Latest news with #NetballSuperLeague
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pulse beat Thunder to go top of Super League
London Pulse produced a determined display to move back to the top of the Netball Super League with a 58-48 win at Manchester Thunder. Pulse were 17-10 in front after the first quarter but the hosts reduced the deficit to three points as the visitors led 27-24 at half-time. Advertisement However, Pulse stepped up their game and were 44-37 up at the end of the third quarter before going on to secure victory. Olivia Tchine scored a game-high 27 goals for Pulse, while Elmere van der Berg scored 23 for the Thunder, who remain third with one round of fixtures to go before the play-offs. "The second quarter, in particular, was a bit disappointing," said London Pulse head coach Sam Bird. "We just took our foot off the pedal a little bit. We just lost a little bit of focus. That is certainly something I want to be improving on. "When they got their brains back together and they came out really hard I thought they did really well. Advertisement "It's a difficult place to come. It's really good for the players to play that well away." The three points meant Pulse are two points clear of second-placed Loughborough Lightning. Both teams are guaranteed a top two finish and will contest the major semi-final in the play-offs with the winner going through to the final. The loser will face the winner of the minor semi-final between third and fourth - which will be between Manchester Thunder and London Mavericks - to determine the other finalist. Loughborough Lightning had briefly gone top of the table with a dominant 79-58 win against London Mavericks on Friday. Advertisement Lightning, who have won three of the previous four Grand Finals, were in control throughout and opened a 23-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. That set the tone for the contest, with Samantha Wallace-Joseph finishing with 24 goals for the victors, and Ella Clark and Berri Neil also impressing with 14 and 13 goals respectively. Emily Andrew contributed 24 goals for the fourth-placed Mavericks. Birmingham Panthers won 75-69 in the opening match of the round on Thursday. On Sunday, Georgia Rowe scored 43 goals to help bottom side Cardiff Dragons beat Leeds Rhinos 60-52 and move within a point of their opponents in the table.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Lightning beat Mavericks to go top of Super League
Loughborough Lightning produced a dominant display to beat London Mavericks 79-58 and move top of the Netball Super who have won three of the previous four Grand Finals, were in control throughout and opened a 23-12 lead at the end of the first set the tone for the contest, with Samantha Wallace-Joseph finishing with 24 goals for the victors, and Ella Clark and Berri Neil also impressing with 14 and 13 goals Andrew contributed 24 goals for the Mavericks, who remain fourth with one round of fixtures remaining before the play-offs. Birmingham Panthers won 75-69 in the opening match of the round on Thursday, with third-placed Manchester Thunder hosting second-placed London Pulse on Saturday (17:00 BST).
South Wales Argus
03-06-2025
- General
- South Wales Argus
Lauren Palmer loving the ride as Netball Super League head coach
Every athlete has a coach who inspired them, and Lauren Palmer does not need to look far for hers. An associate dentist by trade, the 33-year-old is the youngest head coach in the Netball Super League this season and earned her current role with NIC Leeds Rhinos following spells with Manchester Thunder and England's Future Roses. There, she was able to learn from the likes of Karen Greig, Jess Thirlby, and Tracey Neville and Palmer admits she could not have imagined better places to cut her teeth. 'I started coaching when I was about 18 for a local club coaching their under-9s and under-10s,' said Palmer. 'I was at university at the time and I had picked up a few injuries as a player that brought playing to a halt but I love netball and wanted to still be involved so I started doing that. 'I'm quite competitive and always striving to be better so I started to work with that group as they got older and had a bit of success at county and regional level. 'I do enjoy dentistry but netball is now a viable career option so I ended up with Manchester Thunder for four years as their pathway lead coach and did a bit with England before moving to Rhinos. 'Having been at Thunder for so long, Karen Greig played a big part in my coaching as she used to coach me as a player so you can see similarities in our coaching styles. 'From being part of the England environment, Jess [Thirlby] and Sonia [Mkoloma] have also had a big influence and I was lucky enough to watch some of Tracy Neville's sessions so they're the key figures who have shaped my coaching. 'I've just tried to take the best bits of all of them and put my own personal spin on it.' Palmer has enjoyed a steady start to her Netball Super League coaching career, despite a whirlwind start that saw her brought into the role just weeks before the start of the season. A run to the Netball Super Cup final, where they were defeated by London Pulse, was a good early sign and regular season wins against LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons and Birmingham Panthers have followed. She added: 'As a coach you know your limitations and although I am the youngest in the Super League, the transition has felt seamless. 