Celtic Dragons will make history this Saturday (12 October) as they take on the challenge of the British Fast5 All-Stars competition for the very first time in the franchise’s history. The team will head to London’s Copperbox Arena to fight it out against 7 other franchises for the £25,000 grand prize, live on Sky Sports.
The team features the bulk of Celtic Dragons’ 2020 Vitality Netball Superleague squad, but it will be a final farewell from Dragons legend, Kyra Jones. Jones, who retired from Superleague netball at the end of last year is eagerly awaiting this weekend’s tournament, saying: “I’m really excited about playing for Celtic Dragons one final time as we take on the challenge of the British Fast5 All-Stars competition for the very first time in our history.”
“Fast5 presents a unique challenge and always has an incredible atmosphere. I can’t wait to give it my all one final time in the green of Celtic Dragons and I’m excited to see what we can produce as a squad on the day!”
The Fast5 squad will also feature brand-new Jamaican duo, Rebekah Robinson who featured in the Sunshine Girls’ World Cup squad and defender Latanya Wilson who has recently broken through into the senior ranks back home.
Ahead of this weekend’s action, head coach Tania Hoffman shared her thoughts after what has been a very busy period of training for the team. She said: “We’re excited to be part of the British Fast5 All-Stars for the first time. We worked really hard during the Superleague season to make top 8 and whilst Fast 5 qualification wasn’t on our minds during that campaign, we were pleased to qualify for the competition.
“It has been interesting getting used to the new rules and the space on court. We’ve certainly noticed it’s a quicker pace and will need to be on our mettle on the day. In the shooting circle the style of play goes against the grain of what we normally do so we’ve had to change our thinking there.
“I’d like to extend my thanks to Knights Men’s Netball for coming down to Cardiff and putting us through our paces leading up to the tournament. We are looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd at the Copperbox this weekend and hope many of our fans will be making the trip to London or watching at home on Sky Sports.”
Celtic Dragons will take on Team Bath in the third game of the day following the announcement of the draw for the competition. The squad will need to bag at least one victory in their first two games to progress further into the competition and have a shot at taking home the big prize.
British Fast5 All-Stars will be broadcast live via Sky Sports on Saturday 12 October from 1pm and live updates will be made available from Celtic Dragons’ social media channels.