About Us

Our mission

Otley Netball Club aims to bring netball to as many people in the community as possible. We aim to empower women, create a friendly and supportive club, encourage physical activity, teamwork and positivity.

"We want to create a space for women where you can be sweaty and competitive and powerful with no judgement. Where your teammates show up for you, work hard for you and have your back. 

We want to show girls that you don't have to play a certain way or look a certain way. We want to show girls that they don't have to compete with one another. We can work together. We can support each other to grow. We can celebrate all the different strengths that each person brings to a team. 

This is about so much more than netball. It is a community, it is connection, it is belonging, it is resilience, it is self-respect, it is safety, it is bravery, it is confidence, it is wellbeing, it is health, it is fitness, it is skill, it is powerful, it is here if you need.

When women support other women we are all lifted up and raised higher."

Otley NC Founder, Chair and Head Coach Fayme

Otley Netball Club was formed in 2019 with a funding package from England Netball 2019 World Cup Biggest Summer of Netball grant.

How the Vitality Netball World Cup inspired the nation | England Netball 

 We started with a small group of women who were strangers before meeting during our first few sessions. We entered both social teams and the local Harrogate league. We encouraged participation from all - trialling both flexible social memberships and competitive memberships for players who wanted and were able to commit to regular training.

We developed a strong club culutre based on our core values of teamwork, hardwork and inclusivity. Our first birthday saw us support one another through the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 with online training, socials, small group fitness sessions and Covid-compliant netball return to play.

A huge effort went into training and building our skills off the court. In May 2019 we had no formal netball qualifications. Now we have a huge team of qualified umpires and coaches who have been nominated for and won local, regional and national awards.

We have developed the senior section to include more teams and compete in both local and North Yorkshire county competitons. We have a number of social netball teams and training opporuntities for social players. These are still designed to be flexible, friendly and inclusive: we encourage beginners, back-to-netballers, and those who want to be part of a club atmosphere but cannot commit to due to work, caring, financial, other responsiblities or needs. 

We launched our junior section in 2021, starting to compete in the North Yorkshire County Netball Junior competition with an incredible five teams from U12 to U16 age groups. We have had huge success with our junior section, both on the court as squads and with individual players at county, regional and national level.

In 2024 we introduced a new U19 sqaud to bridge the gap between junior and senior netball. The aim of this squad is to stop so many girls from dropping out of sport during this transition. This squad has been a huge success - balancing the changing needs of girls from age 16-19,  supporting their changing work and social lives and providing them with opportunities to continue playing the sport they love.