The recent decision at a very late stage in the season to not allow junior players to play at both region and in the Coventry & Warwickshire league has I understand, resulted in 2 clubs having to withdraw teams from the league due to insufficent players at U14 and U16. This seems a great shame. We should be encouraging girls of this age to maintain playing and enjoying netball and also keep our local netball league strong and healthy with a variety of clubs of differing strengths to cater for ALL standard of young players. The result of this decision is that 4 teams are expected to go to region with no match experience for their age group. I cannot see the advantage in this ruling to these young girls within the age group of 13 - 16. The number of games played at region are quite few compared to the league.

If it is that these clubs are, dare I say, being penalised for their past success in the junior league then this is truly a great shame. Young girls of this age need to experience playing against variety of different playing skills, this will then able them to see how they can improve their game and move forward and aspire to play to a higher standard.