Athlete development hubs

The Lightning athlete development hub programme's vision is to deliver a player-centred environment focusing on fundamental skill development, athlete education and match play opportunities.

Our aims are:

  • To develop the next generation of netball talent in the East Midlands.
  • To provide a challenging learning environment to encourage the development of technical skills and game understanding.
  • To provide opportunities for regular competition.
  • To deliver a holistic athlete education programme.
  • To develop local coaches through CPD opportunities in the hubs.

Our programme aims to introduce athletes to the Lightning way, enabling them to improve their skills while developing new ones in a safe and fun environment. The programme provides opportunities to complement athletes' current netball provision, whether in school, county, or Club.

We will be running a School Year 7-8 year and 9-10 programme this year in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northampton, Rutland, Peterborough and Staffordshire. Venue details will be confirmed in due course. 

2026/27 Programme and training information

The Athlete Development Hubs run between September and February in three six-week blocks, with 1.5-hour sessions on Friday evenings. At the end of each six-week block, an internal tournament is held, during which all the hubs come together at 91²Ö¿â to play against each other.

Where possible and as far as we can, we try to run blocks in term time only to maximise attendance at each session.

The dates for the programme are confirmed below (tournament dates to be confirmed).

Block One

  • 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th September
  • 2nd and 9th October

Tournament at 91²Ö¿â (TBC) – 17th/18th October 

Block Two

  • 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th November
  • 4th and 11th December

Tournament at 91²Ö¿â (TBC) – 12th/13th December 

Block Three

  • 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th January
  • 5th and 12th February

Tournament at 91²Ö¿â (TBC) – 20th /21st February 

2026 Trials

Eligibility

Please note that we are following School Years and NOT England Netballs age banding policy. 

Year 7 – 8 

Athletes need to be in one of these school years from September 2026. 

Year 9-10 

Athletes need to be in one of these school years from September 2026. 

2026/27 Coaching Teams

Please note that when selecting your hub preferences, the regions correspond to the areas listed below.

Venues 

Oundle School- Peterborough 

Uppingham School- Rutland 

Headington Rye Oxford- Oxfordshire 

91²Ö¿â

Long Eaton- Derbyshire 

Stowe School- Northampton / High Wycombe

Hastings High School, (Hinckley)- Leicestershire 

Kings Ely- Cambridgeshire 

Newcastle Under Lyme/Stoke

2026/2027 Coaching Teams  – will be updated shortly. 

Trial Information

Athletes will be allocated a time slot during the day.  You are requested to keep the whole day free, unfortunately, due to the large number of athletes we are UNABLE to take timeslot requests. 

Athletes are expected to trial in their own year groups.  If the selectors or Coaches  (post selection) feel that an athlete will be better off in an older age group they will request the move.  We will not allow athletes to trial for the wrong age group. 

Trials will be held on the following dates: 

6th June 2026 – Years 7 & 8 

Netball Centre 

21st June 2026 - Years 9-10 

Netball Centre 

Lightning Hub Sweatshirts

Athletes will all receive a training vest as part of the programme, but have the opportunity to purchase an additional Lightning Development Hub sweatshirt.

COMING SOON.

Further information

If the above hasn’t been able to answer your questions, please contact Fiona Madeley.

Fiona Madeley Senior Community and Athlete Development Hub Officer