Welsh Netball Appoints New Head of Performance

Welsh Netball is pleased to announce that it has appointed Rachel Bayley as its new Head of Performance.

Bayley joins Welsh Netball from British Gymnastics and has held several elite performance roles across the sport sector.

Bayley has previous experience of working with large National Governing Bodies. She worked as Regional Manager of Talent and Participation for Badminton and has held several strategic-level performance roles with British Gymnastics, most recently as Olympic Performance Manager

Bayley played a leading role in the development of the Tokyo 2020 strategic plan. She was instrumental in the review of the previous Olympic cycle and the construction and content of the Tokyo 2020 High Performance Strategy.

She also has experience of supporting teams at elite competitions and tournaments. She was a member of the support team that travelled to the Rio Olympic Games, which saw British Gymnastics achieve its most successful medal haul to date with 7 medals across the three Olympic disciplines.  She has also been responsible for leading the British Gymnastics team at European and World Championships.

In addition, Bayley has also worked with the International Federation for Gymnastics, Local Organising Committees, Commonwealth Games England and the British Olympic Association. She has worked with British Gymnastics coaches on the development of Individual Athlete Plans and has experience of the administration of annual Athlete Performance Awards (APAs) with UK Sport.

Bayley also has previous experience of working in a netball Governing Body, having spent time with Netball Victoria in Australia on a study placement in the early part of her career.

Bayley spoke of her excitement at starting her new role with Welsh Netball.

She said: “I’m thrilled to have been appointed as Welsh Netball’s Head of Performance. After seeing the growth of the sport and the journey that Welsh Netball has been on, it was a role that I was instantly attracted to and I am excited about what can be achieved.

“Netball was my first love and the sport that got me hooked on sport at a young age, so I am delighted to be back in that space.

“Elite performance is a challenging environment to occupy, but I have been impressed with the level of commitment shown by players, coaches and volunteers to deliver National success, and I am excited about how we collectively build on this to evolve the performance programme.”

Sarah Jones, Welsh Netball CEO also added her thoughts: “Rachel is a great addition to the National Governing Body, she brings a huge wealth of strategic performance knowledge and experience with her. We are delighted to welcome her to Wales and to Welsh Netball.”