Netball America® is supported by an Advisory Committee, Board of Directors, Executive Management Team, members, volunteers and interns. The team is an international and diverse group of individuals who are highly qualified professionals. They have extensive global sporting and business experience as well being dedicated and passionate about the growth of Netball in America. Our team includes over 250 volunteers.
Natasha is based in Raleigh, North Carolina and is the founder of North Carolina Nets, which has now expanded to Charlotte. As a collegiate golf athlete Natasha has won many tournaments and received awards including the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and NCCU Athletics DAWN Spotlight Award. Recently Natasha was selected on the USA STARS Team to represent at the upcoming Dubai International tournament in December 2023. Natasha holds a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Sports Performance with a Minor in Sports Psychology, as well as a Masters in Kinesiology with a concentration in Athletic Administration.
Natasha is responsible for Netball America members and is helping drive their growth and to foster profound connections while creating opportunities among players, coaches, and officials. Our unwavering commitment to athlete development and cultivating elite players drives us to continuously strive for greatness, with the ultimate goal of Olympic representation for Netball.
Natasha is working with a nonprofit ‘SwingPals’ where she uses golf to help teach social-emotional skills to underserved youth in the community and also started a local community club to help get girls being active and back into team sports post pandemic. Her goal is to spread the Be An Inspiration Netball program to minorities throughout Nth Carolina and beyond.
“I know how sport has helped me achieve my personal, study and work goals and I want to help others see this too, especially for minority girls. I love sharing my story with them and being a role model. I want to teach that failure is okay, in fact, failing or losing is the only way to learn. It’s not about the awards or the accolades but about the journey to get there. The determination and leadership skills that sport has given me, is helping me in all aspects of my life. It has also given me the confidence to apply to be a President of a national not for profit.”, says Natasha. You can contact Natasha at Natasha@NetballAmerica.com.
Exciting, exhausting, exhilarating and inspirational is how you would describe Netball America CEO and KPMG Director, Sonya Ottaway. Her motto is “what matters is whether you’ve created something special, and whether you’ve made a real difference to other people’s lives”.
Sonya’s passion is in helping others and changing lives and one way she is achieving this is by introducing programs across the USA to provide opportunities to youth while helping those in underserved areas. Netball inspired her to achieve Netball history with Netball being showcased at STAPLES Center and Madison Square Garden to over 50,000 basketball fans. Along with this achievement Netball America has been the first to introduce Netball education programs into US education curricula across USA schools. These programs are now running in Miami-Dade, Brevard, Baltimore, Frederick, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, New York, and New Hampshire Public Schools. During 2022 & 2023, over 35,000 kids have been through Netball America’s programs.
Sonya’s nickname is ‘Captain MIH’ (Make It Happen). Her adventures have taken her all over the world, from competing in the World Hapkido Championships in Busan South Korea and training with the monks in the South Korean mountains, to swimming with Great White Sharks in South Africa to scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, riding Arabian horses throughout Egypt to riding Oxen in Thailand, driving Formula 1 in Las Vegas to cascading down 300 foot waterfalls in the Mexican Sierras. Sonya also was the finalist (alongside winner Golfer Greg Norman) for ADVANCE Global Australian of the Year, LA Business Journal Awards finalist for Women Making A Difference, and received the Happy Charity Action Award in Washington D.C. Sonya has raised over $1 million in funding and donations for Netball America.
As a Netball player, Sonya represented the USA on an International level for 5 years and holds an ‘A’ Badge in Umpiring. Sonya is also a certified Chartered Accountant, an Information Systems Auditor and holds a Bachelor of Business, with Distinction and a minor in Japanese.
As an American golf professional and sports fanatic Steve is passionate about introducing Netball and the benefits it offers, especially to youth across the USA. He loves the fact that it is a true team sport in that you can’t have an individual playing alone or being a ball hog, and that the ball must be passed between players. It’s a great sport to teach special awareness, body control and hand/eye coordination – which can also assist people to hone in skills that can be used in other sports such as basketball, golf, tennis, rugby, soccer etc.
Steve helps drives all our tournament initiatives, including Tournament Director of www.USOpenNetball.com. Steve is responsible for Netball America’s corporate branding.
Steve is the CEO of Vitoria and former manager of GOLFTEC which specializes in scientific analysis of golf swings, body movement and mental focus in game situations. Steve is PGA certified. Steve was a Physics major at UCSB and holds an Associates of Draft and Design Degree. He has over 20 years experience in the sporting industry, including running high profile golf events and leverages this experience to ensure Netball America tournaments are conducted in line with elite American standards. Steve worked with the Federation of International University Federation as Tournament Director of the highly successful 2016 FISU World University Netball Championship. He is also the Tournament Director of the annual US Open Netball Championships™.
