Doncaster netballer recognised for her work in highlighting the sport in the city

Laura Sydney has been awarded £1,000 from the Sun newspaper for being a "Grass Roots Hero" in women's sport.

Laura has been involved in netball, eitther playing, coaching, umpiring or just general organising, for 35 years. \She is passionate about sport and fitness, but especially netball.

She told the Free Press: “In October last year, I applied for funding from Doncaster Council's "Get Doncaster Moving" Campaign and was awarded £500 to start up "Netball4All".

“These are netball training sessions which are open to any women, regardless of ability. We have a real mix of women attend, from those who play weekly in our league to those who haven't played since they were at school 30 plus years ago.!

“The popularity of Netball4All is beyond anything I ever expected. We very quickly had to add an additional weekly session and we now have training on Tuesday and Wednesdays. We have had 150 women sign up to Netball4All. Attendance is capped at 30 per session (for health and safety and enjoyment purposes!) and we regularly have a waiting list.

“We've also expanded our offering to include men and once a month we do a "Bring Your Bloke to Netball". Some of the women bring their dad, boyfriend, husband or son along and these sessions are really well received. Traditionally netball has always been a women's sport but in recent years the men's and mixed sides are becoming more popular.”

She continued: “The feedback I get about Netball4All is fantastic and gets me really emotional at times.

“So many women tell me that they never thought they'd enjoy fitness but they love their netball. Women love the social side of it as well as the fitness, and so many great friendships have formed.

"We have a mother and daughter who attend together, and mum Jane had text me to say how much she loved the opportunity to spend some time together with 18-year-old Molly before she goes off to uni in September.

"We have women who say they feel conscious about their body shape and fitness level so wouldn't have thought they'd dare do a team sport in the past, but we have such a friendly and welcoming environment that they love it here.”

But how did the Sun award come about?

“I received a phone call last week from the Sun newspaper to inform me that I'd been nominated and won an award for my work supporting grass roots sports. I am over the moon to have even been nominated for this award.

“I do work really hard to facilitate netball in Doncaster and sometimes it's a challenge to juggle my full time job, my family and everything else but I have a fantastic team around me.

"My fellow committee members do loads of hard work behind the scenes and my parents and partner help with the kids so I can focus on netball in an evening.

"My eldest son Lucas is 14 and I've brought him along to a few "Bring Your Bloke" sessions; he's a really talented netballer but needs to learn not to argue with me when I'm umpiring. My youngest son Maverick is 10 and is a bit young for Netball4All (minimum age is 14 years) but I'm training him up in the back garden.”

The award from the Sun is £1,000 to spend on the club and Laura said she has big plans for the money.

“Balls and bibs aren't cheap and we can always do with more of those, but I'd love to spend some of it on getting a "guest coach" from Leeds Rhinos Netball to come along to a session.

"I volunteer at the Rhinos games and am so inspired by the amazing athleticism of these women and it would be amazing if they could pass on some tips to our Netball4All-ers!”