Netball Ireland have announced the National squad to compete at the Netball Europe Open Championships and Sacha Shipway is one of the ambitious athletes who has been selected to compete later this week in Newcastle.

Netball is not a professional sport in Ireland meaning that the training for the Championships as well as the trip itself, is self-funded. Players pay for everything from kit to travelling expenses, tournament fees to training sessions and as you can imagine, this really adds up.

Sacha has been playing netball for Ireland since she was 19 years old – her first tournament took place in Gibraltar in 2012 where Ireland won the European Ranking tournament.

After this, she captained the U21 team in the 2013 World Youth Netball Championships and played in the European Championships in the same summer, where Ireland won the Challenger Cup.

2015 saw a repeat of this success and Sacha is currently preparing for the European Championships which will take place in Newcastle this week. This time guest nations USA and Grenada as well as usual competitors Gibraltar, Malta, Switzerland and Israel will challenge the Girls in Green.

As she is currently based in London working as an Editor for the England Netball magazine, Sacha has been flying back to Dublin for training sessions with the national squad, demonstrating her unwavering dedication to training.

On top of these expenses, Sacha has to pay for competition fees, physiotherapy support and accommodation at the European Championships.

Please help her and the team to retain the European Title by making a donation here.