What Team England means to me: Ama Agbeze

Former England netball captain Ama Agbeze looks back on her team's historic Commonwealth gold with huge pride even if she still forgets it really did happen.

The 39-year-old led her country to their first-ever Commonwealth gold in netball four years ago - on the Gold Coast - as Helen Housby scored a magical, last-gasp winning goal.

Ama is now looking ahead to a Commonwealth Games in her home city of Birmingham - but not before taking a trip down memory lane.

“I think for myself, because netball’s pinnacle multi-sport event is the Commonwealth Games, my relationship with Team England is huge,” said Ama. “It's the only multi-sport event that I've ever been to, and I've only ever represented Team England.

“It goes hand-in-hand with my netball career. Obviously, I've done World Cups, but I always wanted to be part of multi-sport competitions. Having been to more than one Commonwealth Games, I think it helps me to compare and see what it is that Team England offer.

“The more experience I gained, and having lived in other parts of the world and seeing experiences from other sports and other nations’ experience, I start to appreciate more what Team England has, what they offer, how much they put into the environment and the athletes and trying to get the best out of them. It's definitely a relationship that I treasure because of where it's taken me and what it's given me.”

Ama made her Commonwealth Games debut in Melbourne in 2006 as the team came away with bronze….but leading her side to the top of the podium 12 years later was unlike her previous experiences.

“It was really different being the leader and I think I experienced the Games completely differently to how I have as just a member of the team,” she said. “In my leadership, I was trying to make sure that I'd done everything with the team that I wanted to do ahead of the Games.

“I think it's only as times gone on that I've actually realised, ‘Oh, my gosh, I captained the team, and we won.’ I think I'm just so blessed that I had that opportunity to be that person.

“It's crazy that the Games are coming up in 2022 and it’s been four years because it doesn't feel like that long at all. Winning the gold medal on the Gold Coast is hard to put into words. It had taken a lot of work and no England netball team had ever won anything other than a bronze medal at Commonwealths or World Cups.

“In the build-up and the years prior, it was just a dream and a goal for a lot of people and some people believe in you - others don't. In those moments just before we won and it was in our grasp - I've still got goosebumps. It still hasn't properly sunk in.”

The win was felt thousands of miles away back in England and inspired a new wave of people to take up netball.

“The after-effects within the UK of people going to play netball, putting on their shoes to do sport, at the time you’re not necessarily thinking about that so it is nice to speak to people and hear how they experienced it and understand that it had an impact on them,” added Ama.

“To know that what you do can actually influence and help people is incredible.”

Now, Selly Oak-born Ama is part of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee – and an ambassador for the United by Birmingham 2022 community programme - as she helps to welcome the world to where she grew up.

“To have the Games, coming to my home city just seems quite surreal,” admits Ama. “I don't think I will really appreciate it until the Games actually start or maybe when the city starts looking like the Games are coming, with flags and signs and people buzzing about it.

“But every time I think about it, I get a little bit more excited.”

Commonwealth Games England has appointed SportsAid to lead on the development, management and operational delivery of Team England Futures at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The programme, supported by Sport England, will reinforce the importance of the Commonwealth Games, particularly one hosted on home soil, as a developmental opportunity within the talent and performance pathway!