'I was a little bit nervous going into the first session but because I'd been in and around that environment at Manchester Thunder and I coached a lot of the girls with England futures, I was quietly confident that I could deliver.'The girls had a turbulent time in pre-season and I wanted to see if we could turn it around. 'Reaching the final of the Super Cup took us a back a little, but it gave us confidence coming into the season. 'We've done well in the majority of the games, there've only been a few where we came away frustrated. 'For me, we've been the team that has run everyone close but couldn't get over the line and that's something we want to improve on.' It's clear that Palmer is loving life at the club, helped in part by the opportunity to coach the likes of Geva Mentor Joyce Mvula and Cassie Howard week-in, week-out. She said: 'Walking into an environment with seasoned professionals like Geva and Joyce, and where I didn't know that many faces, was a little daunting but everyone at Rhinos has been so welcoming and that was huge for me. 'The club created a really good environment and I'm loving every second of it. 'Everyone gets access to the same amount of my time and resources but there is a difference in how you talk to someone at the start of their career compared to the end. 'With someone like Geva you've got to give her respect, what she has done in her career is phenomenal and not many people have achieved what she has. 'She has been so open and receptive to ideas. The Super Shot is something new in England but she knows it from playing in SSN [Suncorp Super Netball] and it has been really good bouncing ideas off of her.
South Wales Argus
31-05-2025
- Health
- South Wales Argus
Lightning captain Nat Panagarry urges women to 'know their normal'
The Loughborough Lightning captain is determined to continue building greater awareness around women's health, having realised how little she knew about her own body following her wife Katie's cancer diagnosis three years ago. Panagarry has hit new heights on the court, leading Lightning to back-to-back Netball Super League titles, and one of the league's most recognisable faces wants to use her platform to help improve knowledge and education within the sport and beyond. 'I just want to keep being as open and honest as I can,' she said. 'Going through Katie's journey has made me more self-aware about what is going on with my body. 'We are so in tune with her body and what her normal is, it made me thing 'Do I know what my normal is?' 'It has made me more in tune with that, and that is something I want to keep putting out there especially to young girls and young women; how important it is to know your normal. 'Sometimes we think it's just happening, and everyone is going through it, but that is not always the case. 'I have grown up over the years where it was whatever was going on, you just had to get on with it. "Periods and menstrual cycles are such a natural process, but I was taught to just manage it, go on the pill, and if you are going through certain symptoms it is really normal, when that's not the case. 'Over the last few years, you are seeing players step up and talk about the situations they are going through. "Not just female health, but things like grief, and how they are balancing it all. The more open and honest we are as players; I think fans really connect to that.' Support for female-specific health issues has improved dramatically over the course of Panagarry's career, with Lightning now able to provide support around the impact of players' menstrual cycles alongside greater awareness of other issues such as pelvic floor health. England Netball also launched NETBALLHer to provide greater information and support around issues such as sports bras, menopause, menstrual cycles and pelvic health. But the 34-year-old believes there is still more that can be done to support players at both the elite level, and those coming through pathways. 'Through England and through Lightning we fill something out daily called PDMS, which is how tired you are, how sore you are and also tracking your period,' she added. 'For staff and coaches, that helps them offer support. 'The next step for me is tailoring training, if there is a high chance of injury. It is being able to have that support financially to offer that. We are in a great space in netball, but there are still steps we can take such as training programmes being more personalised. 'Knowing what your cycle look like is really important, I wish I had tracked it when I was younger. I don't think I ever knew what was truly happening to my body each week. I could have spoken to my coaches and been more honest with them and they could have helped me.' On the court, Panagarry's focus is on reaching another Grand Final as Lightning chase an unprecedented hat-trick of Netball Super League titles. With this year's Grand Final hosted at London's O2 Arena, Panagarry is ready to chase history in a number of ways having already sealed a top four spot. 'We have had quite a few arena games that have been amazing, it is really building,' she said. 'As a player, to be in the O2, in an arena we have never played at before and how iconic it is, it is really motivating to be on that court. 'The O2 this season has been on everyone's minds, to say you have done it and been there for the first time. It is definitely a motivator for me. 'We would love to be there; we will give everything we can. We don't get carried away with ourselves, but we did celebrate getting that top four spot and getting it early. Those are the little wins.'
