Team Bath's netballers will go head-to-head with seven other Superleague sides at the Cathedral City Lighter FastNet Grand Prix this weekend.
Hosted by reigning champions Manchester Thunder at the city's Wright Robinson Sports Arena, the tournament begins tomorrow and will culminate with a grand final on Saturday night.
Teams have been split into two groups, determined by final positions in last season's Superleague rather than location. Team Bath join even-numbered teams Surrey Storm, Yorkshire Jets and Loughborough Lightning in Group 2, whileThunder, Hertfordshire Mavericks, Celtic Dragons and Team Northumbria comprise Group 1.
Team Bath take on Storm in their opening game tomorrow night (8.30pm), with the top four sides after the round-robin stage progressing to the semi-finals.
The tournament is expected to attract an arena audience in excess of 2,000 over the two days and televised coverage on Sky Sports will play a significant role in upping the profile of netball – currently the largest female team sport in the UK.
Jackie Wilson, Cathedral City marketing manager, said: "The Fast Net Grand Prix has already become a key, exciting date in our calendar.
"Our mission at Cathedral City Mature Lighter is to show consumers that being healthy doesn't always involve compromising pleasure and enjoyment. In some ways what we are doing for cheese, netball is doing for exercise. We would love to use our connection to inspire more women to take to the courts."
