Catherine Yearron only has praise for the Women's Premier League

Morecambe wheelchair basketball ace Catherine Yearron believes the newly-formed Women's Premier League can catapult the visibility of her sport to even greater heights.

Yearron, 34, took up the sport late in life and immediately fell in love with its competitive, and even sometimes aggressive, nature.

The Lancashire star now competes for Worcester Wolves in the Women's Premier League, a level she never believed she could achieve before discovering the sport now so close to her heart.

She said: "I can't even describe the level of training – it’s a whole different level to anything I've had before.

"it's such a massive opportunity for women in para sport. To get that stage and that focus on them and to be part of that, I never in a million years thought I would be at a level and train with those girls, let alone play with them.

"The atmosphere there's great. The support is amazing with all the staff around it. The whole support system around the league is a whole different level.

"Every single girl who's in the Wolves team, every one of us has improved in that last year. It's done us a world of good in our progression of the sport.

"I just think to put a spotlight on the women first for a premier league is just let's hope it continues to grow and bring in more players.

"Ball handling for me has always been my weakest thing so being able to really focus on that and being pushed to ball handle at Worcester has been really important to me and I've improved massively on it.

"So that's probably the thing that's been most valuable in my game."

The league is the first of its kind for women in wheelchair basketball, with the four teams competing in a tense final head-to-head at the end of the season.

Alongside the league, Yearron also trains with the GB Academy at a regional level.

And the wheelchair basketball player holds a separate guidance role at the academy, helping others to realise their potential through the sport.

She added: "Because I'm older, with the regional stuff I almost have to take more of a guiding role for the younger players who haven't really been in the sport for as long.

"So that's a whole new world for me as I'm still learning and feel like a newbie and I'm trying to help other people to try and improve their skills.

"It's something that I've found that I've quite enjoyed to help other people improve and get excited and get what they can out of every training session they go to.”

Wheelchair basketball made its debut at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Team England got their hands on two bronze medals.

Yearron felt an immense surge of pride watching her country star at such a high level and hopes it will continue to bring more fans into the sport at domestic level.

She said: "I've watched so much of it and to have the sport that I love and to have it in the Commonwealth Games it's brilliant.

"You've got the running game 3x3 and then straight after it you've got the wheelchair game 3x3 and it just brings it into a new light and a more open and available stage.

"And the more people who can get behind the game is brilliant.”

Entain, owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, is proud to be championing the next generation of British sporting heroes by providing talented young athletes with financial support and personal development opportunities in partnership with SportsAid. Visit entaingroup.com to find out more.