Women’s sport is continuing to enjoy an exponential growth in our society, and this is no better illustrated in our own community than with the ever-expanding development and success of Nat’s Netball Club (NNC).

Founder Natalie Kenton says: “Over the past year, we’ve continued to grow and have had to adapt how we do things in order to accommodate netballers of all abilities who share a love of the game.

“Last season we entered 22 year 4 to year 13 teams into competitive leagues, but it still didn’t provide enough of our players with valuable match time and experience. We entered and held tournaments and friendly matches with local clubs, to offer players of all abilities the chance to play some matches.

"For this coming season, with more than 550 players training with NNC every week, I felt we’d reached a position where we could and should start a club development league, which would also provide valuable opportunities to our assistant coaches and IOA umpires.

"Therefore, from October, NNC with Maccabi GB will be starting a development league on Sunday mornings in Mill Hill.”

The club was formed in 2012 by Kenton, a Level 2 coach, and she was assisted by a couple of junior coaches. She was joined in 2018 by fellow Level 2 coaches Helen Haralambous and Debbie Colton, before Claire Barton, a Level 1 and qualified personal trainer, joined last year.

A stellar cast of coaches includes Arancha Heredero, a Level C umpire and Level 1 coach, and Sam Edwards, who’s a Level B umpire for U16 and U18 matches. They will be joined next month by another Level 1 coach and PT Liz Bellau.

On top of that, 15 assistant coaches between the ages of 15 and 26 help in training sessions and at matches.

Based at Mill Hill School Sports Centre, which boasts four outdoor floodlit courts and a full-size indoor court, training sessions and matches are held every Monday to Thursday between 6pm and 9pm.

Welcoming players of all abilities, Kenton says: “With five courts, we can split the group by ability. We normally have between 16 and 20 players on each court with one coach and two assistants.

The majority of the feedback we get is lovely — if we don’t know a problem exists, we can’t fix it — and all of it is valuable.

Most of it relates to there not being enough match opportunities for the mixed ability players but I now feel confident that I’ve addressed this issue by helping start the Maccabi Netball League, an exciting project that will see hundreds of players competing on Sunday mornings.”

Despite the impressive numbers, the club is still on the lookout for more players. Kenton says: “NNC is all about netball for all. This season we will have 40 teams playing league matches, 16 in external Hertfordshire leagues and 24 in the Maccabi development league.

"The thing about netball is that you don’t have to be good at it to enjoy playing it, but you do have to enjoy playing it to be good at it. We try to create an environment where our players can enjoy the game, making lasting friendships and memories.”

As well as offering players of all levels and ability the chance to enjoy learning and taking part in the sport, it’s also considered something of a “breeding ground” for future Pan American Games and Maccabiah stars.

“It’s our job to find them and bring them together – that’s the exciting part – getting to see all the other netballers out there!”, Kenton enthuses. “Lots of our players join us aged seven and then trial for and get into the Maccabiah squads.

“It’s beautiful to see them competing together at that level having trained together for so long.

“Every January, NNC runs a training camp for Israel Netball’s junior players, consisting of four days of training and tournaments with our players, as well as competing in matches with Jewish Secondary Schools, last January they played against JFS, JCoSS and Yavneh.”

As to what the future hold for the club, Kenton adds: “The NNC U16 and U18 teams have been promoted to Division 1 of the Watford League, having started at the bottom of Division Three in 2019, something I’m really proud of. We have players of all ages on pathways with Herts, Middx, & Superleague teams Pulse and Mavericks.

"Our talented players are achieving and we are providing quality training to all abilities.

“I always think we have reached capacity but then we keep on growing. Lots of new clubs have appeared on the horizon and this is a good thing.

"Consumer choice and competition is healthy and results in more netballers to choose from for our future Maccabiah squads!”