40 Netball
Colombo Centre, Southwark
Enjoyment - 85%
Success - 70%
Will try again - No
First timer’s recommendation – you should probably be female, but if not, play a mixed game, and take your time especially when shooting
It’s taken until the fortieth week to find the sport I was born to play, unfortunately I was also born not to play it. After missing work football and cricket matches earlier in the year, I was determined to make an appearance in a charity netball tournament at the end of September. It became apparent when we got there that the teams had been rigged in height order by the organiser, and unfortunately by 5ft 9in frame wasn’t considered worthy of the first VII. I chose the wing attack bib for the start of the first game, but after the first half it was clear that the two lads playing GA and GS were lacking the G element. I swapped into the goal shooter position for the second half and managed to grab a hat trick, if it’s called that in netball, as once you have the ball close to the net, you can’t be touched and you have three seconds to shoot which makes it pretty straightforward. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to overturn a 3-0 half time defecit and we went down 4-3.
The second game was against the favourites, and after going 2-0 down early on, I scored 4 hoops(?) in quick succession, which resulted in our opponents changing their tactics, and clawing it back to 4-4 by half time. Two further goals in the second half put us 6-5 up but we eventually lost 7-6, after our GD and GK managed to miss three rebounds for the winning point. Our final game it all clicked and we won 10-4, but it was too little too late. It’s a decent game, but a bit too stop/start, and the rigidity of the positions means it is difficult to influence a game as much as you could in other small-sided games such as basketball or five-a-side football. The centre is usually the best player on a team, but they can’t score, and the goal shooter and goal attack get the points but can’t help out if the defence is playing badly. I would play again if asked, but my last game was about 20 years previously at school, so can’t see it coming around anytime soon.
