Blast

“The poorer cousin of basketball”, “a sport for girls” and “a slow, easy game” are just some of the descriptions of netball thrown around by sports fans (men, in particular) up and down the nation. I admit, before working on this feature, I was someone whom had little knowledge of this often overlooked sport. That is something I have now rectified and in researching about Coventry and Warwickshire’s netballing community found that our local area is bustling with women who care passionately about a sport that is as fiercely contested and taken as seriously as any of its supposed ‘male’ counterparts.

The Coventry and District league comprises of eight divisions with 10 teams in each – that’s 80 teams, or 560 women, playing netball every Saturday from October to April. In addition to the local league there is also a regional league for the West Midlands in which Henley and Leamington had teams last year, and there was even a representative from the local area in the national Premier League 2 in the shape of Copsewood Diamonds.

Louise talks tough about netball

With so many women taking part in netball locally and it being the most popular female team sport in the country, surely the ignorance of people not familiar with the sport who dismiss it without a second thought is simply unacceptable. But what do the women who play the sport think about its image? Furthermore, taking this popularity among women into consideration, one could pose the question whether netballing authorities in Britain should put their resources into getting more male participation in the sport or work on retaining their status as the most popular female sport?

Armed with these questions, I recently went along to a training session held by Henley, the champions of last year’s local league, and a committed, skilful and close-knit group of netballers. As I arrived, the players were being put through their paces by coach Louise Kepner, and any preconceptions that I had about the fitness of netball players were quickly put to bed. These women were running hard. Very hard. Meanwhile, Louise was not to be taken lightly either, getting the players to push themselves as much as possible, and keeping a close eye on any who were starting to slack off.

The players go through passing drills

Speaking to Louise about the image of netball among sports fans, she believes that the best way to change their opinions is to see a game for themselves: “I reckon if they saw a decent level game they would be amazed at how strong and fit the players have to be now”. The players clearly agree with Louise: “Netballers are athletes now and do a lot of the same training as footballers and rugby players,” said winner of the players’ player award for last season, Lesley ‘Wes’ Blair.

Seeing the professionalism and dedication of these women it is hard not to be convinced that netball deserves to be regarded as a credible sport. After all, the league does not start for another two months, but already the players of Henley are in the full swing of training. This mentality of a strong work ethic combined with the enjoyment created by the game should ensure that in the future sports fans will view netball as a game worthy of being taken seriously.