A BURY youth netball team have qualified for a national finals in April as they aim to be crowned best in the country.

YWCA Bury under 16s are finally hoping to prove that they are the best in the UK after missing out on the chance to compete in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions cancelling the tournament.

For the 2021/22 season, the Under 16 National Club Finals will take place on Saturday 30 April and Sunday 1 May 2022 at the Jean Brown Arena at Redbridge Leisure Centre.

It is a two-day tournament and there will be a total of 18 teams playing each other.

Netball coach Katie Myers said: “Whoever wins is crowned as the national champions and it’s really prestigious as they only run it for under 16s and under 14s.

“Back in 2020 when Covid hit, the girls had just qualified to go as under 14s, but everything got shut so they never ran the tournament and they never got to prove they were number one then.

“Now we’ve been through the whole process again with the same girls, its exactly the same squad and they’ve managed to qualify.

“It’s so competitive in the Northwest everyone is really strong, so they’ve done really well.”

The team have got one more game against Oldham next Sunday, who will also be going to compete in the tournament.

Many of the girls play for big teams such as Manchester Thunder and Leeds Rhinos.

Katie added: “We’ve got an England under 17 player, Anya Williams who is 15, she’s going to be a superstar for the future.

“All of the girls are really high performance; they train a heck of a lot.

“The girls are so excited, and they just feel like they deserve it, they really think they are going to win it and I think they have a really good chance.

“Also, we don’t know what the Southern teams are like until we get there as we haven’t really played that far away for a couple of years, so it’ll be tough.”

The team have won many awards in the past, but this tournament is the one that everyone wants to win.

To win means you are the best in the country and there will be England selectors there who will be looking out for the most talented players.

Katie said that most of the girls have been playing at Bury since they were eight years old.

She said they have been working for this for so long and it’s the same girls which is unusual in girls sport because people drop out when they get to 14 but these girls are really committed athletes.