Netball

Finally, my first hands on experience at an authentic Australian team sport! Some of the girls that I’m living with at St. John’s College encouraged me to come out and play netball with them this Friday afternoon. I was hesitant because I had never seen a game of netball living in the United States. However, I am always up for a new sporting challenge! I hoped that with my experience playing basketball, I wouldn’t make a complete fool out of myself.

Just like my observations comparing cricket to baseball, I discovered that playing basketball did not translate as seamlessly as I had hoped into playing netball. In netball, the court is divided into three different sections and each of the seven players on each team are assigned positions that limit their movement on the court. Unlike basketball, only assigned “shooting players” can score. Instead of dribbling the ball, players can only take one step while holding the ball and must pass or shoot within three seconds. Although I am a good shooter in basketball, netball hoops are smaller and have no backboard. This makes it much harder to score! Accuracy is very important and the shooting players are exceptionally talented and spend a lot of time practicing. With the help of my Australian friends, I caught on quickly and had a really great time learning a new sport. Netball is really fast paced and high intensity which also makes it a great workout!