Turnford Netball club is based in Cheshunt, Herts. The senior section was formed in 1967 and was followed shortly after with the junior section in 1975. There are a total of 234 current members of which 194 of those are junior members. The club now boosts 8 senior teams and less than 16 junior teams from under 9's all the way up to under 16's. The club has successfully completed its annual review this year as an England Netball gold CAPS club and continues to work towards the high standards that have been set.

• The challenge

Since achieving our Clubmark accreditation in July 2003 Turnford Netball have increased their younger age group threefold. The introduction of playing High 5's has played a Fundamental part in encouraging both sexes, at a young age, to take part in the game of netball. This meant the club grew and grew and the challenge for the club was to accommodate a number of juniors at various abilities

• Key actions

We started four years ago running a High 5 league, which at that time there were only four teams taking part and competing. This has now risen to 20 teams taking part which includes teams not only from our local areas, but also teams from Essex.
Turnford also run Easter Camps and Summer Camps for both boys and girls under the age of 12, where High 5 is the only game played. These camps have also grown because of the fun aspect of playing High 5 , where every child plays every position .

• The solutions

To accommodate this rise in young membership, Turnford have encouraged their youth members (U14 to U19) to attend umpiring and coaching courses and assist at these camps and help run the High 5 Summer League.
We also encourage all volunteers and officials to attend 'duty of care' , 'child protection' and 'equity in your coaching' courses.

• The future

Turnford will continue to encourage our youth members to assist on our training evenings and camps and junior leagues with High 5 and would hope that some of these young umpires and coaches will continue through to adulthood officiating with our wonderful game of netball.

• Contact details

The club can be contacted via e-mail on turnfordnetball@aol.com