Defenders Tash Pavelin and Jayda Pechova among four Team Bath Netball players selected for 2024-25 Roses programmes
Tash Pavelin will join fellow Team Bath Netball defender Jayda Pechova in the Vitality Roses programme for the 2024-25 season.
Goal-defence Pavelin is one of three players elevated to the full-time programme from the Future Roses, whose newly-announced contingent includes Blue & Gold Super League stars Sophie Kelly and Phoebe Maslen.
University of Bath Sports Performance student Pechova, supported by a Trendell Sporting Scholarship, continues in the Vitality Roses programme for a second successive year having made her senior England debut during last September’s tour of New Zealand.
She has forged a good defensive partnership in the Super League with Natural Sciences graduate Pavelin, who missed the 2023 season with a knee injury but has come back strongly this year – ranked in the league’s top-ten performers for intercepts, gains and deflections – and started every game.
Also promoted from the Future Roses is University of Bath alumna Paige Reed, who is spearheading Manchester Thunder’s Super League title push. Former Team Bath players Imogen Allison and Jess Shaw are also in the 23-strong Vitality Roses squad announced by Head Coach and recent University of Bath Hall of Fame for Sport inductee Jess Thirlby.
The Vitality Roses programme is underpinned by the Future Roses programme, designed to develop the next generation of England players through exposure to high-level training and international match play experience.
Team Bath mid-courter Maslen continues in the programme for a second year and is joined by goal-attack Kelly, who took a step back from international commitments during the current season to focus on her Management degree at the University of Bath where she is supported by a Bill Whiteley Scholarship.
Maslen said: “It’s really exciting to be back in the Future Roses programme. I’ve learnt and developed a lot over the past year with the strength and conditioning support and getting to train amongst the country’s top young players. We also train a lot with the senior Roses, particularly when they have matches coming up, and that has been great exposure to top-class players.”
Cardiff Dragons shooter and Criminology student Hannah Passmore, supported by a Buchan Jones Scholarship, also joins the Future Roses programme for the first time.