Jess Thirlby (born 15 November 1979), previously known as Jess Garland, is a former England netball international and the current head coach of the

England national netball team The England national women's netball team, also known as the ''Vitality Roses'', represent England in international netball competition. England are coached by Jess Thirlby, and are currently captained by Natalie Metcalf. As of 1 July 2020, th ...

. As a player, she was a member of the

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

squad that won the inaugural 2005–06 Netball Superleague title. She also represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. As a head coach, she guided Team Bath to further

Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is a top level netball league featuring teams from the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in Netball in England, England, Netball in Wales, Wales and Netball in Scotland, S ...

titles in 2008–09, 2009–10 and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

. In July 2019, Thirlby was appointed head coach of the senior England national netball team.

Early life and family

Jess Thirlby is the daughter of Chris Garland, who is a former professional football player, and his wife, Patricia Cooper. She has two brothers, Adam and Ryan. She is married to

Rob Thirlby Rob Graham Thirlby (born 2 March 1979) is an English rugby union player who plays on the wing or full back for Yatton whilst also acting as the video analyst for Gloucester Rugby. He previously played for Moseley, Penzance-Newlyn, and for Redr ...

, who is a former England rugby sevens international. Her husband also represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. She is a mother of two children and stepmother to a third.

Playing career

Team Bath

Between 1999 and 2006, Thirlby played for

. She was one of Team Bath's first full-time players. Between 2001 and 2005, she played in all five Team Bath

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

campaigns, making 31 appearances. In 2004 she was a member of the Team Bath squad that won the Super Cup. She was also a member of the Team Bath squad that won the inaugural 2005–06 Netball Superleague title. Her team mates at Team Bath included Pamela Cookey, Rachel Dunn, Stacey Francis, Tamsin Greenway and

Geva Mentor Geva Kate Mentor CBE (born 17 September 1984) is an England netball international. She has competed in 6 Commonwealth Games: and in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games she was honoured to read, during the Opening Ceremony, The Athletes Oa ...

. She called a quits to her coaching career after a combined 30 years of being involved with Team Bath and after helping them win five national titles.

England

Thirlby represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at every level from under-16 to senior. Between 2000 and 2006 she was a regular member of the senior squad. She also represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Coaching career

Celtic Dragons

During the

2006–07 Netball Superleague season The 2006–07 Netball Superleague season saw Team Bath finish as champions for the second time. Team Bath retained the title without losing a single match all season. For a second successive season they defeated Galleria Mavericks in the grand fi ...

, Thirlby served as head coach of

Celtic Dragons Celtic 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 r ...

Team Bath

During the

2007–08 Netball Superleague season The 2007–08 Netball Superleague season (known for sponsorship reasons as the Co-operative Netball Superleague) was the third season of the Netball Superleague. The league was won by Galleria Mavericks after they defeated Loughborough Lightning ...

, Thirlby served as an assistant coach to Jan Crabtree at

. She was appointed Team Bath's head coach for the

2008–09 Netball Superleague season The 2008–09 Netball Superleague season (known for sponsorship reasons as the Co-operative Netball Superleague) was the fourth season of the Netball Superleague. The league was won by Team Bath. For a third season out of four, Team Bath defeated ...

. She subsequently guided Team Bath to further

titles in 2008–09, 2009–10 and

. Between

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Thirlby served as Team Bath's director of netball.

England

While still an active player, Thirlby coached the

under-17 and under-19 teams during 2004 and 2005. She later served as both an assistant coach and head coach with the England under-21 team at the 2009 and 2013

World Youth Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

s. Between 2013 and 2015 she served as an assistant coach to Anna Mayes with the senior England team. In July 2019 Thirlby was appointed head coach of the senior England team, taking over from

Tracey Neville Tracey Anne Neville (born 21 January 1977) is a former England netball international and a former England head coach. As a player, she was a member of the England teams that won bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and the 1999 World ...

Honours

Player

;

**''Winners'': 2005–06: 1 *

**''Winners'': 2004: 1

Head coach

;

**''Winners'': 2008–09, 2009–10,

: 3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thirlby, Jess 1979 births Living people English netball players Netball players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England Team Bath netball players AENA Super Cup players Netball Superleague players Netball Superleague coaches Sportspeople from Bristol English netball coaches England national netball team coaches Team Bath (netball) coaches Rugby union players' wives and girlfriends