Wednesday 4 December 2019 19:43, UK
England Netball has announced a mission to enable more than 5,000 deaf and disabled women and girls to participate in netball programmes by 2021.
The governing body's new Disability Strategy was announced on Tuesday and commences immediately as it looks to make the sport as accessible as possible for all.
As part of this strategy, England Netball will also be hosting its ParaNetball Championships on February 1, 2020.
The championships will offer a competitive netball opportunity for people who are deaf or hard of hearing or for those with intellectual impairments, learning disabilities or special educational needs.
The organisation hopes to achieve its target of enabling more people to play the sport by hosting new competitions and providing coaches, officials and session providers with the training required to deliver more accessible sessions across the country.
As part of this, England Netball has also introduced a network of clubs which specialise in disability and inclusion, known as 'Core Inclusion Clubs'.
"We are delighted to officially launch our Disability Strategy, which we have been working on for some time now, said Richard Evans, the Strategic Lead for Disability at England Netball.
"This is a really exciting chance for us to welcome more deaf and disabled women and girls into the netball family.
"This strategy gives people a glimpse into our future and breaks down our ambition to understand, engage with, and maximise opportunities in netball for disabled people.
"It will allow us to grow and build towards a future where disabled people playing netball isn't the exception but the norm."
One more strand of the strategy will see the introduction of 'Blended Netball' at the start of 2020. This is a new secondary school peer-to-peer initiative.
Blended Netball is designed so that girls can help to deliver netball to others who have special educational needs, which allows them to benefit by gaining important life skills such as leadership, communication and empathy.
The development of England Netball's new Disability Strategy has been supported by Sport England, Youth Sport Trust, Activity Alliance and the National Disability Sport Organisations.
Sky Sports is your home of netball and live action returns with the Vitality Nations Cup in January 2020. The four-nation competition starts on January 19 with England taking on world champions New Zealand.
