Netball newbies told: “I’ll Play If You Play”

I Will If You Will (IWIYW), the Bury-based female fitness movement, is hosting an event for netball novices to help raise funds for Bury Hospice.

I’ll Play If You Play will take place on Saturday 5 March at Bury Sport For All Centre, and netball newbies are being invited to team up with friends, family and workmates to get back into the sport.

Deborah Bancroft, advanced physiotherapy practitioner at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, is entering a team of workmates and is encouraging other workplaces to do the same.

She said: “As soon as I mentioned I’ll Play If You Play at work, many of my colleagues were interested in giving it a go. It’s aimed at complete beginners so it doesn’t matter if you’ve not played since your school days or even if you’ve never played before – each team will get their own coach on the day.

“It’s a great teambuilding opportunity for other local workforces to get involved with and your entry fee goes to charity so it’s ‘win win’ all round. I used to play netball at school and always really enjoyed it, so this is the perfect chance for people like me to get back into it and bring my colleagues along.”

Steph Wignall, England Netball’s Lancashire netball development officer, currently runs two Back to Netball sessions in Bury – the perfect warm-up for any women and girls thinking of entering a team for I’ll Play If You Play.

She said: “The women in my netball sessions are really excited about I’ll Play If You Play and they’re already putting their teams together, but there’s always room for more to join us on Monday and Tuesday nights.

“Even if you can’t make it to a refresher session, we’ll still be available on the day to coach the teams and help with the netball rules and game play.”

Each team of 7-10 costs £20 to enter and all proceeds will go to Bury Hospice, plus a free IWIYW T-shirt will be provided for every player. Tower FM will be broadcasting live and spectators are welcome to cheer on the teams, plus they can try touch rugby and basketball for free once they have registered for a free ticket.

Ticket types:

Team ticket - To enter a team (minimum of 7 and maximum of 10 players) only one team ticket is required.

Spectator ticket - Family and friends are welcome to support the teams but are required to register for a free ticket. Free ticketholders can also try touch rugby and basketball.

For more information and to book tickets, please visit illplayifyouplay.eventbrite.co.uk

To find out about IWIYW Back to Netball sessions and loads more activities throughout Bury, head to iwillifyouwill.co.uk.

ENDS

Press release issued: 17 February 2016.

Note to editors:

About I Will If You Will

I Will If You Will is focused on changing women’s and girls’ behaviours towards taking part in sport and physical activity with the aim of getting more women and girls being more active, more often, and helping improve the health and wellbeing of people in Bury.

It aims to overcome the many practical and emotional barriers to being active, while encouraging women to support each other by joining the I Will If You Will community.

The Phase One campaign (2013–14) was delivered by Bury Council with £2.3 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England. For the Phase Two campaign (2015–16), Sport England has allocated a further £2 million to extend delivery.

The successful IWIYW pilot campaign identified valuable insight and helped develop the foundations for Sport England’s national This Girl Can campaign, which launched in January 2015, as well as Sport England’s practical guide to helping women and girls get active (www.sportengland.org/womenandgirls).