The Isle of Man senior netball team embarks on its first foray into international competition today, Thursday, as it competes in the Netball Europe Senior Open Challenge.

The islanders, who are sponsored by The Hooded Ram, will face teams from Ireland, Israel, UAE as well as hosts Gibraltar.

This is a landmark tournament as it allows Isle of Man Netball to collect their first points towards achieving a world ranking since splitting from Netball England last summer.

Isle of Man Netball president Pip Cross said: ’This sort of opportunity was never afforded us under Netball England, who would not recognise the Isle of Man as a country that could compete in its own right under its own flag.

’Last year we took the decision to break from Netball England and affiliate directly with the International Netball federation via Netball Europe.

’Since doing so a tidal wave of opportunities have washed our shores.

’The European u17s competition, which the Manx were due to compete at, was unfortunately cancelled because of the snow in March but has been rescheduled for October.

’Being part of Netball Europe allows us to develop future talent as well as test our current seniors against the rest of Europe and wider afield.’

The team for this week’s tournament has been training hard under the guidance of coaches Claire Battye and Rob McKee for several months.

Earlier this week Battye said: ’ We have an amazing opportunity to go out there and show Netball Europe what we can do. We are looking forward to grasping this opportunity with both hands.

’Isle of Man Netball is stepping forward and stepping up. I have no doubt the squad will make us all proud with their performance on and off the court.’

The full match schedule for the Manx team is detailed below, and matches can be viewed via Netball Europe’s Facebook page.

You can ’meet the squad’ via their individual profiles which can be seen on the Manx Netball Association Facebook page. Results, squad updates and pictures will also be posted daily.

The interest in netball as a sport has never been higher, thanks to the TV coverage of Commonwealth Games matches, and it is hoped that the island will get behind the team and offer their support by following their progress over the four days of the competition.

Schedule:

Thursday, May 10

Start time: 4pm

Isle of Man v United Arab Emirates

Friday, May 11

Start time: 7pm

Isle of Man v Republic of Ireland

Saturday, May 12

Start time: 4pm

Isle of Man v Gibraltar

Sunday, May 13

Start time: 10am

Isle of Man v Israel