Brunel make Swift move

Brunel Hurricanes, the side which finished the 2007-8 season in fifth place in the Co-operative Netball Superleague, has appointed a new head coach.

Former England and New Zealand international player Natalie Swift (nee Andrews) joins the Hurricanes fresh from a treble-winning season as head coach at Whitton Netball Club, as well as two seasons coaching Hillcrest and Cobham in the South East regional league.

Swift has top level playing experience having played for five years at national and international level in both Australia and New Zealand.

"This is a great opportunity," she said. "I am looking forward to the challenge of bringing together talent and international English players to build a top performing team.

"I believe London and the South East has the best pool of talent in the UK with great potential".

Talking about her appointment, Brunel deputy director of sport Neil Young commented, "We are delighted to bring Natalie in as head coach.

Singular vision

"Her drive and singular vision for the Hurricanes will bring a dynamic and focused approach to coaching and player management.

"We are confident that Natalie will gather a talented coaching and support team around her and that her inclusive approach will encourage fresh talent from across the region."

Swift takes over from Denise Holland who has been coaching Brunel Hurricanes for three seasons, as well as redeveloping Brunel University's Performance Netball programme.

"There has been quite a transformation in netball at Brunel University in the past three years under Denise's guidance, which culminated last season with the University's 1st team reaching the BUSA semi-finals and the 2nd team narrowly losing out in the final of the BUSA Trophy," continued Young.

"These are the best results that I have seen in my seven years at the University. I wish Denise well as she progresses her career in netball coaching and development.

"Our main focus now is to plan and deliver a robust and inclusive trials and selection process, which will give us the best possible squad of players to mount a more formidable challenge in next year's Co-operative Netball Superleague"