All About Karen Atkinson-from Our England Netball Red Kits Player Series

The co-captain of the England Neball team and netball player for Hertfordshire Mavericks, Karen Atkinson was born on 7th June 1978 in Wigan. Like quite a few other netball players, you can follow Karen's tweets on Twitter, @kazacko, where you can see a great photo of Karen, in her red netball kit, on her profile.

Karen, who celebrated her 33rd birthday on 7th June 2011, co-captains a strong England netball line-up with Sonia Mkoloma. England netball coach Sue Hawkins said that Karen Atkinson and the rest of the England netball team have a powerful line-up and are extremely focused as they look forward to the World Netball Championships.

The last two World Championships in 2003 and 2007 have seen England missing out on medals with the top 3 places being taken by Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica, so England are hoping to change this pattern in 2011.

In 2009 Karen was awarded the Lucozade Sport Chairman's Award and in the same year she won her 100th cap for the England netball team in February, playing Jamaica in the three-test series.

Karen considers herself meticulous, which is a useful quality for a team co-captain to have. On Twitter she tweets about her super charged power endurance with England Netball and in an interview on the World Netball Championships website she describes her pre-match routine.

Here is Karen's description of her pre-match routine from the World Netball Championships website: "I am quite meticulous with my pre-match routine. Generally after my morning training, I like to take an ice bath in order to give my legs an extra wake up. I then like to have a sleep after lunch. After my sleep, I will have to pack my kit bag in a certain way before heading to the courts. At the courts, I generally keep to myself, focusing on the game whilst listening to music on my iPod."

As a netball coach as well as a netball player, Karen combines her own talent and training with the keen observations needed as a coach. She is recognised for her high work rate and diligence on the court, consistence performance and a speedy, powerful drive.

During her career Karen Atkinson has won a silver medal with England, in 2010, at the World Netball Series. She has also taken 3 bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games, also in 2010, as well as 2006 and 1998.

She had a starting season with Loughborough Lightning but has since played domestic netball with Hertfordshire Mavericks. In 2004 she had one season with the Capital Shakers in the National Bank Cup, New Zealand. She also played one season with West Coast Fever in the ANZ Championship, which she remembers as a fantastic experience although she notes that living in a new country does have its challenges.

Let's hope Karen and the rest of the girls on the England Netball squad adjust well to playing in the impressive looking Singapore Indoor Stadium in July. Best of British luck to all the team as they represent England in their brilliant netball kits-hopefully they will come back with a medal from the 2011 World Championships.