Vitality Roses

Imogen Allison

Centre Wing Defence

DOB: 24 April 1998
POB: Huddersfield
Height: 1.80m
Club: Manchester Thunder
Test Debut: 28 October 2020
Caps: 43

Biography

Imogen Allison’s debut for England brought her netball journey full circle having started out playing in an England Netball programme.

England Netball offers a range of activities to get children playing netball, most notably Bee Netball, and Allison was introduced to the sport in this way more than a decade ago.

“When I started playing, I was just playing for fun and just to be with my friends. I loved being active and being the sporty kid. As I progressed, I saw how good the Vitality Roses team were on TV and realised that’s where I wanted to be”

Crediting her early coaches for supporting her to realise her potential, Allison trialled for district and county teams to help take her netball involvement to the next level.

The Sport & Exercise Science graduate may have only made her debut in 2020 but she had been involved in the England setup for several years prior to that, beginning in the Roses Academy at 16 right through until she was 21.

Allison gained a taste of international netball through winning bronze at the Netball World Youth Cup, golds at U21 Europe Netball competitions, and various tours to the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

Soaking up advice from more experienced netballers from a young age has helped shape her into the player she is today. Serena Kersten (née Guthrie), who Allison had chance to play with both domestically for Team Bath Netball and internationally, even said she was the midcourter’s ‘biggest fan’ following her debut.

Bee Netball is England Netball’s fun and nurturing programme for children (aged 5-9-year-olds) at the beginning of their team sport journey. It is designed to introduce children to netball skills as well as support their personal development on and beyond the court. Find out more here.

Major International Honours

First call-up to a World Cup squad

May 2023

First call-up to a senior major international competition (Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games)

June 2022

Vitality Roses debut vs. New Zealand

28 October 2020