Next year (2025) will see Netball’s Super League celebrate its 20th Anniversary, and Nottingham Forest have entered the party, led by England national team legend, Chelsea Pitman, and her all-star cast.
The league replaced what was the AENA Super Cup back in 2005 with eight teams vying for the title, which was won by the sports’ most successful outfit Team Bath (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013), and now, heading into the 2025 Nottingham, along with fellow newcomers Birmingham Panthers will join Cardiff Dragons, Leeds Rhinos, London Mavericks, London Pulse, Loughborough Lightning, and Manchester Thunder, in an eight-team league.
Forest’s closest rivals will be that of Loughborough Lightning, a force in recent seasons having won three of the last four Grand Finals (runners-up a further three times over the past seven seasons), as well as four Super League titles (2008, 2017, 2018, 2022) – Pitman and her side certainly have their work cut out.
Pitman’s on-court career, both in England, her native Australia, and in New Zealand. spans close to fifteen years, and has seen her win Gold at the 2011 World Championships (with Australia, whom she won 18 caps over 2011-12), and Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (with England, winning 38 caps between 2017 and 2023), said upon her appointment a couple of months back (July 2024):
“I am extremely excited at what this opportunity presents. Not just for myself but for those that will get to embark on this Nottingham Forest Netball journey as well.
“I am under no illusion that it won’t come without its challenges but that is what excites me the most. This is where growth happens!
“There are lots of moving parts to get a team together and with recruitment just around the corner, it’s time to get to work. I have a clear vision of what we want here at Nottingham Forest Netball, good culture!
“I want to attract players that want to invest in their netball, invest in helping our sport grow, open to challenges and tap into their netball brain. But it’s more than that, I want players that want to be better, well rounded, holistic athletes but more importantly, good people.”
Read full article on the Nottingham Forest website here
Having played either Centre, Wing Attack, or Goal Attack, during her playing career, Pitman brings a wealth of experience to a side that will play their home games at the Motorpoint Arena, and with that has attracted some talent to the East Midlands.
Among them are the Ugandan GK/GD, 25-year-old former She Cranes star, Faridah Kadondi, who also had court experience playing basketball, for the KCCA Leopards, in the Uganda National Basketball League.
Kadondi is one of a number of players from the She Cranes outfit to have been earmarked for professional assessments in Malaysia, and becomes another in a line of Ugandan stars to ply their trade abroad.
Joining Kadondi in the Garibaldi Red is South African GS, 23-year-old Rolene Streutker, who will be a threat next season, bringing both talent, and international experience, alongside a mix of British talent, the youngest being GA/GS Freya Henshall, and GK/GD Jayda Pechova, at just 20-years-old.
Hear Chelsea Pitman’s latest thoughts via here and that of Forest Chairman, Tom Cartledge (on the appointments of both Pitman, and Karen Atkinson MBE, AS Technical Advisor) via here
Nottingham Forest 2025 Netball Super League Squad
Iona Christian (26, Scottish, WA C), Niamh Cooper (32, Northern Irish, C WD), Rhea Dixon (26, English/Jamaican, GA WA), Brie Grierson (27, English, WA GA), Freya Henshall (20, English, GA GS), Faridah Kadondi (25, Ugandan, GK GD), Hannah Leighton (26, Scottish, C WD), Natasha Pavelin (26, English, GD WD), Jayda Pechova (20, English, GK GD), Rolene Streutker (23, South African, GS)
(KEY – GK Goal Keeper; GD Goal Defence; WD Wing Defence; WA Wing Attack; C Centre; GS Goal Shooter)
Keep up-to-date with all goings on with the Forest Netball side via their X (@NFNetball).
*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).
*Main image @NFNetball Nottingham Forest head coach Chelsea Pitman.
