Mike Penning had his eye on the ball when he paid a visit to the highly successful Shelley Netball Local Coaching Centre at Longdean School Sports Centre on Wednesday evening.

Mike Penning, MP, straight from Parliamentary duties, had his eye on the ball when he paid a visit to the highly successful Shelley Netball Local Coaching Centre at Longdean School Sports Centre on Wednesday evening. Mike spent over an hour watching closely and getting involved in the training of two groups of youngsters, with 32 under 12s and 28 under 14s.

The Local Coaching centre is open to anyone in the community who wants to get involved and is run by the Shelley Netball Club based in Hemel Hempstead. Mike was particularly interested in the impact of the recent £4,700 Lottery Awards for All grant for the development of the youth teams in the Club. He could see first hand the numbers of youngsters involved and heard of the formation of two squads, Year 5 and Year 6, both entered in the St Albans Youth league, and the Under 16 and Under 18 teams entered in the Watford League. The future looks bright for these young players in competitive leagues and the Lottery grant has been a key factor in this development.

More information on the Shelley netball Club can be found on their website www.shelleynetball.co.uk [1].

Photo: Mike Penning visits the highly successful Shelley Netball Local Coaching Centre.

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