Hampshire Athletes achieve bronze in Netball World Youth Cup

Weston Park Blades players, Jayda Pechova and Sophie Kelly won bronze in Gibraltar after they represented England in the recent Netball World Youth Cup.

After narrowly missing out on the chance for a gold medal, being defeated by New Zealand in the semi final 51-49, they had the opportunity to win a medal in the bronze medal match against South Africa, which they won 55-35.

Weston Park Blades, based in Winchester currently sit top of their league after winning their first five games to start their league campaign, despite the absence of Sophie and Jayda.

Sophie, goal-attack and Jayda, goal-defence, both currently for teams in the Netball Super League, with Sophie playing for Surrey Storm and Jayda for Nottingham Forest.

When speaking to their Blades Coach Jan Crabtree, she spoke of when she first met both of them, saying: “Jayda was very raw, she was a gymnast but grew too much, a friend brought her along when she was 13.

“Soph was a determined person, she was a defender but turned into a shooter, she joined the club when she was 11 or 12.”

She went on to say the lengths the girls would go to to get their practice in.

“Sophie would always take her goal posts down to Devon on holiday to practice.

“They were rewarded with success after success and that kept them going.”

Both will hope to contribute to both their Super League teams and Weston Park Blades over the coming season and will certainly hope to go one better than Gibraltar with the England Roses in the future.