Performance
Applications for 2025/26 season NOW OPEN for U12, U13 and U17 athletes CLICK HERE to complete the online form.
Closing date is 6pm on Sunday 17th August 2025
Applications for 2025/26 season NOW OPEN for U14 and U15 athletes
CLICK HERE to complete the online form. The NW Netball website has all the details of how to apply and the criteria
Closing date is 5pm on Monday 1st September 2025
Closing date is 5pm on Monday 1st September 2025
Cheshire County Netball have squads in the following age groups:
U12, U13, U15 Academy, U15 PDP, U17
The U15 Player Development Programme (PDP) squad is part of the England Netball (EN) Player Pathway (England Netball | England Netball Player Pathway). This squad is selected positionally so it is balanced across all 7 court positions and can be made up of U14 and U15 athletes. Cheshire also run a separate U15 Academy squad to continue to develop other U14 and U15 Cheshire athletes that have not been selected for the PDP squad.
Cheshire County Netball Eligibility
There is different eligibility for the U15 PDP squad compared with the other Cheshire squads as these criteria are driven by EN.
Any U14 and U15 athlete from any county area is eligible to trial for the U15 PDP squad. However, each athlete will only be able to trial for one NW Netball U15 PDP squad (Cheshire, Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside or Cumbria). This will be monitored through the centralised application process and trials will all be on the same day. An athlete that is not successful at being offered an U15 PDP place could still be eligible for selection for the U15 Academy squad if they meet the criteria below as described for U12, U13 and U17 squads.
For all other squads (U12, U13, U17), an athlete must be at a Cheshire Affiliated Netball club in order to trial. Please check with your club if you are not sure if they are Cheshire affiliated (any club playing in the CJNL league are Cheshire Netball affiliated, but there will be other clubs too). In the rare situation that a trialist is not part of a netball club, and play their netball only through school, then they must attend a school in Cheshire. An athlete who lives or attends school in Cheshire is not eligible to trial unless they meet the other criteria described above.
Athletes trial in the following age groups. In some rare instances, after trial, a player may be invited to join an older age squad, but they will still trial according to their DOB.
U12, U13, U15 Academy, U15 PDP, U17
The U15 Player Development Programme (PDP) squad is part of the England Netball (EN) Player Pathway (England Netball | England Netball Player Pathway). This squad is selected positionally so it is balanced across all 7 court positions and can be made up of U14 and U15 athletes. Cheshire also run a separate U15 Academy squad to continue to develop other U14 and U15 Cheshire athletes that have not been selected for the PDP squad.
Cheshire County Netball Eligibility
There is different eligibility for the U15 PDP squad compared with the other Cheshire squads as these criteria are driven by EN.
Any U14 and U15 athlete from any county area is eligible to trial for the U15 PDP squad. However, each athlete will only be able to trial for one NW Netball U15 PDP squad (Cheshire, Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside or Cumbria). This will be monitored through the centralised application process and trials will all be on the same day. An athlete that is not successful at being offered an U15 PDP place could still be eligible for selection for the U15 Academy squad if they meet the criteria below as described for U12, U13 and U17 squads.
For all other squads (U12, U13, U17), an athlete must be at a Cheshire Affiliated Netball club in order to trial. Please check with your club if you are not sure if they are Cheshire affiliated (any club playing in the CJNL league are Cheshire Netball affiliated, but there will be other clubs too). In the rare situation that a trialist is not part of a netball club, and play their netball only through school, then they must attend a school in Cheshire. An athlete who lives or attends school in Cheshire is not eligible to trial unless they meet the other criteria described above.
Athletes trial in the following age groups. In some rare instances, after trial, a player may be invited to join an older age squad, but they will still trial according to their DOB.
Trial Process
For the 2025/2026 season the U14/U15 PDP trial application process will be co- ordinated centrally by NW Netball. Please monitor the NW Netball website and social
media for the application process to open.
For all other Cheshire age groups (U12, U13, U17) a separate Cheshire-only application process will open from 16th June 2025 and will close at 6pm on Sunday 17th August 2025. No late applications will be accepted. Link to complete the application will be shared on Cheshire Netball social media, shared directly with Cheshire clubs, and added to this website.
Trials are scheduled to take place at The Grange School (CW8 1LU) on the following Sundays. The currently planned age groups are shown after the specific dates however this is subject to change once Manchester Thunder trial dates are published as we will try and avoid trials for the same age on the same date.
There is a trial fee of £10 per athlete to cover the court, umpire costs and other expenses. This is payable in cash on the day. When arriving at the trial, each trialist will be given a trial number to write on their arms and legs.
