Posted on: Wednesday 29 July 2026
A new community netball group is changing women's lives by increasing opportunities to play the sport and improve their health and well-being.
The group was set up by the Allsortz Netball Club after they realised there was a gap in the market for women who wanted to play the sport non-competitively.
Since then, more than 100 women have signed up with up to 28 meeting regularly every Monday evening at Abersychan School.
Vicky Price, from Trevethin, joined in January and has since lost over two stone and no longer needs to take anti-depressants.
The 48-year-old said: "It's made a big difference to my life. Before I used to go to work and go home, but since I've been going to the sessions I've lost weight, I've come off my anti-depressants and I've made new friends. I literally knew no one when I first started but they made me feel so welcome."
Coach Catherine Duke said: "When I was ready to get back into netball, the only option at the time, in the local area, was to join a competitive team. But these can be difficult to join because spaces are often limited, they require trials and they can be a big commitment.
"We wanted to set up open sessions that women could join when they were able, helped them learn how to play the sport and were an opportunity to meet new people.
"So we decided to see what the demand would be and it's been huge. Since October, we've had 105 women join our booking system, over 600 individual bookings with some women coming every week."
Access to newly refurbished affordable facilities at Abersychan School and funding from the council helped to buy equipment and train volunteers.
Catherine, who also runs netball sessions as part of the If You Go I Go programme, added: "The funding helped us build the foundation so we could set the sessions up. The sessions are now self-funding because we charge a small fee, which covers the cost of the hall. We hope to set up more community sessions in the future."
Megan Parker, who runs If You Go I Go, said: "The Torfaen Deal is helping to grow community exercise because it's enabling for local people like Catherine to become health champions and provide more opportunities for women to be active."
Earlier this month, Nerys Evans MS, Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health, visited another community-led exercise programme at the SSC gym in Pontypool.
She met with members of the over-60s men's weightlifting group to highlight the importance of small amounts of movement.