Essex Metropolitan County Netball Association
Dear Athletes, my name is Michelle Cox, and I am the head coach for Essex Met County. I would like to share with you the England Netball Pathway for the Under 13s and Under 15s County Programme. Please see attached the Player Pathway Screening form and information for the 2024-2025 season.
Essex Met Identification process
Athletes DO NOT need to be nominated by their club/school as we are ensuring inclusion for all. Athletes may not be in club but would like to try to become a netballer who has the raw skills and movement required. All we require when athletes attend is
Wear trainers
No club/School/County Kit
Ensure that your hair is tied back securely
No jewellery
No large hair clips
No long nails
Bring sufficient food and drink- Please note that Redbridge has a small café
Come dressed for outdoors as trials will be held outside
What we are expecting from athletes who are successful in their selection to the programme.
Regular attendance
➢ To commit to a home training programme and homework tasks where set
➢ To arrive prepared, with kit, and committed to train
➢ To take responsibility for their own development and engage with coaches to support this
➢ To be playing netball at an appropriate standard of competition for their age group (usually club netball)
What you can expect to see on the screening day
Pathway Screening athletes will typically be asked to demonstrate their skills and game awareness in match play and, where feasible, other game-based activities, including warm-ups and athlete-led games. Multiple identifiers are used at these events, so athletes are seen multiple times, by different identifiers, whose selections are aggregated to provide the final selection decisions.
What are the identifiers looking for?
Identifiers will be present throughout warm-ups, match play and any other game-based tasks the athletes are asked to engage with. They are looking for age-appropriate identifiers of the following:
➢ Technical skills – for example can the athlete catch with one or two hands, land safely, and pass with a variety of passes, and can they do these under pressure?
➢ Tactical awareness – does the athlete demonstrate an on-court awareness of their positional role, and responsibilities of the bib e.g., providing attacking, or defensive support where necessary, or being able to attack or defend with other athletes?
➢ Game sense – does the athlete show some evidence of game sense principles such as the use of space, awareness of other athletes’ movement, dictating space, being able to transition between defence and attack
➢ Attitude and commitment – does the athlete demonstrate appropriate task intensity, are they able to commit pressure to maintaining possession or winning the ball and are they able to respond to coaching and/or peer instruction.
Athletes may not necessarily demonstrate all these qualities, and some athletes may possess different balances of each quality. It is expected that these qualities are developing at under 13 level, but much more present at under 15 level.
Good Luck to you all
For more information please do not hesitate to contact me at essexmetcounty@gmail.com
