Mintridge Silver Netball Programme with Eboni Usoro – Brown, January 2020
Mintridge Silver Netball
Programme with Eboni Usoro – Brown, January 2020
The cold and frosty morning that
graced the UK on Saturday 18th January was not putting the Gresham’s
Netballers off from donning their trainers and making their way across to the Sports
Hall to greet the one and only Eboni Usoro – Brown as she was there to
lead a Mintridge Silver Programme throughout the day.
Eboni was part of the legendary England
Netball team that secured the historic gold medal at the Gold Coast
Commonwealth Games in 2018 and this was her second visit to Gresham’s School as
part of her role as a Mintridge Foundation Ambassador. Building on a programme
with ex England Netball Captain, Pamela Cookey two years ago – the sporting
role models have been able to help lots of the students across the whole
school.
The day began with the Senior 1st
and 2nd teams as they prepare for their regional tournament which is
a few short weeks away. The defence structure and ideas that Eboni uses when
she captains Team Bath or takes on the world’s best in England’s red dress were
used in this session to encourage the girls to look at alternative options –
particularly looking at the centre pass. Both teams responded extremely well and
we at Mintridge look forward to hearing how they progress throughout the rest
of the season.
Sports Scholars and all Gresham’s
Netballers were invited to a presentation from Eboni that followed this. Eboni
shared her journey to the top of her sport and encouraged everyone in the room
to aim for the same heights in whatever field they choose and are passionate
about. It wasn’t a straightforward line to the top however, and Eboni shared
the many highs and the many lows that she has built a resilience to learn from
such as the “Commiserations” letter that she received at her first U17 England
Trial and how that helped her the following year to gain selection:
“I demonstrated an aptitude to
be better than yesterday!”
Eboni is an incredible advocate
for life balance; and this was demonstrated throughout her presentation as she
showcased how it is more than possible to play topflight netball alongside her
work as a solicitor and how they each compliment the other. Eboni’s personable
and engaging nature meant that there were lots of questions when the floor was
opened at the end of the session:
“What is the worst injury that
you have ever had to come back from?”
The 1st team gathered
in the beautiful Sports Pavilion, overlooking lots of the sports pitches where
they were able to enjoy more of Eboni’s company over a relaxed lunch. Eboni
shared stories from within England camp, her greatest rivals and even how long
it takes to do her A-M-A-Z-I-N-G braids!
After a delicious lunch, it was straight
back on court and to work with the final three groups of the day. Every student
that plays netball across the school was able to enjoy a coaching session with our
netballing superstar which was fantastic to promote the awareness of girls’
sport particularly. The U14, U15 A & B were the next up and they also had a
defensive focus before the U14B, C & U15C came to join in the fun. The final
group of the day, the Senior 3rd, 4th and 5th
teams ended the coaching element of the day in style with the most fantastic
energy leading into the highly anticipated presentations.
As part of a Mintridge Silver
Programme, two students gain remote access to their Ambassadors for six months
after the initial visit. During the final presentations of the day, Eboni
announced that she will be mentoring two seniors, Ella & Maria. We can’t
wait to work with them over the next few months to see the impact that
mentoring has and see how their netballing and school life develops. To say
that Ella and Maria were excited by the opportunity would be an understatement –
as the boomerangs on our social media channels might demonstrate.
Thank you very much to Mrs Flower
and the Gresham’s Staff for enabling this programme to take place, we are
excited to follow the progress over the season ahead.
If you would like to see the video
from the day, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl7Mc1X95yM&feature=youtu.be
The full album of photos are with
the Netball Department.
We look forward to seeing the Gresham’s
Community again soon, thank you for supporting our charity!