Athletes are asked to wear a white top and dark shorts/skort. No club, county or franchise kit to be worn. For the U14/U15 trials one of the ages may be asked to wear a black top to distinguish between U14 and U15 athletes trialling for the selectors.
For the 2025/2026 season the U14/U15 PDP trial application process will be co- ordinated centrally by NW Netball. Please monitor the NW Netball website and social
media for the application process to open.
For all other Cheshire age groups (U12, U13, U17) a separate Cheshire-only application process will open from 16th June 2025 and will close at 6pm on Sunday 17th August 2025. No late applications will be accepted. Link to complete the application will be shared on Cheshire Netball social media, shared directly with Cheshire clubs, and added to this website.
Trials are scheduled to take place at The Grange School (CW8 1LU) on the following Sundays. The currently planned age groups are shown after the specific dates however this is subject to change once Manchester Thunder trial dates are published as we will try and avoid trials for the same age on the same date.
- 14th September 2025 (U13 trial)
- 21st September 2025 (U12 trial)
- 28th September 2025 (U14/U15 trial)
- 5th October 2025 (U17 trial)
There is a trial fee of £10 per athlete to cover the court, umpire costs and other expenses. This is payable in cash on the day. When arriving at the trial, each trialist will be given a trial number to write on their arms and legs.
Athletes are asked to wear a white top and dark shorts/skort. No club, county or franchise kit to be worn. For the U14/U15 trials one of the ages may be asked to wear a black top to distinguish between U14 and U15 athletes trialling for the selectors.
Training nights and locations:
Sessions are only scheduled in termtime and some weeks there may be Strength and
Conditioning (S&C) sessions instead of training. These S&C sessions may be a different
day, time or location to routine training.
Sessions are only scheduled in termtime and some weeks there may be Strength and
Conditioning (S&C) sessions instead of training. These S&C sessions may be a different
day, time or location to routine training.
Frequently asked Questions:
I’ve submitted a trial application but not heard anything back, has it been received?
You will receive an e-mail with the information completed in the Google form once the trial application has been submitted. Please check you get this. This can often go into junk so please search for the [email protected] e-mail address. If you don’t have a confirmation e-mail please resubmit an application.
Within 1 week of the trial application process closing, all applicants will receive a confirmation e-mail detailing timings for next steps. Please check your junk folder if you haven’t received an e-mail, all e-mails will be from the [email protected] account. A post will go out on social media once all e-mails have been sent.
Can my daughter be in Cheshire County and a Netball franchise?
Cheshire Netball take guidance on this from EN, which can change. For the 2024/25 season if a player was part of the franchise’s EN pathway (i.e. their PDP squad), they could not be part of a county squad, as the franchise squad would be considered further up that pathway. If an athlete was part of a franchise satellite squad, it would depend on the specific franchise rules, training frequency and other commitments of the athlete (to avoid overtraining). Please consult with the franchise PDP lead and the Cheshire PDP lead, if this situation arises.
How much does Cheshire cost per season?
This depends on the training frequency, but the season cost for 2024/5 season was between £180 and £350. This cost covered all training, S&C, court costs and umpires for any match play and a Cheshire Netball. We do not want any athlete to not trial or to refuse a place due to financial circumstances, and staged payments or other support is always available.
I’ve submitted a trial application but not heard anything back, has it been received?
You will receive an e-mail with the information completed in the Google form once the trial application has been submitted. Please check you get this. This can often go into junk so please search for the [email protected] e-mail address. If you don’t have a confirmation e-mail please resubmit an application.
Within 1 week of the trial application process closing, all applicants will receive a confirmation e-mail detailing timings for next steps. Please check your junk folder if you haven’t received an e-mail, all e-mails will be from the [email protected] account. A post will go out on social media once all e-mails have been sent.
Can my daughter be in Cheshire County and a Netball franchise?
Cheshire Netball take guidance on this from EN, which can change. For the 2024/25 season if a player was part of the franchise’s EN pathway (i.e. their PDP squad), they could not be part of a county squad, as the franchise squad would be considered further up that pathway. If an athlete was part of a franchise satellite squad, it would depend on the specific franchise rules, training frequency and other commitments of the athlete (to avoid overtraining). Please consult with the franchise PDP lead and the Cheshire PDP lead, if this situation arises.
How much does Cheshire cost per season?
This depends on the training frequency, but the season cost for 2024/5 season was between £180 and £350. This cost covered all training, S&C, court costs and umpires for any match play and a Cheshire Netball. We do not want any athlete to not trial or to refuse a place due to financial circumstances, and staged payments or other support is always available.