Netball – Indoor, Outdoor, huh?

Wah mek (why didn’t) anyone ever tell me indoor and outdoor games, of the same sport, are different? Nobody told you either? Great. Lemme fill you in see!

Another goal I aimed to achieve when I lived in NZ was to play the sport of netball.

It’s a non-contact international sport predominantly played by women. It’s a bit of a mash up of between basketball (similarities being the ball, court and general format) and football (similarities being player position restrictions).

Netball is as popular in NZ as it is in the Caribbean (British colonies unite?) and I figured it would be a good way to exercise and meet new people.

I played netball from primary school straight through to High school back in the Caribbean. I even represented Antigua and Barbuda once or twice in regional tournaments (while under 13, but still) and was the captain of my team in high school at one point.

I really only ever played one position on the court – the centre (they get the ball to the people who have to shoot). Overall, I’m no professional, but I’ve played a few games in my lifetime. I’ve always enjoyed the sport (as I’ve played it for forever), so it has a special place in my heart.

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While in NZ, I joined an ‘Indoor netball’ fill-in group (when people need last minute members for the teams during the social tournaments) on Facebook during winter thinking “Oh, they’re smart. It’s cold outside, so they play netball inside. Wonderful”

I was in the right position transportation, time and schedule wise, so I gathered up the guts and decided to be a fill in in a game one night.

Great!

I arrived at the stipulated location, introduced myself to the new peeps and all was going well. Chatty chatty, lippy lippy, I mentioned that I’d played the sport back home etc etc. Bibs came out and when they asked, I said I normally played Centre (C) but I was thinking to take a Wing position as I hadn’t played in a while. They gave me the C bib.

At that same time though, I overheard a girl say “The Center position shoots”. My face twisted up and I said “Whaaaat?” as I gave her a baffled look. As quick as I was to pick up that C bib, was as quick as I was to put it right back down. I can’t shoot!

I quickly tried to grab another bib position (A – attack), but next thing they told me that that one shoots too. So by now, I’m completely and utterly confused and my nerves are all over the place. What were they saying? This wasn’t the netball that I knew.

While semi plotting how I could escape to my car without my teammates noticing, I slowly turned and observed a game being played at that moment on the court – the bibs they were wearing and in turn positions people were playing – were odd…

The positions of the players had been re-arranged, some were even missing (in my mind). There were also six players on the court, instead of seven. What is this? Is this even still netball? It looks right, but there’s something out of place. Is this a mutated form of the game or what?

I hastily explained to my teammates that I was completely thrown off, as this “indoor netball” turned out to be different to what I knew. Two of them then tried to help me wrap my head around this ‘new’ version of the game in 3mins – the time we had until we had to go on.

A.k.a I was screwed.

In the end though, what happened was this:

• I went on and played a defense position in the circle. I rarely played defense but, they don’t shoot so phew, I was safe (or so I thought).
• Throughout the rest of the game I was switched to centre, then attack, then centre positions (again). All the shooting! Turns out I wasn’t great at defense and was better at attempting to get the ball in the hoop. Down to the ref saw my struggles but luckily there was another shooter who was wayyy better at it than I was.
• It was probably safe to say I was the weakest link on the team (But they didn’t tell me good-bye!).

Nonetheless, it was a learning curve for me. A quick, fast paced one. Between the switch up of positions and the slight change in game format * – to be explained in the end – I certainly wasn’t on my A game.

However, I survived. Yay!

By the last 2 minutes of the 30 minute game, I was absolutely burnt out as exercise hadn’t really been my thing over there. But, guess what?

We won!

Turns out my team mates were great players who were also encouraging and supportive! They didn’t make me feel any way about being less in the know and didn’t kick me off the court once! We all pulled through (I fumbled and struggled along the way) and made it through on top!

I learnt some very important lessons that evening though, such as:

• Rules of a game may change depending on where you are and what ‘turf’ you’re on (indoor or outdoor).
• In stepping out of your comfort zone, there’s always a lesson to be learnt – I played a variety of positions I wasn’t used to, in a format I was unfamiliar with. Yes, I wasn’t the best at it (this time around) but it only made me want to go back and try the game again. I could learn and get better in the positions I was weakest, and practice and maintain in the ones I was strongest.
• APPARENTLY outdoor netball is what’s played the way I know ‘netball’ to be played. Who knew?

Any how, the next time I step onto a court in a foreign country, and let’s say the game is half indoor, half outdoor (you never know), I now feel confident enough that I’d be a bit more knowledgeable and could do a little more damage on the court than to myself (Oh yeah. I hurt my finger a little bit but, nothing major).

Overall, I think it’s important to try new things and persevere, even when they’re not going your way. The things you’ll learn and the growth you’ll experience will be worth it.

Here’s to life lessons, expanding your horizons and learning for the future.

Yours truly,

Global Gyal

(N.B Not much pics with this post as I was too busy wrapping my head around everything! And for those avid netballers, there’s a little more detail below on the differences I found with the indoor/outdoor netball:

**To break down the game format for my netball peeps:

• In NZ’s indoor netball, there are two Attacks, two Centres and two Defenses. These positions aren’t specific to wing and goal, like it’s played in the Caribbean/outdoor netball (aka there’s no goal nothing, no wing nobody).
• Both Attacks AND Centres can shoot. Outdoor netball, only the goal attack and shooter can shoot. The centre is the last person to shoot (so I was really baffled!)
• The game turns over like it does in basketball – immediately after a goal is scored, the ball plays from the shooting circle and the other team automatically gets the ball. Rather than like back home, where after you score a goal you start back at the centre and the ball goes to who ever owns the centre pass.
• There’s a centre circle in the shooting ring that your foot MUST be on for you to send the ball off from. If not, the ball goes to the other team (I learnt that the hard way lol).