Gracie Smith is the youngest player to earn a Netball Super League contract for the 2025 season.
The 16-year-old will complete her GCSEs this summer alongside competing for London Pulse.
The centre and wing defence was a training partner at Saracens Mavericks last season, but showed enough to Pulse head coach Sam Bird to step up to Pulse’s squad of 10.
“She is such an amazing young talent, a really rangy player, she’s got arms for days and a really good athletic ability that suits our DNA,” said Bird.
“A natural ball winner, strong through the court and when we were looking at a centre/wing defence to come in, we were looking around at some of the older players but Gracie will thrive in this environment.
“There’s no pressure from us on her, she is free to shine and she is committed to us and she is someone we can work on and work with and she will be a challenge for players and will slow down opposition attack.”
Smith was part of the Mavericks pathway before making the step up to the Super League.
Internationally, Smith was called up to the England Under-17 squad aged just 14 and went on to win the U17 Netball Europe Championship.
She was first included in the Roses Academy for the 2023-24 season and continued in the programme for 2024-25.
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