all the things that we’ve got within our control, – sleep, nutrition, physical activity, connection, reducing harmful toxins – to not only help with our health and wellbeing, but also to prevent and potentially treat chronic disease. And that fits into women’s health around managing menopause, managing PCOS, all the different things that women face and that can become barriers to physical activity.

“The Board is so inspiring, and this is a real chance to have a wider conversation about system change, which netball has done on a deep level. It is really exciting. If we can show examples of what good looks like, that would be amazing; if we can communicate the good work that’s already been done and get to the harder-to-reach communities, people from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, who don’t necessarily have the same opportunities. People within those communities need to be sensitively approached if we want to encourage people into netball or into any physical activity.

“Using the pillars of lifestyle medicine is a great way of allowing people to make small changes using behavioural science and techniques for the good of their own health, but also then to sustain them. And that creates a ripple effect where you are layering good habits on top of other habits.

“Everyone gets bombarded with health information on social media, but we are very keen for people to become more responsible for their own health, things like knowing your blood pressure, being aware of even your waist circumference, your cholesterol, your blood sugars. Everyone’s offered a free NHS health check between 40 and 74 but not many people take that up. We just want to support people to be happier and healthier!”

To join England Netball in this movement, find out more about the different female life stages and how best to support women and girls in sport, visit the NETBALLHer website to find a wealth of articles, diagrams and videos from experts on topics that impact females at different life stages.

Exclusive to England Netball members, why not register today for our FREE NETBALLHer Learning Offer, an online course that allows members to upgrade their female health knowledge. The course is perfect for players, parents, coaches and any other supporters in the Netball Family who are regularly in contact with women and girls – including males.