South Wales Argus
31-05-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Suzie Liverseidge believes Wembley clash a symbol of progress
For Suzie Liverseidge, a clash at OVO Arena Wembley on 14th June is a symbol of progress for netball since the professionalisation of the Netball Super League. Mavericks made big strides towards a top four finish with victory over closest rivals Nottingham Forest which extended a six-point lead over the East Midlanders in Round 11. They will face Manchester Thunder at Wembley in the final regular game of the season before they hope to aim for a spot in the Grand Final. '[Playing at Wembley] is so great. Firstly as a player, it's such a cool feeling to play in those venues and to hear the loud crowd and look where you are,' said Liverseidge. 'Secondly, it's great for the sport of netball to be getting into those big arenas and really shows the steps we've taken towards professionalisation from playing in sports halls to now playing in Wembley Arena. '[To finish at Wembley in the top four] would be huge. It's a massive goal for the club for this year, so to get that ticked off would be great. 'Whether that game will decide it or not, going into a final series, you always want to end on a high. So the game will be equally important whether we cement that position before or not.' Over the past few seasons, Mavericks have perennially just fallen short of those elusive top four spots but so far this season they are on track to break the voodoo. They defeated Forest 57-48 at Hertfordshire Sports Village to give them a comfortable three points and their biggest boost so far towards reaching the semi-finals with three rounds remaining of the regular season. 'We are all aware of [the near misses], but we're also aware that this is a new group and what's gone before doesn't dictate what's going to happen to us this year,' Liverseidge said. 'We have a new group of players - five of us weren't at the club previously - but when we all got on board with the journey, it was all about rewriting the story of the Mavericks. 'We're in a great position. Top four was obviously our aim and we've put ourselves in a position where it's now fully in our control. It's been all change for Liverseidge, having made the switch to the capital at the start of the season as well as undertaking a new role at wing attack, but she has stepped up to be instrumental for the top four challengers. She boasts the second-most feeds in the league with 348, just four behind current leader Bethan Dyke of LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons and was recently called-up to England's Future Roses squad. 'I've been away from the England programme for a couple of years now so to get my foot back in the door and show that I am interested is key for me,' said the 23-year-old. 'The belief that the coaching team's put in me to play a lot of minutes and build my connections has been really key for me and having people like Tamsin Greenway, who's obviously a wing attack specialist, coaching me week in, week out has been so valuable. 'I'm really excited about the opportunity and the growth I can make after this NSL season.' As well as stellar performances, Liverseidge also brings with her NSL winning know how, having claimed the title while playing for Loughborough Lightning. It is experience she is hoping to draw on to guide the team through their three remaining fixtures which includes a trip back to her old stomping ground. 'We have all kinds of different experiences. We've got Australian players who bring in great experience from the league out there and some of us have played at Loughborough,' Liverseidge explained. 'We can draw on everyone's different strengths. For me, it won't be a nerve-wracking or new experience, which is something we need to stick to in terms of being calm under that pressure and not letting it get to us. 'As a team, we're quite good at that and sticking to the process, even with quite a young group.' Now Mavericks sit on the precipice of creating new history for a club that are forging a unique path since their rebrand in the summer. It is a change driven by the players and they too are now in the driving seat as they look to secure that top four berth and victory at Wembley. 'It's been really exciting to be part of something new,' Liverseidge added. 'As players, we've been given the ability to dictate what we want the club to look like. It's our chance to build the culture, the ethos, and what goes on. 'All the support we've had from the club has been a huge step up from anything I've had previously.'
