October Organisation of the Month

Bridgend Bolts Netball Club is a community hub in Bridgend that welcomes and encourages everyone to participate, with inclusive programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. They are our Organisation of the Month for October because of their commitment to community inclusion.

Access to Netball from a young age was missing within Bridgend, something the team noticed and aimed to rectify. They are now a proud deliver of Wales Netballs’ Netball Tots® programme, offering netball participation for 25 Tots aged 3-6 years old. To find out more about this programme, head to our Netball Tots® page on our website here: https://walesnetball.com/products-and-programmes/netball-tots/

By delivering Netball Tots® sessions for young children, it brought the sport of netball in line with other popular sports such a football and rugby. We recently attended Bridgend Bolts Tots during an evening session, and it was wonderful to see fifteen young and inspired girls developing their physical literacy skills while building their confidence and having fun. One of the Parents commented:

“The coaches at Bridgend Bolts have been so wonderful with our daughter, Heidi. Heidi did not know anyone else when she joined but now feels so much a part of the Bolts Family and her confidence has grown so much over the past 2 years. The coaches have nurtured Heidi, and her netball skills have progressed so well. They all go above and beyond for the Bolts Player, that is why so many of the players, including Heidi, bounce going into training and beam coming out. Thank you for being so fabulous.” – Parents of H. Moore (Tots Player).

From Netball Tots® to Junior and Senior netball, the club encourages participation and provides a secure and welcoming environment for netballers of all levels to take to court and improve their skills. The team at Bridgend Bolts ensure every player has a positive experience:

“I moved to Bolts 3 years ago and from the start my experience has been very positive. The extremely welcoming nature of Bolts makes training and games enjoyable and my favourite time of the week. I have not only developed as a player at Bolts, but also as a person with the most amazing coaches and teammates around me. The support at Bolts is unmatched and I truly feel blessed to be part of this club” – Lois Bratcher (Senior Team Player).

Founder and Head Coach of the Club, Lisa Power, is passionate about catering to a wide range of individuals who undoubtedly arrived at the club with different participation or performance goals involved:

“We are proud of the environment we have created at Bridgend Bolts Netball Club. Our mission is to create an inclusive environment for players that want to stretch themselves and pursue the Welsh Feather Pathway
whilst also catering for those that use netball to socialise and have fun.” – Lisa Power.

The club currently host 133 Junior players and 52 Senior players and continue to grow with each passing year, since Lisa Power established Bolts – as it’s known today – back in 2016. They are currently looking for coaching support, to cater to their increasing members. If you would like to join a supportive team who are happy to help with your coaching development, please head to their role vacancy on our website here: https://walesnetball.com/job-vacancies/

Thank you to the team at Bridgend Bolts, for enabling participation through different netball programmes; traditional, social and netball tots. You are an asset to your local community, and we wish you another successful season.

At the halfway point of every month, Wales Netball will announce its Organisation of the Month. An article will be displayed on our website and a post will be shared across all our social media channels.

If you would like to nominate an organisation involved in the Netball community, complete the nomination form using this link: https://forms.gle/9RxwRWndbCRX4fgCA