Super League duo among Team Bath players named in England squad for Europe Netball U21 Championships in Sheffield

Phoebe Maslen will captain her country at the Europe Netball U21 Championships after being named among four Team Bath players selected by England for October’s tournament in Sheffield.

Maslen, fresh from being elevated from Training Partner to the full Blue & Gold Super League squad for the 2024 season, is joined in the 12-strong squad by Sophie Kelly, Daisy Harrison and Alanna Pullen.

Super League goal-attack Kelly studies Management at the University of Bath, where she is supported by a Bill Whiteley Sporting Scholarship, while attacking mid-courter Pullen is starting a Sports Performance course later this month.

She has previously represented Central Warriors in the U19 NPL competition and was runner-up in the national Player of the Season 2022-23 vote to Harrison, a talented defender who has came through Team Bath’s Athlete Development Centre in Exeter.

Taking place from 6-8 October at the English Institute of Sport, England will take on Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales for the Europe Netball crown.

Interim Roses Academy Head Coach Leah Setsoafia said: “The competition will be a great chance for the athletes to learn and test themselves while we gain insight into them and what they offer on an international stage.

“It is an important competition to expose, develop and grow knowledge around the cohort of U21 athletes in the important years ahead of the Netball World Youth Cup in 2025. It will be a privilege to coach such a dynamic and impressive playing group.”

Maslen and Kelly are both graduates of the Roses Academy, made up of potential senior England internationals aged 14-18, which this week inducted Team Bath duo Ella Williams and Sascha Dale for the 2023-24 season along with University of Bath Sport and Exercise Science fresher Sienna Rutherford.

It is a second season in the Roses Academy for goal-attack Williams, who last month helped Team England win bronze at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago. Joining the squad for the first time after impressing at trials is mid-courter Dale, who plays NPL for Team Bath U17s.

Click here to find out more about Team Bath’s player development pathway.

Pictured top: Team Bath Netball Super League 2024 duo Phoebe Maslen (left) and Sophie Kelly, who have both been named in the England squad for the Europe Netball U21 Championships.