Netball and Jennifer - an interesting combination

Prior to leaving for NZ, a friend of ours mentioned that there is this game for women (he called it "hoop ball" though it is actually netball) that is all the rage down under.  Our very first day on arrival, we indeed caught a little professional netball on the television while waiting in the airport for our domestic connection.  We remember thinking that while netball obviously has many close resemblances to basketball, it also is nothing remotely like it, and is simply put, a weird game.

First, the similarities...
-the game is played on a court that is basically the same size
-there is a hoop at either end where teams score (you get one point for each basket)
-there is a round, bouncy ball.

But that is where the similarities end and the significant differences begin, such as...
-there is no dribbling
-players can not contact one another when the ball is near or in someone's hands
-defenders need to be at least one meter from the player who has the ball, and while you can try to block a shot or prevent a pass, you are doing so from pretty far away
-there are strict rules about where players can go (there are three zones on the court and three positions - attacker, link and defender - and only the attackers and defenders are allowed in the areas under the hoop.  But both defenders and attackers stay on one side of the court.)
-the hoop has no backboard, often has no net, and is slightly smaller than a basketball hoop.

A few weeks ago, Jen came home from the hospital and was excited that the staff at the hospital had recruited her to join their recreational netball team.  After all, she had been quite the basketball player "back in the day" and also she was just excited to do something social with people from work, so...a perfect union of interests.

Instantly the whole family knew this would be "sweet as."  Lauryn, having played the game at her high school, and having found netball to be odd to say the least (I could throw in her more candid assessment of the game but trying to stay positive), summed it up perfectly by saying, "This is going to be classic."

Jen had a little cheering section for her first game, and her cheering section proceeded to watch Jen commit about 25 fouls or infractions in a game with a total of about 30 foul/infraction calls.

Perhaps it was a mistake not to have really reviewed netball rules prior to playing?  Maybe Jen's competitive side just came out?  But, even if both of those were true, the biggest contributing factor is the similarities and differences between the two games noted above.  It's actually much more difficult to play netball by the rules having had prior experience playing basketball, as opposed to just coming to the game fresh and without having played such a similar but different sport.

So there were plenty of fouls called for contact, which is pretty much what it says it is - contact.  Here is a picture of such a play that surely resulted in a foul.

There were also many instances of going to the hoop and forgetting about the little attacker/defender only areas.  Those were funny, because everyone could see it about to happen, but Jen was playing "link" and kept really wanting to get that rebound!  Here is a short video clip, showing Jen in action, stealing the ball, and then helping to link her team up to the front end, where her team scores a basket.  Good on ya!

But there were also funny moments such as when Jen slapped the ball out of an opponent's hands. The women fouled by Jen in that instance had a look of complete shock - i.e. "Why in the world did she just do that?"  Jen knew she had done something VERY unexpected and wrong, but her look of embarrassment melted the tension on the court.

Opponents were a mixture of slightly afraid and very encouraging : )  You could tell they were not used to someone so aggressive and in their space.  But, being friendly Kiwis, they were also very forgiving and helpful, patiently explaining the game and the rules to Jen.  There were lots of smiles, laughs, and pats on the back.  Here is our cute netballer in action!

This also highlights one aspect that we hope to bring home with us - the amount of team sports that Kiwis play here.  There are seriously high rates of adult participation in competitive leagues for netball, rugby, soccer, tennis, golf, etc and the primary focus seems to be on playing in a social league.  We know there are similar leagues in the US, but I don't think they are as plentiful on a per capita basis.  Either way, we have not made this a priority in our life in America the way we have here (Jen playing in a netball league, Pete playing in a weekly golf competition, and now soccer, too.)   Perhaps it is time to play in a dodgeball, volleyball or softball league at home?  We will just make sure to review the rules before playing next time.