Reed and Harris re-sign for Severn Stars
PAIGE Reed is hoping Severn Stars can challenge for a top four spot this season as she returns to the team for a second season.
The 22-year-old shooter impressed in her debut season and hopes to make further progress in the coming campaign.
“I am really excited to be returning to Severn Stars this year, excited to progress as a player and as a team,” she said.
“I wanted to return as I learnt a lot being a part of Stars last year and am really keen to keep progressing. Having some new staff and players is also an exciting opportunity and working with new people will be a great challenge going forwards.
“I’m hoping we can challenge for top four this year. With the players we have, we are more than capable of doing this - the challenge is if we can perform back to back as a 15. I’m hoping to take to the court more than I have in previous seasons and get the opportunity to play more with different combinations.”
Reed joins a Stars line-up which so far includes New Zealand star Liana Leota and Welsh internationals Nia Jones, Bethan Dyke and the re-signed Georgia Rowe.
Reflecting on the 2018/2019 season, Reed, who has international experience for England at under 19 and under 21 level, said it had been a massive learning curve.
“We were challenged a lot through the season for different reasons, but I think it made us closer as a squad,” she said.
“I felt like we all worked for each other and helped one another whether we would win or lose, or if times were easy or tough. Hopefully we keep the same cohesion as last year because I felt the players came together very early on in the year and we were a solid group.”
She said she was also looking forward to being pushed by someone new, with Melissa Bessell taking over as head coach for this season.
“Having a new head coach will change the dynamic of the team but hopefully for the better and will push us mentally and physically more than last year,” she added. “With Melissa coming from a New Zealand background it’s exciting to learn new styles of play.”
Bessell said: “Paige Reed is a beautifully cool calm athlete with an amazing one, two step that Muhammad Ali would be proud of. She is going to shine brightly this season playing alongside Liana Leota.
“I think we will truly see some amazing new and exciting netball this coming season with this duo, and I cannot wait to watch Paige flourish again.”
Mid-courter Lucy Harris has also signed up for a second season.
Harris, who joined Stars last season from Wasps Netball, said she was “excited” to be returning.
“I felt I really found my feet last year in the team, so I can’t wait to push on to more success with my Stars family,” said the 23-year-old.
“I felt there was definitely unfinished business given that we beat Manchester Thunder, the 2019 Vitality Netball Superleague champions, so this group has the capacity to really compete for the top four if we play a little more consistently, which is what I hope we can do.”
Harris reflected on the successes and near misses of last season, from which she believes the team became stronger.
She said: “I felt as a team we all grew closer together over the season.
“Being a new team that hadn’t played together much, I felt there was a bit of a teething period where we needed to learn how to play with each other, especially in pressure scenarios. But that got better as the season progressed and, with a good start to this season, there’s every chance the great results from last season stick and the losses can be become few and far between.”
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