31 May 2012: Facebook 'floats' Women TRY Sport PLEDGE for England Netball

'JUST TRY'

England Netball announced today that the England Team, led by Sasha Corbin, have 'Invested in Facebook' in a bid to promote women's sport in the lead up to the Olympics. Sasha and teammates have 'watermarked' their Facebook pages with encouraging messages to women to TRY sport or to take up a new sport on National Women TRY Sport Day.

'JUST TRY' is the slogan adopted by Women's SportsNet for the National Women TRY Sport campaign which launches at Wembley on 21 June and aims to get more women to PLEDGE to TRY sport. Sasha has won 11 caps for her country and is committed to netball as a social fitness game at all levels. "So many friends have taken up netball on a casual basis - it's a sport you can do once a month or every day! Either way you get to together with other girls as often as you wish" said Sasha. "The team and I were really excited when were approached by Women's SportsNet to endorse their campaign - and Facebook seemed to be the ideal platform. Not only does it get the Women TRY Sport message across to millions of women world-wide but it is a medium that many women use – we're just capitalising on Facebook for reach and convenience."

Netball is the second most popular women's team sport in the UK. It is played in 3,321 affiliated schools and participation numbers in the UK have grown by almost 13,000 in the last couple of years. There are currently 28 countries recognised by IFNA in the world rankings and the sport continues to grow in the Americas and Africa. It is an ideal sport for women to play either as a regular team or 'informally' to meet up and get active.

"We are keen to support Women's sport at all levels" said Joana Adams, Marketing Director at England Netball. "Our Back-to-Netball' (http://www.englandnetball.co.uk/my-game/back-to-netball/) programme has reached over 18,000 women in the first three years of the initiative. The team are passionate about engaging and empowering women through sport and netball's track record shows that we are an ideal platform to deliver Women TRY Sport concepts."

The Women TRY Sport Campaign launches on 21 June with a group of GB Sports Heroines TRYing football at Wembley – further information will be distributed to the media on Thursday 7 June 2012.

Notes for editors:

England Netball

The England NETBALL team are current World Netball Series Champions and are ranked third in the world. A strong England Netball 'Europe Open' squad successfully defended their title when competing against Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales last weekend. The squad are next in action in September when they face Jamaica in a three-match International Series - http://www.englandnetball.co.uk/.

Women TRY Sport Campaign

Recent research by the Women's Sport & Fitness Foundation tells us that there are millions of women in the UK who would like to TRY 'informal sport'. National Governing Bodies, Sports Clubs and Gyms etc are running thousands of events for women to TRY sport over the summer - the Women TRY Sport campaign is bringing them together", said Paul Reynolds from Women's SportsNet. "Our website (www.wsnet.co.uk) features national SportsHeroines, video footage, featured players and some obscure sports for women - TRY Roller Derby!!! It also lists women's sports by 'Spectate', 'Participate' and 'TRY' with web links, Facebook/Twitter feeds, video and ticketing information - making sport more accessible to women."

We list some 1500 'Women TRY Sport' events run by NGBs, Clubs and Sports centres on our website www.wsnet.co.uk - this is a free service.

Women's SportsNet - is all about raising the profile of women's sport and the profile of some of our great SportsHeroines. Helping women to feel comfortable and confident with sport with our Women TRY Sport Campaign (June 21) to hook up the zillions of women's who want to TRY sport with the thousand or so of events listed (free) on our website. We believe that this unfunded, not-for-profit and unsponsored project run by a group of volunteer, sports nuts will be one of the most cost-effective elements of soft legacy delivered (particularly outside of London) around the Olympic programme and can have far-reaching impact and huge leverage from what is effectively a community-led project."

Contacts

Women's SportsNet - Paul Reynolds
E: paul.r@wsnet.co.uk T: 01372 842490
M: 07976 385453 W: www.wsnet.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/women.try.sport.day
Twitter @WSNet

England Netball – Alex Sexton
E: alex.sexton@englandnetball.co.uk T: 01462 428 300
Fax: 01462 428 327 M: 07872 400 740
W: www.englandnetball.co.uk

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VISIT AND 'LIKE' THE TEAM'S FACEBOOK PAGES.
Have you PLEDGED to Women's Sport before the Olympics? http://www.facebook.com/women.try.sport.day