BGS alumni and netball superstar Molly McDonnell is heading to a major sporting competition for elite athletes later in the year.
Molly, 15, who left BGS at the end of Year 6 and is now a pupil at Ripon Grammar School, won a coveted place on the Leeds Rhinos U17s netball performance league squad (NPL) despite being three years younger than most of the other players.
And now she is hoping to compete at netball at the School Games in Loughborough in September – a multi-sport event for the UK’s elite athletes of school age.
Her love of netball began at BGS when she started playing the sport in lessons with now retired BGS games teacher Mrs Gillian Furniss.
Picking up her first netball aged seven, she quickly proved her natural talent, and represented BGS at countless home and away fixtures.
“I loved netball so much that I joined Ripon Rockets netball club as soon as I could. At BGS we convinced some of the boys to play with us and had an undefeated team in Year 6 with our whole class playing, ” said Molly, who also plays for Leeds Athletic Netball Club, training three times a week and playing up to three matches every weekend.
“I love the game, I’ve made some amazing friends and hope to continue playing netball at a high level – and it all started at BGS,” said Molly, whose mum Mrs Rebecca McDonnell is our very own BGS netball coach, helping guide our young players to success on the courts each week.
