Renewed concerns over Jersey netball facilities

A former England netball player has renewed her concerns over the future of the sport in Jersey due to what she claims is a lack of facilities on the island.

Jersey Netball Association (JNA) coach Serena Kersten said the sport was in "serious trouble" due to a drop in available court time.

The JNA was offered less than a quarter of its current court time at the island's new Oakfield facilities which is due to open later this year.

Constable Andy Jehan, the minister with responsibility for sport, said he wanted to "make sure that we can find a schedule that supports the sport".

The island's new Oakfield sports facilities are scheduled to be completed in August and open to the public in October.

Concerns have been raised over how time at the facility will be shared between different sports.

The JNA was offered 27 hours per month compared to the 120 it currently has at Les Ormes.

The association's current base is set to turn the netball facilities into padel courts.

Ms Kersten, who played for England for 15 years, said the Oakfield site was not designed with netball in mind.

"For years all I've heard is that Oakfield is the home of netball," she said.

"It supports some of our programmes but unfortunately because of the offering we are in serious trouble as to the future of netball."

Ms Kersten said the drop in hours and revenue for the sport will mean the JNA will not be able to fund a netball development officer.

"We will no longer have anyone who can go into the community and develop netball on the island," she said.

She said the future for the sport was "worrying me, it's seriously worrying me".

"The time has come for the government to have to truly listen to what people are telling them."

Constable Andy Jehan, the minister with responsibility for sport said JNA questioning the suitability of Oakfield was "disappointing".

"Jersey netball were involved in the actual design of that facility," he said.

"We have many netball courts around the island in schools and at sports centres and we want to make sure that we can find a schedule that supports the sport.

"What I'm trying to do with the education minister is to identify what capacity we've got and try and utilise that as much as we can."

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