Wednesday 21 October 2015 14:31, UK
Vitality Netball Superleague franchise Team Northumbria have signed Jamaican internationals Shanice Beckford and Nicole Dixon.
The future looks bright for the ambitious franchise of Northumbria University, after they revealed the Sunshine Girls will jet into Tyneside later this month to join the new-look TN squad and start sport and business related courses.
Beckford and Dixon, who both starred for the Jamaica at this summer's World Cup, along with their international team-mates, have received a significant amount of interest over the past few seasons from both Netball Superleague and ANZ franchises.
The capture of Dixon and Beckford represents the completion of months of hard work behind the scenes by Northumbria University's High Performance Sport Manager Katy Storie.
The former England Rugby Union star flew to Sydney on a World Cup recruitment mission and it was after that when final talks took place with Jamaican netball chiefs following an initial discussion in Kingston in June.
On her move to UK's top Netball league, Wing Attack Nicole Dixon said: "It's overwhelming to be a part of the Northumbria team and get the chance to compete in NSL.
"All I can say is that hard work does pay off and whatever anyone wants to be in life or achieve in life it can be done with hard work and determination.
"It was - and still is - a wow moment for me knowing I've done so well in my career that Northumbria is my next destination.
"I am so excited to be on my way to join the other players and I can say confidently that am ready to go beyond my best."
Netball Jamaica sees the NSL as an ideal platform to blood its senior internationals with more players set to follow Beckford and Dixon next season.
"Having impressed during their high school and Under 21 careers, through to the Netball World Cup in Sydney, the move to TN was a natural step in the development of their careers," added Netball Jamaica president Marva Bernard.
"Their association with TN will see them exposed to high level international netball on a weekly basis.
"And this will undoubtedly add immense value to them both as individual players and to the Netball Jamaica senior programme.
"Shanice and Nicole are expected to blaze a trail for others in years to come and we'd like to wish them all the best and every success ahead of the new NSL season."
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