Chelsea Pitman excited and humbled for England opportunity

By Milly McEvoy, Sportsbeat

As she returns to the England set-up for the first time since 2020, Chelsea Pitman is a netballer who knows what she wants.

The 34-year-old, who represents the Vitality Roses through her father’s Yorkshire heritage, has also swapped her native Australia for London as she seeks new challenges with Vitality Netball Superleague side London Pulse.

The 2018 Commonwealth gold medallist has been selected for the England squad for their upcoming Vitality Netball International Series against Uganda with all 15 players keeping one eye on next year’s World Cup.

“I'm just such a happy person right now,” Pitman said. “I'm just extremely excited and humbled and honoured to be able to have this opportunity again.

“Because I was unsure if it would ever be the case. And the fact that I get to do it on home soil is a dream come true.

“I'm not going to shy away from it. I definitely, 100% want to be part of the Roses full time and what that looks like I don't know.

“But what I can control right now is making sure I play my role, I turn up to training, I bring my standards I play well, and hopefully my netball does the talking.

“I know I bring a lot of other things off court as in my experience and my leadership so they're just little things that I hope will see me in the future being part of the process moving forward.”

Pitman represented Australia for two years, winning the Netball World Cup in 2011, before first donning the red dress of England in 2017.

The mid-courter spent last season as a training partner for eventual champions West Coast Fever.

But this being a training partner was not enough for Pitman who has returned to the VNSL for the first time since 2015 to join young upstarts Pulse, alongside Roses veteran Jade Clarke.

With England’s leading appearance holder Clarke rested for the series against Uganda, Pitman has the tag as the oldest in a fresh-faced squad who will face Uganda in a three-Test series starting in Nottingham on 5 October.

With her extra years of experience, Pitman doesn’t just know what she wants, she knows what to expect.

She added: “I think the beauty of being around such young girls, you see their excitement at their first time being in this environment, you can't help but join on their vibe and get excited about it.

“Yes, I'll make jokes that I needed a longer extended warm-up being a little bit older. But I guess the beauty of where I'm at is, I know my nerves.

“I know how I like to prepare for games. I know what works for me to be at my best.

“I'm not in the early stages of figuring it out, so I guess I've got the beauty of that. And age is just a number I keep telling myself.”

Tickets to see the Vitality Roses in action against Uganda are still available from the England Netball website