Wasps putting the Buzz back in Netball

The ‘Buzz’ surrounding Netball is greater than ever. With the Ricoh arena on our doorstep we have close access to the new and exciting addition to the Vitality Superleague: Wasps Netball. This team is headed up by Coach and Ex-England Player Tamsin Greenway and has most of the Surrey Storm favourites such as Rachel Dunn and Hannah Reid as well as South African International Msomi Bongiwe, making it one of the most exciting and interesting teams to follow.

As “the ones to beat” in the Superleague this year, Wasps Netball was a highly anticipated team leading up to the beginning of the season. Not only is the team itself impressive but the partnership with the Rugby Premiership team Wasps, make it an innovative union that is able to draw in and seat crowds bigger than any other team in the Superleague.

After the win against the Hertfordshire Mavericks in the first home match of the season, it was certainly the classic Rugby chants for the Wasps that got the team through as some 2000 supporters came to cheer on the team.

Tamsin said that the game against the Mavericks, however, wasn’t the way the Wasps Netball team wanted to be playing, so looked forward to cementing their style of play for the match against Loughborough Lightning.

Wasps went into the match all guns blazing, the first quarter was a fast one with goals in quick succession and a few turnovers for the Loughborough side. Star shooter George Fisher came off for the second quarter after some trouble in the goal third in the first. Rachel Dunn replaced her in GS and Natalie Haythornwaite in GA. The Wasps side finished the half in a strong position with Lightning leading 23-27.

Into the third quarter, and Loughborough’s shooter Proscovia came into her own despite a very strong looking Wasps Defence who worked hard to limit the goals. The final quarter saw Loughborough take hold of the match with some missed shots from Wasps GS Rachel Dunn with a disappointing 73% shooting accuracy, and the game finished 44-57 to Loughborough.

Tamsin was disappointed with the result but by no means felt defeated. “The league is not lost this early on” she said, as the defeat only gives the team fuel and something to work on for the next game v Severn Stars.

Netball is in the media more than ever with Sport England’s 13.9m investment into the development of the Sport. This money has helped to aid in developing new initiatives to get people into Netball in both the spectating and playing spheres. The University Netball Club is taking advantage of this partnership with Wasps Netball and the funding in the sport by supporting the home matches and making the most of training sessions with Tamsin Greenway. Exciting times for both the Netball Club and Wasps Netball as the season continues.