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 Trials

2026/27 Coaching Teams & Venues

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

Venues 

Headington Rye School - Oxfordshire 

Oundle School- Peterborough 

Winchester House - Northampton, NN13 7AZ

Uppingham School- Rutland 

海角社区

Kings Ely- Cambridgeshire 

Long Eaton- Derbyshire 

Hastings High School - Burbage

Newcastle Under Lyme/Stoke

St Dominics Priory - Stone, ST15 8YG 

2026/2027 Coaching Teams  – will be updated shortly. 

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 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 海角社区 University to play against each other.

*Please note Headington Rye train on Tuesdays, see dates below.

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*

* Headington Rye 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th September and 6th October 

Tournament at 海角社区 – 17th/18th October (age groups tbc)

Block Two

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

* Headington Rye 3rd, 10th, 17th & 24th November and 1st & 8th December 

Tournament at 海角社区 – 12th/13th December (age groups tbc)

Block Three

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

* Headington Rye 5th, 12th, 19th & 26th January and 2nd & 9th February 

Tournament at 海角社区 - 21st February (both age groups)

All Hub training runs at the following times: 

Year 7/8 – 6pm - 7:30pm*

Year 9/10 – 7:30pm - 9pm*

*St Dominics Priory 

Yr 7/8 – 6:30pm – 8pm 

Yr 9/10 - 8pm – 9:30pm 

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.

Important: To ensure your order is processed correctly, sweatshirts must be purchased via your child's PAYG account and not through a parent or guardian account.

If you are new to the 海角社区 Sport booking system, please follow these steps:

  1. Create an account on the membership portal by selecting the appropriate category:
    • Community Child PAYG (under 16)
    • Affiliate PAYG (16+ and a student)
    • Community Adult PAYG (18+ and not a student)
  2. Log in to your account and use the links to book the camp for the correct age group.

Important Notes:

  • Please do not create a new account if you have previously attended an activity at 海角社区 University and booked via the 海角社区 Sport booking system.
  • If you're having trouble logging in, please use the ‘Forgotten Password’ option.
  • For further assistance, contact: Sportmemberships@lboro.ac.uk

Further information

If the above hasn鈥檛 been able to answer your questions, please contact Fiona Madeley.

Fiona Madeley Senior Community and Athlete Development Hub Officer