Monday 21 January 2013 A netball coach who has achieved great success with her student teams is herself back playing top flight netball, with a little help from the Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) as her player sponsor. Alex Kirk came through initial trials and a 12 week programme of fitness and ball skills to earn her selection to the Yorkshire Jets squad, which is about to start its second season of competition in the Netball Superleague. As player coach with the Jets Alex has a wealth of experience to bring to the team. She played for a local club in her hometown of Hull before moving to Leeds at 16 to develop her game alongside her A level studies. As a player she represented England in the U17, U19 and U21 age groups and took up her first coaching role just a year after leaving school. Alex now combines her coaching role at GSAL with the post of Head of Performance for Netball at the University of Leeds. Having coached GSAL’s Under 16 netball team to the national schools title in 2012, she was herself tempted back into playing after working with the Yorkshire Jets last year as their technical support coach. Alex said: “While the training is tough, it’s well worth it to be playing matches again. Being on court myself gives me a valuable insight into the game as a coach. It’s a great experience and GSAL’s sponsorship is vital – without that kind of support the club couldn’t run.” Gareth Weaver-Tyler, Franchise Director for Yorkshire Jets, said: “We are incredibly grateful to partners such as GSAL for their continuing support to Yorkshire Jets. Our sport is still driven locally by dedicated volunteers, so community and commercial funding is critical to our survival. We run a high performance programme for some of the most talented athletes in the country, all of whom are either studying or working full-time on top of their 15 to 20 hours training per week.” Cath Johnson, GSAL’s Head of Netball, said: “Alex has been a massive help to our netball programme over the last two years and an inspiration to our elite players wanting to follow in her footsteps. With five of our school players in the U19 squad which develops players for Superleague, things look bright for the future.” General Senior School News
