Manx Netball Association held its annual awards ceremony at Woodbourne House in Douglas on Friday.

The well-attended awards evening recognised the contribution of members in all areas from players to coaches, officials and club committee members.

The event, sponsored by Newfield and the Hooded Ram, also gave the association the opportunity to recognise the volunteers who put many hours into making netball the success it is on the Isle of Man.

This included the amazing achievements made following the MNA’s decision to become a member of Netball Europe rather than affiliation via England Netball.

The winners were decided by a panel of members and based on the nominations made by individuals in April.

In addition, there were league awards for division winners, sporting teams and players of the year.

The award winners were: Ashley Hall (Coach of the Year); Claire Belcher-Smith (Club Administrator of the year); Kim Lamb (Official of the Year); Amanda Butler (Unsung Hero of the Year); Simcocks Red Eagles (Team of the Year); Rebecca Hempsall (U21 Player of the Year); Rachel Boyd Johnstone (21-40 Player of the Year); Sue Webster (Veteran Player of the Year).

Most Sporting Teams: Premier Simcocks Red Eagles; Division One RL360 Young Farmers; Division Two Simcocks Gold; Division Three Thompson 4 and Thompson 5.

The Player of the Season winners (based on player of the match votes) Premier Division - Rachel Boyd Johnstone; Division One - Sara Collister; Division Two - Alex Honour; Division Three - Vicki Corrin.

The final presentations were of caps to the players who represented the Isle of Man in the Netball Europe Open Championships in Gibraltar in May, where they won the silver medal.

MNA chair and joint team manager, Debbie Evans, thanked everyone involved, the players, the coaches Claire Battye and Rob McKee, and the people back home for their endless support on social media.

Netball development officer Rachel Andrew said: ’It was a great evening, a real chance to reflect and look back on the progress made in the last 12 months - something that we don’t often get the chance to do as we are always looking forward.

’I can remember Pip and I speaking to Jo Pack at last year’s event saying that there could be big changes in the pipeline - little did we are realise just how far we would come in a relatively short period of time.’