Melissa Hyndman officially confirmed her 2013 Netball Superleague squad yesterday morning, with plenty of fresh young faces coming into the team.
Notable changes are Lorraine Betsy moving to the Dragons from a premier club in England, and Wales player Sophie Morgan has moved to the Guildford based side Surrey Storm. The Dragons squad shows the strength and depth Wales has in its youth teams as five Wales Under 21 players have been announced as part of the squad; Sioned Hiscocks ,19, Nia Jones, 20, Cathy Bastian ,20, Bethan Dyke, 17, and Chelsea Lewis, 19.
Dragon’s coach Melissa Hyndman said ‘
‘Last season was a fantastic season for the Celtic Dragons, we certainly gave everything we had and worked hard as a complete team. This season has a different focus for me; as the Head Coach for Wales we move in to two of the biggest years of Netball for us. World Youth Cup is just around the corner, followed by the Commonwealth Games as well. This fantastic competition gives us the opportunity to build stronger as a team, while finding new and exciting talent for the future. Hard work and togetherness go hand in hand and this is the recipe that I am searching for this season. We need the hard work because it’s such a tough atmosphere when you have to win week in week out. You need togetherness because you don’t always win, and you have to hang in tough together. This will be a great learning environment for my new, fresh U21 players that have been named this season in the Celtic Dragons squad. ‘
The squad will now begin training for the Cathedral City Lighter Fastnet Grand Prix in early January.
Full squad list: Sara Hale, Suzy Drane, Lottisha Cato, Chelsea Lewis, Emma Thomas, Cara Lea Moseley, Sioned Hiscocks, Lorraine Betsy, Stephanie Williams, Nia Jones, Nichola James, Kyra Jones, Cathy Bastian, Bethan Dyke and Jamilla Abbott.
