MISSING THE WORLD CUP?

GET READY FOR THE NEXT ONE!

Hot on the heels of the game- changing women’s football World Cup, another sporting obsession is here to brighten your summer: the Vitality Netball World Cup, taking place in Liverpool from

12 to 21 July, with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all taking part.

Last year’s Commonwealth Games, in which England took gold, have taken the sport to a new level, says England player Geva Mentor (below) – widely regarded as the world’s best netball player.

‘Last year propelled netball forward in viewers and the number of people participating in the sport,’ she says. ‘I definitely think that this is going to be one of the toughest World Cups I’ve been involved in, because the exposure that so many nations had has increased the expertise of most teams. It’s not just a two-horse race, as it used to be between Australia and New Zealand.’

Geva hails from Bournemouth, but has made Australia – a country where netball is firmly established as a professional sport – her home over the last 11 years. She’d like to see netball become more professional in the UK. ‘It’s important that they find salaries for the players

– I know some of the girls are paid in the Superleague teams, but not everybody,’ she says. ‘We need a strong player’s association, too. Things are definitely moving in the right direction.’

Many British women have fond memories of playing netball at school, but Geva insists that it’s a sport we can return to at any age. ‘We lose a lot of girls between 15 and 17 because they go through puberty, or they leave school. Then they come back in later years, and think: “Oh, why did I leave this sport? I enjoyed it so much as a kid.” You don’t have to go down the elite pathway to have a great experience with netball: it’s just a great social sport.’ ‘Leap’, a memoir by Geva Mentor, is out now (£20, Hodder)