NETBALL player Shona O’Dwyer is hoping that her first taste of playing for her country won’t be her last after clinching gold with the England U21s.

The 19-year-old was invited to attend a trials day in Derby and after being named as a reserve for the team to play at Netball Europe in Aberdeen, she got a surprise call from head coach Kat Ratnapala to tell her that she had made the squad.

“I was really happy about being named as a reserve because I didn’t expect anything from it really, it was just for experience,” explained the former Lydiard Park Academy pupil.

“About a week before the tournament started, I got a phone call from the head coach Ratnapala saying that a space had become available and that they would like me to join the squad.

“I just went into shock, I couldn’t believe it was happening. It has been something I have wanted to do for a long time.”

O’Dwyer, who started her netball career at Croft at the age of 13 before joining Gloucester-based Hucclecote in the National Premier Division Two, travelled up with the team to Scotland, where she played centre and wing attack during a tournament as England completed a clean sweep of victories over Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland to secure the gold medal.

“Everything was really organised and it was an amazing experience,” said O’Dwyer.

“We played Northern Ireland in the first game and got a good win (78-23) under our belts to get most of the nerves out of the way.

“Then, we stepped up our game against Wales and put more of what we were learning into practice to win (65-26).

“Our final game was against Scotland, to decide who was going to get the gold medal and I think everyone was a little bit nervous but we all knew what we had to do and we stuck to task and it worked out really well for us, (with a 68-31 success).

“It was definitely a step up but it was made easier by all the coaching staff and the players around me. Everyone was very supportive.”

O’Dwyer, who is currently studying at Gloucestershire University, is now looking forward to getting her next shot at the national stage while also targeting promotion next season with Team Bath U21s.