Amara graduated from Columbia University in NYC, where she played Division 1 College Basketball on the women’s team for all four years. Amara graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s in pre-medicine and psychology and then went on to graduate in 2017 with her Master’s in Sports Management, specializing in sport-based youth development.
Since graduating Amara has worked in an urgent care center as a medical assistant, home-based cardiology firm, and cryotherapy technician. Amara is currently a dental student at Kansas City University in Joplin, Missouri and her plans are to graduate in May 2027 with a doctorate degree in dental medicine. Her future aspiration is to specialize in oral oncology and own her own dental practice.
Selection to the Women’s USA Netball Team in 2016 was Amara’s Netball career highlight as this saw her represent the USA on the first All American USA Netball Team, competing at the World University Netball Championships in Miami in 2016 and Uganda in 2018. Amara has continued on with the Stripes to Stars Pathway and has represented the USA in numerous other domestic and international events. Her achievements on and off the court has propelled her to being selected as TrueSports’s first Netball Ambassador alongside other Olympic athletes. Her passion is to see kids thrive and provide them with equitable opportunities.
Dr. Jayne is based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and is the North America Chair of the International Sport and Culture Assn, is a Project Director with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and now retired District Director for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Her other roles have included being a committee member on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition and on the Institute of Medicine committee. Dr. Jayne has been recognized by NIKE as developing one of the best physical education programs in the USA and her story was included in the NIKE Designed to Move Report. Dr. Jayne also assisted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in developing the “I Can Do IT, You Can Do It Program,” addressing physical activity for youth with disabilities.
"The level of professionalism, enthusiasm and vision displayed by Netball America has inspired not only me but my teachers. As a result, I had Netball America partner with Miami-Dade County Public Schools to include netball as part of their core curriculum.", says Dr Jayne.
“Without a doubt, Netball is one of the fastest and most dynamic team sports. Until the last few years netball has been one of the best kept secrets in America. I have been so impressed with the way Netball America has connected the game of netball to the local community. Netball America’s vision has allowed Netball to be used as a vehicle to address many of the social issues that constantly challenge society.”
Vicki is a former Netball Australia Captain with 104 Test Caps and on an international level has coached the NZ Silver Ferns, the Fijian Pearls and is currently the Technical Director for Netball America’s USA STARS teams. She is also one of Netball Australia’s high performance coaches, who has worked with teams in all three of the top elite domestic leagues and is currently on World Netball’s Coaching Advisory Panel. She is also a Board Member of the Brisbane Broncos, which is an Australian professional rugby league football club.
Rose Group Int’l®️ is a professionally compressive team. Their experiences and background, education, achievements, personal pursuits and interests as well as each of our personal internal compass propels our Netball America team forward and provides the depth and breadth of our professional grasp.
With Rose Group Int’l®️, you get what you see. We don’t pretend everything is okay when it isn’t. We don’t tell you things are a disaster if they aren’t. We address conflict productively. We unite your team, so they have each others’ backs. We move your people toward your goals. We get things done.
“As an American professional athlete I pride myself in knowing about team sports. Hence, I was surprised to learn about Netball America and how globally popular Netball is. I want to support Netball America in their efforts to promote Netball and most of all, was impressed when I saw their USA Women’s national team compete and how much their U.S. Open Netball Championships® has grown over the years.”
Clare has been Umpiring at the highest level since 2003. Having gained her All Australian (A Umpire Badge) in 2000, Clare went on to gain the International Umpire Award (IUA) in 2003. Having umpired three World championships (1 senior and 2 youth), one Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2014), Commonwealth Bank Trophy and ANZ Championship matches, Clare is assisting Netball America ensure our Umpire pathway aligns with that of international standards. She recently retired her international umpiring and is focused on growing mens’ and mixed netball globally. “I have been impressed by Netball America’s integration of boys and men playing Netball from the beginning and how their development efforts are now paying off given the level of play their development teams have now reached a higher standard of play.”
Sam competed at the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympics and 2008 Beijing Summary Games. Between those two Games, Sam won two gold medals, two silver medals, a bronze medal and broke a world record in Athens for the 100m butterfly event. In 2006, Sam set a world record at the World Swimming Championships in Berlin, Germany. In 2009, Sam received the Medal of Order of Australia. Sam visits thousands of students each year to raise disability awareness and promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Lanika holds a Masters and Bachelors in Business Administration and Sports Management as well as an associate degree in General Studies and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Lanika is passionate about giving youth the opportunity to learn life skills through sport. Lanika is leading all the administration for our Be An Inspiration Programs running across the USA, US Virgin Islands, Sth Africa and Uganda. She is also overseeing all our backend operations that support events such as the U.S. Open Netball Championships®, the Junior U.S. Open Netball Championships®, BAI, the National Netball League® and our contact database. Contact Lanika@NetballAmerica.com.
