Netball.....

Last week I was at the gym, about to head home, when over the intercom a voice said, "Attention members, we have one free netball ticket to see the Wellington Pulse play the New South Wales (Aussie) Swifts. The first person to reception can have the ticket!". Tim and I had been talking about taking in a netball game because it's such a different sport from anything we know. With that in mind I thought, "I should run out there and snatch the ticket". However, as happens so often, I wasted some time over-thinking my decision. Then I shook myself from my thought process and, barefoot, I turned the corner and headed for reception figuring that someone else had taken the ticket. One of the employees spied me as I spun out of the changing room entrance and asked, "Are you alright?". I must've looked crazed or something. I asked if the ticket was still available to which she beamed and said "Yeah! You can have it!!".

On the way home I called Tim to tell him that we had half our way paid to the game! What are the odds? So we set out to take in a sport totally new to us. Predominantly, a women's sport netball was developed in England and is a variation on basketball. Seven players from each team are on the court at all times but depending on a player's position she can only travel to certain portions of the arena that is separated into thirds. At each end of the court is a hoop but here is where you'd immediately notice a difference between netball and basketball. There is no backboard, it's just the hoop and net. With no backboard players take a different approach to shooting the ball. Instead of a basketball player who shoots up and directly in front of him/herself a netball player holds the ball above and slightly behind her head to shoot while protecting the ball from being intercepted by the other team. Another striking difference is that when a player has the ball she cannot take a step in any direction let alone dribble the ball. While the other players are running around to catch passes the player with the ball has to stay put until she has relinquished the ball to another player. In an effort to not err and accidentally take a step we noticed that the players would run and then jump into a stop so their feet would stop moving.

The game was fast paced and, much to my surprise, very entertaining. I wanted to see a game out of curiosity but had low expectations because I assumed it would be similar to basketball and I'm not a fan whatsoever. Happy to be mistaken we thoroughly enjoyed the game along with a packed house - the Wellington Pulse definitely has a following that can make a lot of noise!