Michelle Drayne (born 22 September 1988) is a Northern Ireland netball international and a former Antrim

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...

er. She represented Northern Ireland at the

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 ...

and

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

and at the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with matches ...

. She was also a member of the Northern Ireland team that were silver medallists at the 2012 and 2017 European Netball Championships. Drayne has also played in the

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. ...

for Team Northumbria,

Saracens Mavericks London Mavericks is an English netball team based at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. Their senior team plays in the Netball Super League where they were a founding member in 2005–06. They are two time Super League champions in ...

and London Pulse.

Early life, family and education

Drayne is from Lisburn, County Antrim. She is the daughter of Michael and Stella Drayne. She has four siblings Niamh, Maeve, Owen and Aideen. Her mother, Stella Drayne, is a former

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

coach/team manager with both Larkfield and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

under-21 teams. She has coached teams that have included her daughter. Michael Drayne is a

dairy farmer Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is food processing, processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy ...

and a partner in the family firm, Draynes Farm. Michael and Stella Drayne have also fronted various sports sponsorships on behalf of Draynes Farm. These include

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

's Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Draynes Farm also helped sponsor the Northern Ireland team at the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup. Drayne was educated at St. Joseph's Primary School in Lisburn and at

Rathmore Grammar School Rathmore Grammar School, normally referred to simply as "Rathmore", is a Catholic grammar school in Finaghy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The current and second lay principal of the school is Arthur Donnelly, who succeeded Thérèse Hamilton ...

. Between 2007 and 2010 she attended

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

where she gained a BSc in Sports Science and Management and an M.Ed./ PGCE in

Physical Education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

Netball

Clubs

Larkfield

Drayne played

for the

–based Larkfield club in the Northern Ireland Premier League. Her teammates at Larkfield included fellow

internationals, Neamh Woods and

Caroline O'Hanlon Caroline O'Hanlon is a Northern Ireland netball international and an Armagh ladies' Gaelic footballer. She has also represented Ireland at international rules. She was a member of the Northern Ireland teams at the 2003, 2011 and 2019 Netball ...

New Cambell

Drayne has also played for

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

-based New Cambell in the London & South-East Region Senior League.

Team Northumbria

As part of their preparations for 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 ...

, the

Northern Ireland national netball team The Northern Ireland national netball team represent Northern Ireland in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, Netball World Cup, the Netball at the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games, the European Netball Cha ...

formed a partnership with Team Northumbria. This saw Drayne and six other Northern Ireland internationals – Oonagh McCullough,

Noleen Lennon Noleen Lennon (born 22 March 1984), also known as Noleen Armstrong, is a former Northern Ireland netball international. She represented Northern Ireland at the 2003, 2011 and 2019 Netball World Cups and at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. ...

, Gemma Gibney, Fionnuala Toner and Niamh Cooper – play for Team Northumbria during the

2014 Netball Superleague season The 2014 Netball Superleague season (known for sponsorship reasons as the Zeo Netball Superleague) was the ninth season of the Netball Superleague. The league was won by Manchester Thunder. Surrey Storm finished top of the table following the reg ...

Hertfordshire Mavericks

Between

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Drayne played for

Hertfordshire Mavericks London Mavericks is an English netball team based at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. Their senior team plays in the Netball Super League where they were a founding member in 2005–06. They are two time Super League champions i ...

in the

. Her teammates at Mavericks have included Lindsay Keable.

London Pulse

Drayne will play for London Pulse during the 2020 Netball Superleague season.

Northern Ireland

Drayne represented

at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels. She made her senior debut for Northern Ireland in 2008. She has subsequently represented Northern Ireland at the

and

and at the

. She was also a member of the Northern Ireland teams that won the 2015 Nations Cup and silver medals at the 2012 and 2017 European Netball Championships. Drayne is one of several Ladies' Gaelic footballers to play netball for Northern Ireland. Others include

(

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

), Neamh Woods ( Tyrone) and Emma and Michelle Magee ( Antrim).

Gaelic football

Clubs

Drayne has played

at club level for St. Gall's. In 2010 she helped St. Gall's win the

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

Intermediate Club Ladies Football Championship and was named player of the match in the final

Inter-county

Drayne also represented Antrim in the All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championship.

Schoolteacher

Between July 2011 and July 2015 Drayne worked as a PE teacher at

St Martin's School, Brentwood St Martin's School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Hutton area of Brentwood, Essex, England. Background The school used to separate boys and girls school, but these were combined in the ...

. Since September 2015, she has served as Head of Netball at

New Hall School New Hall School is a Catholic co-educational private boarding and day school in the village of Boreham near Chelmsford, Essex, England. It was founded in 1642 in the Low Countries, now Belgium, by sisters of the Catholic order Canonesses of ...

Honours

;

* Nations Cup **''Winners'': 2015: 1 *

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 ...

**''Runner up'': 2012,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayne, Michelle 1988 births Living people Northern Ireland netball internationals Netball players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland 2019 Netball World Cup players Netball Superleague players Team Northumbria netball players Mavericks netball players London Pulse players St Gall's Gaelic footballers Antrim ladies' Gaelic footballers Sportspeople from Lisburn Netball players from Northern Ireland Schoolteachers from Northern Ireland People educated at Rathmore Grammar School Alumni of Loughborough University 21st-century sportswomen from Northern Ireland