How netball works

Netball is mostly a women's sport that is played all around the world. The objective of the game is to score more goals then your opponents. To do this you need the following skills; running, jumping, passing, catching, defending, shooting and the ability to get away from your opponent. It's not as easy as it looks (talking to boys), there is a lot of stratergising and rules involved.

Netball is played on a concreted court. It is split into thirds. The end thirds have a half circle on the base line finishing about 1.5 meters from the side of the court. In the middle of the half circle there is the goal. This circle is called the goal circle ( only goal shoot, goal keep, goal attack and goal defense are allowed in this circle). In the middle third there is a circle with a 90 centimeter diameter. This is called the center circle. It is used for the starting set up of the game. There are 7 positions in netball. Goal keep      (GK), Goal shoot (GS), Goal defense (GD), Goal attack (GA), wing defense (WD), wing attack (WA), and Center (C). Center starts with the ball in the center circle, facing center is wing attack with her/his opponent wing defense. On the other side of the same line is goal attack with her/his opponent goal defense. In the goal circle stands goal shoot with her/his opponent goal keep. The same set up is behind the center but with the other teams attackers. On each sideline is a referee. Also on the sideline will be supporters and coaches and managers.

When the hooter starts for the game, you need to use your skills to be open so the center can pass to you in the third. Once you or one of your team mates receive the ball they need to be able to pass it to another one of your players. Once the ball is in the circle your shooters (GS, GA) are eligible to shoot the ball into the hoop. When it comes to defending you need to be able to; follow (stick with) your opponent, jump for intercepts and rebounds, have the skill to read the game (know whats going to happen next) and to communicate all the time for who you go have got (in other words; who you're defending, if it's the goal shoot or goal attack or a different attackers). But, to play (along with skills) you need to know the rules.

Finally, to play netball you need to know all of the rules. First of all, netball is not like basketball, for many of these reasons; you can't step with the ball, once you receive the ball you have three-seconds to release it, when defending you must stay three feet away from your opponent, if you were to throw the ball up and catch it again or continuously bounce it several times it's called replay ball. Be careful when throwing the ball because if it goes over a third, without your player touching it, it will be a turnover ball. Positions you play have certain areas they are/aren't allowed to go (which is shown above). The games consist of four quarters, each 15 minutes long with about three minutes break in between.

Netball is an exhilarating sport that involves a lot of skills, rules and stratergising. You can interact with people, grow your leadership and co-operation values and you never know, you could turn out to be the next Silver Ferns (New Zealand's netball team) captain!