International shower designer and manufacturer, Roman has donated over £3000 to support Thea Thompson, who has been selected to represent England U21 at indoor netball.
Roman who holds a long standing fund with County Durham Foundation has donated over £3000 from their Community Fund to support Thea Thompson. Thompson has been selected to represent England Netball NETs in 2016. England NETs is a modern, fast and furious form of netball, played inside high tension netted courts. It is very popular in New Zealand and was only introduced to England about 6 years ago – Thompson only started playing this version of netball at the start of 2016.
Barbara Gubbins, Chief Executive of County Durham Community Foundation said: “It is very important that young, dedicated individuals from the local community can participate in sport at the highest level if they have the ability. The grant from the Roman Fund will allow Thea to progress within her sport and provide a platform for her to excel and represent her country. Without this support that might not have been possible.”
Thea was selected as part of the elite players to represent England and to be part of the Under 21s squad travelling to the World Championships in New Zealand in August 2016. Being selected to represent England at any sport is a significant achievement and privilege and Roman donated to support this. As part of the England squad, players were expected to train numerous times per week in various locations across the country as a squad and individually.
Once the squad arrive in New Zealand they will train vigorously for a week and tournaments will be held from 20th – 27th August. The four teams involved in the competition are England, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
Thompson has played netball since she was 6 years old and started playing competitively at the age of 10, so all her dedication and commitment to the sport has paid off tremendously. Once she graduates in 2017 she hopes to become a sports teacher and to inspire more girls to get into playing sports competitively.
David Osborne, Managing Director of Roman, commented: “After hearing about Thea’s significant achievement and that the sport is completely self-funded, we wanted to donate to help support Thea and her team. We know that Thea will relish the unique opportunity to play for her country and everyone at Roman wish her and the England Netball Netts Team good luck.”