Kaela is a member of Emerald City Netball Club and is an athlete with the American Netball STARS team. Kaela is passionate about driving the growth of Netball in the West. Her efforts have also helped introduce Netball to many teachers in this region.
Kaela is currently studying for her Bachelors in Cybersecurity. This technical analysis and understanding helps her look at driving the West Region forward with more automated processes and technology capabilities. You can reach Kaela at WestRegion@NetballAmerica.com.
Katherine is based in Atlanta, Georgia and is the captain of Crusaders ATL Netball Team. She is also a USA athlete in the Stripes to Stars pathway. Katherine deeply believes in the power of sports to bond and unite communities so she is very excited to be developing Netball in the South region, and her region recently hosted the 2023 U.S. Open Netball Championships® in New Orleans. Her profession is a cleantech investor and has a degree in economics from Swarthmore College. Contact SouthRegion@NetballAmerica.com.
Veruscha is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is passionate about growing Netball in the mid-west region. She presented to the 25 schools who have began implementing our USA education curriculum and she continues providing support to their teachers to ensure they are introducing netball in lines with our curriculum. Contact MidWestRegion@NetballAmerica.com.
Kristen is based in Maryland and a member of the D.C. Dragons Netball Club. Her role is critical due to the rapid expansion of our Maryland/DC school programs. Contact EastRegion@NetballAmerica.com
Dana grew up in the Be An Inspiration program from the very beginning when it originated as GoGirlGo! The transformation in Dana over the past 10 years has been incredible and inspiring and now she wants to share it with other underprivileged youth to enable them to be provided with opportunities they would not normally have. This year she represented Netball America at various national and international sport based youth meetings and events, including at the Global Sports Summit hosted at the iconic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Dana joined Olympic athletes, Nike reps, the Mayor of London etc to discuss issues facing coaching girls, gender equity and driving positive social change through sport. Dana also recently completed the Z Zurich Foundation and Beyond Sport Mental Wellness for youth. Dana also represented the USA in Uganda and Miami and the World University Netball Championships. Contact Dana@NetballAmerica.com.
Chanelle is an experienced strength and conditioning coach and a Doctor of Chiropractic. She also recently led the Mixed American Netball STARS team to take home the gold medal at the Emirates Dubai 7s Netball international netball tournament. Her experience and global connections are helping ensure the American elite performance pathway is in line with world class standards. Chanelle is based in Dallas, Texas, Contact Chanelle@NetballAmerica.com.
Josh has covered the Olympics in Japan and other professional sporting events and has been involved for many years capturing netball magic in photos and film for Netball America and is based in Phoenix. He leads the US Open Netball broadcast. Involved in the communications field and television production, Josh, is the President of Memory Artist Studios and teaches media at a local college. You can view Josh’s work by looking at the many wonderful video productions he has done on behalf of Netball America on your youtube channel. Josh also spearheaded the campaign in which Netball America broke a Facebook record for having the most live viewers at anyone time using the Facebook live app for the US Open Netball Championships®. Contact Info@NetballAmerica.com.
Beth is based in NYC, is President of the Manhattan International Netball Club (MINC) and is a graduate of Oxford University and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Beth will lead a team that is launching the 1st ever National Netball League for the USA. The purpose of the National Netball League (NNL) is to introduce and generate awareness of Netball within the American community while simultaneously developing, expanding, and enhancing the Netball athletes playing experience while providing opportunities for coaches and officials development. Outside of netball, Beth is Chief of Staff at Project Rousseau, a non-profit serving asylum seekers and homeless youth. Contact Beth@NationalNetballLeague.org.
Holly is a HR professional with global expertise in launching brand products. Her international product experience and vision will help drive Netball America strategies to the next level in the USA. She will help drive consistency in our training curriculams for coaches and teachers and lead our training initiatives. Contact Holly@NetballAmerica.com.
Chris is an Executive Protection Agent and former Special Reaction Team (SRT) Member. He is now running a successful martial arts studio in Raleigh, North Carolina. Chris ensures the safety of all our participants at events. Contact Info@NetballAmerica.com.
Contact us if you are interested in any of the following:
Netball America is governed by the following policies and procedures:
Athlete Rights
Insurance Policy
Board and Executive Team Development Policy
Equal Opportunity and Sexual Harassment Policy
Brand and Marketing Guidelines
Financial Policy
Committee Charters
Safe Sport Policy
Conflict of Interest Policy
Terms of Membership
Constitution and By-Laws
USA Netball Tour Policy
Directors & Officers Policy
Volunteer Policy
Waivers