Mintridge Bronze Netball Programme with Eboni Usoro - Brown, Benenden School - February 2020

It was a wonderful Wednesday for Team Mintridge, as we returned to Benenden School for a jam-packed day of netball skills, drills, tactics
and workshops with our amazing Commonwealth gold medallist and England Roses netball player, Eboni Usoro-Brown.

Throughout the day, Eboni worked with lots of different groups, who were joining us for our very special Bronze Netball Programme. The day
began with a coaching and skills-based workshop from Eboni for the teachers who had been invited Benenden to join for the day from the local schools in the area. They were introduced to some new netball skills and practices they could
take back to their own schools and use with the students they work with. It was great for everyone to be actively involved in the session so they could
understand the progressions and skills that were being delivered by our England
Netball superstar.

As the day progressed, Eboni went on to work with the visiting prep school students who all worked extremely hard in their sessions to develop
some new defensive skills, that Eboni had taught them and put them into practice in the games later in the afternoon. The pupils stepped on court in mixed teams, which was a great opportunity for the girls to play with pupils from a different school and to showcase their skills to Eboni, who was casting a
watchful eye on the day’s games. To finish off the afternoon of coaching, the students
all gathered for a Q&A with Eboni, to ask her all those burning questions about her career in and outside of netball. Some of the best questions were;

What other sport would you play if you could?

What position would you play if you were allowed?

Who is the hardest team you have played against?

When did you know you wanted to start playing netball
professionally?

If you could go back to a year ago, what would you say
to yourself?

Do you think you’ll ever lose your netball skills?

Did you ever have an injury that stopped you playing
at a crucial time?

After a great round of questions from the prep school students, Eboni presented a handful of awards to those students that had shown skill, hard
work or determination throughout the games and they each received a Mintridge medal,
certificate and keyring to take away with them. All the students had the opportunity to have their photo taken with Eboni and her very shiny Commonwealth and World Cup medals and take away a signed autograph card.

With a school full of promising sporting stars and hardworking Sports Scholars, after a short break, Eboni moved on to her Leadership Masterclass,
which she delivered to the Sports Scholars from Benenden. Eboni challenged their thinking skills in a serious of activities that would get them thinking about how they too could be great leaders, on and off the court and the role they play in
developing others. It was a brilliant session for the Sports Scholars and full of key messages and techniques they could take away and use in their own sports and with their peers.

To round off the evening, Eboni and Team Mintridge joined the Sports Scholars and staff for supper and discussed all things netball, Commonwealth
Games and Eboni’s long term plans for her career, before moving to the lecture theatre
for a presentation with all of the Benenden Sports Scholars, from a variety of different sports. It was a fantastic presentation for the young women in the
room to listen too, as many of them had listened to Eboni speak on her previous visit to Benenden and could relate and listen to the progress that had been made, not only in Netball during that time but also in Eboni’s personal and professional
life, which really backed up the important messages she has been relaying to
the young women on her last visit.

We were delighted to be welcomed back to Benenden to demonstrate the power of having such a positive role model like Eboni in to visit. It was so great for her to be able to share her inspirational messages and experiences
with all those who were involved in the day, from the students right through to
the teachers and staff.

If you would like to see the photos from the day, please contact the staff at Benenden School. You can see the video from our day at our YouTube channel via this link: https://youtu.be/SsXJM26vGsM

We are looking forward to joining you again next year Benenden and we hope to see all of the visiting staff and students again soon.

Thanks

Team Mintridge

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