With the 2023 Netball season fast approaching, the Netball Players Association is pleased to announce our player reps for the up and coming season!
Fran Williams (Chair and Loughborough Lightning)
Fran Williams began her playing career in the Surrey Storm pathway programme. From there she joined the newly formed Wasps, in 2017, where she remained for four seasons, winning the title in two of those years.
In 2022 she made her move to Loughborough Lightning where they made the final but fell short of winning the title. On top of her impressive Super League career, Williams also has 25 England caps and is a part of the Roses leadership programme.
This is Williams second season as player rep chair, after taking over from Sophia Candappa in 2021.
Halimat Adio (Vice Chair and London Pulse)
Hali Adio will be working alongside Fran Williams as Vice Chair for her first season as player rep.
Adio has been part of London Pulse since 2020, where she is also captain. Despite facing some injury setbacks Adio is an integral part of London Pulse and continues to demonstrate her leadership qualities not only at Pulse but also at the NPA.
On the opportunity to be Vice chair she has stated “ I want to be a part of an organisation that has a reputation for integrity and honesty, but I also want to be a part of an organisation that sees us (players) as people first. I am eager to acquire knowledge and develop my skills in order to improve.”
Adio will be taking over from Stacy Francis-Bayman who recently retired from her playing career.
Laura Rudland (Celtic Dragons)
Laura Rudland started her professional netball career at Team Bath, where she went to university. Since 2021 she has been a member of Celtic Dragons where she is part of the leadership group and NPA Player Rep.
Laura has been a real asset to the NPA and has used some of our services and webinars to make a career transition during her time as a member. This puts her in a great position to promote the benefits of NPA membership.
Lily-May Catling (Team Bath)
At the age of 12 Lily-May Catling first took to the Team Bath arena court, now 15 years on Catling is now the NPA Player Rep for Team Bath.
Catling made her way through Baths academy programme before moving to Australia and playing for USC Thunder in the SSN and then returned to the UK to play for Wasps in 2021. She made her return to Team Bath in 2022 and has rejoined them for the 2023 season.
This is Lily-May Catling’s first year as a player rep and we know that her leadership qualities will be exceptional for this role.
Paige Reed (Leeds Rhinos)
Paige Reed is new to Leeds Rhinos for the 2023 season, but has already made an impact by becoming the team's player rep.
Reed started her Superleague career at Team Bath, before moving to Severn Stars in 2019.
On top of accumulating 637 goals within the Netball Superleague, Reed is part of the 2022-23 Roses future programme and recently competed at the World Netball FAST5 series in New Zealand where she made a huge impact scoring the long bombs from outside the circle to clinch victory in the dying second of matches.
We are so excited that Paige Reed has decided to be a player rep for this season.
Emily Nicholl (Strathclyde Sirens)
Since its inception in 2017 Emily Nicholl has been part of Strathclyde Sirens and has always been the NPA player rep there. This season will be Emily's seventh with the club.
Nicholl is also a part of the Scottish Thistles, receiving her first cap in 2016. She is now an experience Thistles player and was Vice Captain for Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Initially being our only Scottish member, she has now supported the NPA to have the majority of Thistles as members and set up the Player Advisory Group in Scotland.
We cannot wait to see what she will bring and we are so glad she has returned for another year.
Natalie Metcalf (Manchester Thunder)
Natalie Metcalf (née Haythornthwaite) has had an impressive playing career with three Netball Superleague titles, two Suncorp Netball titles, three international medals, including the Commonwealth Games Gold from 2018 and 67 caps to her name!
This will be Metcalf's third season at Thunder and second year as NPA Player Rep.
Ine Mari Venter (Saracens Mavericks)
Ine Mari Venter’s netball career has stemmed across three continents. Her career started in her home country of South Africa where she played for the Gauteng Jaguars.
Following her career in South Africa she represented Queensland Firebirds in Australia before joining Saracens Mavericks in 2021.
On top of that Venter is in South Africa's first full time netball programme which started this year having earned her first cap in 2016.
This is venters first year as a player rep and we are looking forward to having her on the player rep group as it will bring international influence and voice.
Gabby Marshall (Severn Stars)
Gabby Marshall started her professional netball career at Manchester Thunder before going to Saracens Mavericks, where she remained for four seasons and was also the NPA Player Rep for them. Now for the 2023 season Marshall has made her move to Severn Stars where she will not only be playing, but will also be the Franchise Pathway Lead.
Marshall is a well-liked player who makes waves wherever she goes, for example in 2021 she was awarded joint players player, fans player and coaches player! On top of that Marshall has played for England in the U17, U29 and U21 squads.
We are very happy that Marshall has decided to remain a player rep for us at Stars.
Frankie Wells (Surrey Storm)
Rejoining Surrey Storm for her fourth season with the team, Frankie Wells will also be undertaking her first year as an NPA Player Rep this season, taking over from Sophia Candappa.
Wells has always been a part of Storm, making her way through the Storm NPL pathway. Since then Wells has only grown from strength to strength each year.
Frankie is brimming with enthusiasm for the role and has already come with new ideas about how to promote the NPA better.
We would like to say a huge welcome to all our Player Reps for this season as well as a huge thank you to all our player reps for last season.
Announcement written by Imogen Raphael