Anna Stembridge (born 8 February 1981), originally known as Anna Mayes, is a former netball player and coach. Between 2011 and 2015, Mayes served as head coach of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She was head coach when England won the

2011 World Netball Series The 2011 World Netball Series was the 3rd World Netball Series. England hosted Australia, Fiji, Jamaica, New Zealand and South Africa in a series, played in November 2011, at Liverpool's Echo Arena. With a team coached by Anna Mayes and captai ...

. It was the first time England won a major tournament. She was also England head coach at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

. Between 2015 and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, she served as head coach of

Team Bath Team Bath is the University of Bath's sporting organisation. In addition to entering teams in BUCS intervarsity competitions, Team Bath has also entered teams in national leagues and competitions. Team Bath F.C. reached the first round proper o ...

. As a player, she represented

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

and at the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2007 World Netball Championships The 2007 World Netball Championships was the 12th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball co-ordinated by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Sixteen nations contested t ...

. During the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

era, Mayes played for Team Bath and during the early

Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is an elite netball league in the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in Netball in England, England, Netball in Wales, Wales and previously Netball in Scotland, Scotland. ...

era she played for

Celtic Dragons Cardiff Dragons are a Welsh netball team based in Cardiff. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. In 2005–06 they were founder members of the league. Their best performance in the Superleague came in 2013 when they finished as ...

Education and employment

Mayes attended the

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

, now known as

Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

. In 2002 she graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Sport and Exercise Science, in 2004 she completed a masters in Sports Psychology and in 2009 she gained a

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education The Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE), alternatively called the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP), is a British teaching qualification for university lecturers and similar professionals. The PGCHE is designed ...

. Throughout her coaching career with

and

, Mayes worked as a lecturer in Sports Coaching and Sport Psychology at Cardiff Metropolitan University, while also working on her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Playing career

Early years

Mayes began her netball career playing for the

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

-based Lawn Netball Club before representing a team based in

Hucclecote Hucclecote is a suburb in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, comprising a ward (population 8,826) in the City of Gloucester. It is located on the periphery of the city, between Barnwood and Brockworth, along Ermin Way, an old Roman road connec ...

Team Bath

During the

era, Mayes played for

. She was coached by

Lyn Gunson Lyn Gunson (born 31 December 1953), also known as Lyn Parker, is a former New Zealand netball international and a former head coach of both the New Zealand and England national netball teams. She captained New Zealand when they won the 1985 Wor ...

and her teammates included her future coaching partner, Jess Thirlby. In 2004, she was a member of the Team Bath squad that won the Super Cup title.

Celtic Dragons

Between

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Mayes was a player coach with

in the

. During the 2007–08 season she served as head coach.

International

England

Mayes represented

at both under-16 and under-17 levels, winning 5 caps.

Wales

On 12 March 2002, Mayes made her senior debut for

against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. She eventually made 45 senior appearances for Wales. She represented Wales at the

and

, at the

and

and at several

European Netball Championship The European Netball Championship (also known as the Netball Europe Championships) is an annual netball competition organised by Netball Europe. The Championships or "Open" section features the INF World Rankings, highest-ranked European nations, a ...

Coaching career

England

Between 2008 and 2011, Mayes served as an assistant coach with

. She served as an assistant at the

2008 Taini Jamison Trophy Series The 2008 Taini Jamison Trophy Series, also referred to as the New World Series, was the inaugural Taini Jamison Trophy series. It featured New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand playing England national netball team, England in a serie ...

, the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

and the

2011 World Netball Championships The 2011 World Netball Championships () was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. ...

. Between 2008 and 2009 she also served as a coach with the England U21's. She first acted as head coach of a senior England team at the

2010 World Netball Series The 2010 World Netball Series was the 2nd World Netball Series. England hosted Australia, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand and South Africa in a series, played in November 2010, at Liverpool's Echo Arena. South Africa made their series debut in this ...

, guiding them to second place. At the

, while interim head coach, she guided England to the gold medal. It was the first time England won a major tournament. In the final they defeated

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

33–26. In December 2011 she was confirmed as head coach on a permanent basis. Between 2011 and 2015, Mayes served as head coach of the England team, taking charge for 46

test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

. She guided England to 31 wins, achieving a win rate of 67% overall. In January 2013 she guided England to an historic 3–0 series win against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. She also guided England to two series wins against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. At the

, Mayes' England lost narrowly by 1 goal to both Australia and

. During the

2014 Taini Jamison Trophy Series The 2014 Taini Jamison Trophy Series, also referred to as the New World Series, was the sixth Taini Jamison Trophy series. It featured New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand playing England national netball team, England in two Test m ...

, England beat New Zealand in New Zealand for only the second time. In March 2015, it was announced that Mayes would be leaving her England role. She was subsequently replaced by

Tracey Neville Tracey Anne Neville (born 21 January 1977) is a former England netball international and a former England head coach. She is the current head coach of Melbourne Mavericks. As a player, she was a member of the England teams that won bronze me ...

Team Bath

Between

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Mayes served as an assistant coach with

. She formed a successful partnership with head coach Jess Thirlby and together they guided Team Bath to two

titles. In 2015, after leaving the

head coach role, Mayes, now known as Anna Stembridge, returned to Team Bath to serve as head coach. She was initially reunited with Thirlby, who was now Director of Netball. Under Stembridge, Team Bath qualified for the play-offs every season she was head coach and in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

they were runners up. They also won the 2021

British Fast5 Netball All-Stars Championship The British Fast5 Netball All-Stars Championship is a Fast5 netball pre-season tournament featuring teams from the Netball Superleague. The rules of the tournament are similar, though not identical, to the Fast5 Netball World Series. In 2017 Lou ...

. In April

, Stembridge announced she would step down as head coach at the end of the season. In April 2024, Stembridge and Thirlby, were inducted into the University of Bath/Team Bath Hall of Fame for Sport.

Honours

Player

;

**''Winners'': 2004

Head coach

;

Fast5 Netball World Series The Fast5 Netball World Series is an annual international Fast5 netball competition. The competition, which began in October 2009, features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. The competition is co ...

**''Winners'':

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

**''Runners up'':

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Taini Jamison Trophy The Taini Jamison Trophy series is an international netball series hosted by Netball New Zealand. The series traditionally features New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand playing a series of Test match (netball), test matches against a ...

**''Runners Up'':

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;

**''Winners'': 2021 *

**''Runners Up'':

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stembridge, Anna 1981 births Living people Welsh netball players Welsh netball coaches English netball players English netball coaches Netball Superleague coaches Netball Superleague players AENA Super Cup players Team Bath netball players Cardiff Dragons (netball) players Team Bath (netball) coaches England national netball team coaches Netball players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales 2003 World Netball Championships players 2007 World Netball Championships players Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Sportspeople from Swindon 21st-century English sportswomen