Netball Super League | “It’s incredible”: Vitality Netball World Cup stars on Vitality Netball Superleague

Vitality Netball Superleague player Eboni Usoro-Brown of Vitality Roses and the Vitality Netball World Cup. Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 15/07/2019 - Netball - Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 - Jamaica v England - M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, England - Eboni Usoro-Brown of England.

Ever since its inception, the Vitality Netball Superleague has been a hotbed for producing future stars and hosting world-class netballers.

This was exemplified during the recent Vitality Netball World Cup where 32 VNSL stars, 17.78% of all players in Liverpool this summer, participated in the tournament.

Each had just come off the back of impressive seasons for their respective franchises and praised the domestic league for helping develop their game ahead of the record-breaking competition.

“I think the Superleague is incredible”

The Vitality Roses hosted the 10-day competition and finished third to claim another medal under Tracey Neville. Six of the squad currently play in the Vitality Netball Superleague.

“The Vitality Netball Superleague is a great opportunity for me to get lots of competitive court time under my belt and I feel like I’m taking on more of a leadership role,” said Wasps Netball starlet Fran Williams.

Meanwhile, Team Bath Netball’s Eboni Usoro-Brown said: “I’m hoping that the sell-out crowds here really build into next year’s Vitality Netball Superleague season. The support was absolutely fantastic and you can see the commitment that the spectators are making to netball.”

Loughborough Lightning’s Natalie Panagarry was appearing at her first major tournament for the Vitality Roses and was optimistic regarding the next generation of talent coming through the domestic league.

“We’ve got so many world class netballers and so many young players coming through the Vitality Netball Superleague,” she said. “I think it’s really exciting what the next four years are going to bring.

“You can see that with Saracens Mavericks’ Gabby Marshall and George Fisher. There are a lot of young amazing new players coming through. That’s really exciting because they’re thriving and learning from the experience. They will get their time.”

Although Natalie Haythornthwaite plays in Australia, the wing attack is hoping to see the VNSL continue its upward trajectory.

“We’ve seen Vitality Netball Superleague grow over the last few years and hopefully it will just keep growing and getting bigger crowds with more people at games. I think the Vitality Netball Superleague in England is incredible, it’s a great league.”

“The VNSL is going from strength-to-strength”

Michelle Drayne of Northern Ireland and Saracens Mavericks, who contributed 67 goal assists during the Vitality Netball World Cup, said: “The Vitality Netball Superleague is going from strength-to-strength and there were so many girls from so many different countries that were playing at the Vitality Netball World Cup.

“I think it shows how strong it is and how much it has progressed in the last couple of years. It’s a great league and was brilliant competition coming into the tournament.”

Scotland brought the most Vitality Netball Superleague players to the M&S Bank Arena this summer with 11 in total – all of whom represented Strathclyde Sirens during the season – and goal keeper Hayley Mulheron believes it’s in the VNSL where her teammates build a connection.

“The Vitality Netball Superleague is where we build combinations. It’s where we get experience of the game and learn from each other,” she said.

“We are getting competition at this level in the Vitality Netball Superleague. We are playing world-class players week in, week out. It’s excellent that Sirens are in the Vitality Netball Superleague and we want to be in there so we can continue to develop our Scottish girls.”

Teenager Emma Barrie was highly impressive over the 10 days and also alluded to the importance the league plays on Scotland’s performance.

“Having so many Sirens players in the Scotland squad definitely helps. We’ve had previous experiences together in pressure situations so that was really good for us coming into the Vitality Netball World Cup.”

“Being in England is like home for us”

The Vitality Netball Superleague has welcomed some of the most talented players from throughout the world of netball in modern times and the franchise’s foreign imports were on top form in Liverpool.

South Africa captain and Wasps Netball centre Bongiwe Msomi was influential in her side’s groundbreaking run to the semi-finals. The 31-year-old joined Shadine van der Merwe (Severn Stars), Sigi Burger (Surrey Storm) and Maryka Holtzhausen (Surrey Storm) in the Proteas squad.

“Being in England is more like home for us anyway,” said Msomi.

“Most of us have played here in the Vitality Netball Superleague so it was great seeing all of our host families, the fans and everybody coming out for us. There has been some amazing support for us so thank you.”

Maryka Holtzhausen, who was one of five VNSL players to score more than a century of goals, echoed her teammate’s statement: “It’s like coming home with the support from all the fans here, they are so passionate about netball in this country.”

Joyce Mvula, meanwhile, scored more times than any other VNSL player at the Vitality Netball World Cup. The Malawi shooter came off the back of a stellar season with Manchester Thunder to net 216 goals over the tournament.

“I think I have learnt how to have great mental toughness from playing in high pressure matches with Manchester Thunder. If you can be strong mentally then it helps against these teams.”

Celtic Dragons’ Kalifa McCollin was the only other Vitality Netball Superleague representative to have recorded at least 200 goal contributions in Liverpool with 127 goals and 73 goal assists.

She said: “The training that we do with the Vitality Netball Superleague franchises is fantastic. Unfortunately, we don’t get that at home so I think that has really helped me.”

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