Darcie Everitt may have netball in her blood but insists she is still stepping into the unknown at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The Milton Keynes star will captain Team England in the Fast5 format tournament at the Games, that will be staged in Trinidad and Tobago from 4-11 August.

Darcie has been learning from her sister Zara Everitt, captain of Netball Super League finalists London Pulse and a fully-fledged England international.

Despite her credentials, the defender is feeling a mix of excitement and nerves.

“It’s Fast5, so it’s not the usual netball that we are all used to playing with each other, making it a bit more unpredictable,” she said.

“It should be good, it should be faster and it should be quite fun for the shooters as well because it’s something different for them.  

“I think the whole team is quite competitive, we all really want to win everything, all the time.  

“So winning is probably the best scenario for us and that's probably why we are all mainly excited because we are such a good team to play for - I don’t want to jinx anything though!”

Everitt will follow in the footsteps of legends such as Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill and Dina Asher-Smith, the fastest British woman in history, who started out at the Youth Games.

The Games have been running since 2000, with Commonwealth athletes aged 14-18 from across the world pitting themselves against each other in seven sports, including athletics, swimming and beach volleyball.

Having a sister who has been there and done that is certainly something that is going to help Everitt as captain and she has been keeping her eye on Zara's leadership style.

Everitt added: “When I was younger I was more just like ‘stay out of it please’, but now that I’m a lot older, I’ve gone to her about a lot of things especially now that we’ve basically trained together this whole season.

“I’m captain for the squad that’s out there and I’ve seen her and her role as captain for London Pulse this whole season, so I’m going to try and hopefully be as good as her and ask her if I need any help from her - it’s quite helpful just to see her play netball as well, to know what I should be doing.”

The multi-sport and team environment is something that Everitt embraces and having now spent two years as a group, there is certainly a good bond in the squad.

“I think it makes it better, I think it makes everyone a lot less nervous especially because we are still under 18, we are still quite young - we all know each other as well,” she continued.

“We have all known each other for nearly 2 seasons now, so we’re quite comfortable around each other.

“It's quite fun to play on court with each other - we all know how each other play and everything.”