Berri Neil was persuaded by her 12-year-old brother to join him at church and it led her on a path to faith which she hopes will benefit her on and off the court in 2026.
Born-again Berri Neil feels losing last season’s Netball Super League Grand Final has put her in a better place ahead of this campaign – because it led her to God.
The 23-year-old Loughborough Lightning star, who has 11 caps for England, was in a dark place after the 2025 showpiece, when her side were denied a third consecutive title by London Pulse, the side she had left the previous summer.
Neil was persuaded by her 12-year-old brother to join him at church and it led her on a path to faith which she hopes will benefit her on and off the court in 2026.
“It’s a whole new perspective on my life,” she said. “I don’t need to stress the little things as I genuinely believe there’s a bigger plan and what happens will happen.
“There are other Christian girls on the team, so it has been really nice connecting with and learning from them, as I am really new to it. It has been a really nice addition to the game for me. I was really struggling after the final and reached a point where I didn’t know what my purpose is.
“I was very dramatic at home and very upset. At church, I felt so much joy, so much relief. Losing a final isn’t the be all and end all, there are bigger things. I look back at that final now and it is the biggest blessing. I probably never would have gone to church if we’d won the final, I would have just thought everything is brilliant.
“I look back and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I feel like I’m in a better place now losing that final than if we had won it.”
Lightning have bolstered their ranks with the additions of the experienced Jess Shaw, who returns for a second spell, and young gun Celena Appleby-Prince, who steps up from Lightning’s NXT Gen squad having impressed as a replacement player at LexisNexis Dragons last term.
Neil has also relished working under former Lightning player Jo Noel (née Trip), who returned to the club in October last year as assistant coach.
“Jo has been amazing,” she said. “I have never been coached by Jo before but she is always someone I’ve admired and wanted to be coached by. She has brought a whole element of training into what we are doing and working really hard with the defence.
“I can definitely feel it as an attacker in training as I feel the defence have stepped up massively. She’s also giving attacking expertise. She’ll say ‘I was a defender, I would find it hard if you did this’. That has been really nice insight. Her relentlessness in training and how strict she is with us has pushed us to the next level.”
Lightning started the season in style by lifting the Netball Super Cup in Sheffield at the weekend, gaining revenge over Pulse with an 18-17 win in the final of the curtain-raiser. They begin their league season against Dragons at the David Wallace Arena on Saturday and Neil can’t wait to get going.
“We are so excited to be back out there,” she said. “It feels like we are really close as a group this year.
“We have been doing lots of team bonding, we have done a few meals, we have Pilates on Monday, we went to Chatsworth market at Christmas. We will be a better and stronger team this year and I can’t wait for everyone to see.”
The Soft & Gentle NSL Grand Final is coming to Manchester. Sign-up to the Net-work on www.netballsl.com for early ticket access.