Asda Athletes

Hey Guys,

Hope you are enjoying the new season! This is my favorite time of year when you get ready for your Saturday/Sunday games! Don’t forget to thank your parents who take you to those games and help you with your dirty kit and all those other important things they do!

I have some exciting news!!!! I was selected to represent the seniors is the later part of the Quad series. This is where England play Newzealand, Australia and South Africa three times.
I was very lucky to be apart of this and to experience such great netball at a senior level. The games where amazing and I witnessed my favorite player Laura Langman do her impressive step change against the best centre court players in the world. I want to be just like her when i reach my peek level.

The media is incredible down under. Newzealand and Australia provide so much media cover of netball; which us ‘English roses’ don’t experience. They even had their own morning netball programme which is like soccer am here.

I was originally chosen to play in the new competition of FAST FIVE. As i posted earlier. The rules are completely different. England won all their games and went in the finals against the Hosts Newzealand. Unfortunately we lost by 2 goals in the final !! But to my amaze the game was unreal! I even got to play against Laura!!

It was a fantastic opportunity for me to be apart of such a fantastic squad! Being with the national side has taught me a lot about my game and how to develop it in the future.

Its now back to Bath to continue training with the seniors and Team Bath Superleague.

Thanks for all your support!

Keep reading!!!

See you soon.
Y x

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would fill you in with the latest. I am now stepping into a busy year where athletes such as myself will have to train, tour and turn up to those all important lectures.

Last week I attended the U21 England Netball camp which was very intense. It started on Tuesday; playing against the seniors. This was a great challenge for us as we need to play aginst the best if we wish to improve. After the Australia tour we all recognised as a team that we need harder competiton as we dont get it over here.

The next day we played against the seniors again and I was thrilled when they asked me to come across and play for them.
Practise makes perfect!

The rest of the camp was then focused around the U21’s as a group. We focused on intensity, passing, consistency and overall competitiveness.

It was a hard camp as we got the best out of each other and came together as a team.

Its now back to Bath to continue my training and work on my strengths and weaknesses. With Premier one already in motion and Super league training kicking in this year is going to be very busy! Also with lectures starting on the 1st of October.

My overall challenge is to make sure I keep organised and time manage.

I will let you all know how i get on in New Zealand with the Fast Five senior group.

Follow me @Yazparsons93 to keep up to date with what I am doing.

Take care for now,

Y x

Hey Everyone,

I am currently at Camp in Birmingham with the England U21 squad. Once a month we come together as a team to work on technical and tactical drill and skills as a team. It is important we come together to work on partnerships and units.

On tuesday night we played the England Seniors; as they are playing Jamaica in a test series this weekend.

It’s always good to play against the seniors as they are strong and fast begin a challenge for us in everyway possible.

This was a tough match which we didn’t win, however a lot of positives came from the game. It also identified what we need to work on to be the best in a years time when the World Youth Championships arrive in Glasgow.
I was also chosen to play with the seniors in preparation for the Fast Five competition in New Zealand. This was a great experience for me.

Last night we played against the Jamaica Seniors; again their U21’s will be our competition in next years Youth Championships. We started the game strong with our shooting and change of direction being a strengths throughout the game. However the Jamaicans have a tall shooter and like to do the long ball to the the GS who is under the post.

We now have a weekend of training and match play against each other. Camps help us become the best team and players we can be.

I will keep you posted on how I do on tour in New Zealand with the seniors.

Thank you for reading my blogs!

Take care.

This is a very exciting time for me and my netball…

I was wondering through town (shopping) with me friends, when I received a phone call from my mum; surprising me with news that I had achieved a spot in the Senior Fast Five squad. This competition is taking place in Auckland in New Zealand. Below are some basic rules to help you understand what fast five is :)

Fast5 Netball World Series

The Fast5 Netball World Series is a new event created to showcase netball to the world using a new set of rules. The Fast5 format provides a fast, dynamic and exciting environment for players and spectators.

The main rules are as follows:

Five Players on court for each team

The positions on court are: Goal Shoot, Goal Attack, Centre, Goal Defence and Goal Keep

Three goal scoring zones

Zone 1 = 1 Goal point which is shot from within the circle – 3.5m or closer

Zone 2 = 2 Goal point which is shot from within the circle – 3.5m or greater

Zone 3 = 3 Goal point which is shot from outside the circle

Players who can score goals are:

Goal Shoot, Goal Attack may shoot from Zone 1,2 & 3

Rolling Substitutions

4 × 6 minute quarters

I trained yesterday with the team and we are looking pretty sharp!

I will keep you posted with how the tournament goes. This will be happening in November.

Keep posted for more guys,

Y x

Hey there,

As some of you may know I was selected as part of the U21 squad to fly down under to play in the U21 Ballarat International championships.
This was a great opportunity for England to recognise and experience the way the Kiwi’s and Aussies play. Theses two countries will be the hardest competition in 2013 at the World Youth Championships.

I was selected as Vice Captain for this tour enabling me to help the captain but also be a big voice when playing on court.

The results are as followed:

Round One
New Zealand 94 Samoa 13
Australia 77 England 22

Round Two
Australia 90 Samoa 16
New Zealand 59 England 38

Round Three
England 65 Samoa 31
Australia 63 New Zealand 37

Round Four
New Zealand 76 Samoa 20
Australia 70 England 30

Round Five
England 61 Samoa 24
Australia 62 New Zealand 49

Round Six
Australia 83 Samoa 18
New Zealand 56 England 37

Semi Finals:

New Zealand 71 v England 28
Australia 98 v Samoa 14

Grand Finals
England 81 v Samoa 26
Australia 59 v New Zealand 51

Final Standings
1st – Australia
2nd – New Zealand
3rd – England
4th – Samoa

Overall we came third which isn’t bad for us at the moment; but we know this isn’t good enough in 1 years time. This tour highlighted our weakness and strengths individually and as a team. Against the kiwi’s we stayed drawing with the at half time in both games (their weakness: not starting strong) but in the semi finals the kiwis came out strong and really proved that they can start strong and left England contemplating on how they achieved this. We know we can achieve greatness as a squad. In the last game i felt England went out with a bang against Samoa; highlighting skills and tactics we should of used against Newzealand and Australia.

I shall get you a video of the game and I would love to hear what you think?

So for England its back to the drawing board once again.. but this time we will come out stronger and better because ‘us’ English roses listen and learn well. And we will bring this in 2013!

Keep posted guys as this next year gets very exciting !!!