LornaJane

I somehow missed the news about the World Netball Series event. which brings together some of the top teams into a new form of competition with new rules. The event is in Manchester, 9th til 11th October, 2009 and it looks really good! I'm sort of busy that weekend, but busy in Manchester so hopefully I'll get across to get a sneak preview of this new format of competition.

The new rules look AMAZING ... things you don't imagine we'd ever manage to introduce in mainstream competition. There's quite a few but for me the big ones are:

• Goals scored from outside the shooting circle not only count, but count as double points


• The coaches can coach while the game is in progress (banned at many levels of competition


• Centre passes are taken by the team that just conceded a goal


• Substitutions can be made while the game is ongoing (how is this going to work? I can't imagine!)

Looking forward to seeing how these rules play out and perhaps having them introduced in the leagues I play in eventually!

In my own personal netballing calendar, the season starts today! Its the first training session of the season this evening and I am quite looking forward to it. I’ve updated the Shipley Netball Website with functionality to record results as well as fixtures.

It will be great to see the friends I haven’t seen all summer – and to be reunited with my award which is still in the loving care of Janet.

I’ll be playing this season with most of the same people as last year and for the first time in 5 years I’ll be playing with the same team two seasons in a row, which will be something great in itself. There are some team changes and some league changes all to look forward to and I’m sure plenty of blood, sweat and tears as well. Happy New Year :)

Last night was the netball awards night, I took the present for my coach and prepared for a night out with the girls. What I wasn’t prepared for was actually winning something! I’m Shipley Netball Club’s “Most Promising Newcomer”, which is a fantastic honour and I’m very very excited to have won!

The award is a glass with a wooden stand … as I was out for a few drinks afterwards its in the care of Janet at the moment so I shall post photographs when I reclaim it!

Its the end of the netball season and I’ve been trying to think of a gift for my coach who has been fantastic this season. With my usual comic timing, I decided yesterday that a new stopwatch with a countdown feature would be a good present for a sports coach.

Its not very personal, though, is it? So I’ve made it a cosy:

And since I’m an engineer, I’ve also photographed the alternative setup which allows the cosy to be stored buttoned onto the string while the stopwatch is in use.

Happy end-of-season, Lynda, thanks for everything!

Well its been a couple of exciting weeks in the netball world, or rather exciting weekends as that’s when we usually play.

Two weeks ago I played two matches in one day. The first, for the second team, I played a whole match, we won, and it was generally good all round. I then had a three-hour wait with my packed lunch for the next match to start. It would have been tedious but I ran into the one other person I know that plays in the West Yorkshire league (a school friend) so I watched her match and then we updated each other on the gossip for mutual friends. The second match was a bit of a let-down as I didn’t get on court and my team lost.

On the plus side I learned to keep shooting statistics for the shooters! I have no idea how I came this far without knowing this but it was interesting all the same. You draw a circle each time they shoot and then put a line through it diagonally if the shot scores a goal. At the end you can count the total shots and goals and tell them their statistics. More than 80% is good (here in the Northern Hemisphere it is anyway!)

The weekend just gone was another two-matcher. The timing was bad as I just got my Nintendo Wii and didn’t really want to be separated from it. Saturday I played with the seconds and we lost … bit of a violent match as the umpires were on the quiet side and both teams were not afraid of throwing their weight around. I took a kick to one of my knees which is quite sore now! Sunday was an away match in Warrington, nice team but again we lost (are you spotting the pattern yet??). On a personal level though it was a victory as someone else couldn’t play so I got on court for the whole match and I don’t think I disgraced myself.

All in all its been a good couple of weeks, the main downside is that my dress has been washed so often that its going a bit baggy and getting shorter. Unless I’m getting taller and thinner which seems unlikely! We’re almost at the end of the season now with just one fixture next weekend, a funny play-two-matches-on-the-same-day arrangement which we’re putting out a team of whoever wants to play. Should be fun :)

There’s netball on TV! OK, so its on sky sports so I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to watch it, but at least its on. Sky are televising this year’s superleague (the star teams from the 7 regions plus a welsh team), which is fabulous news.

The news story is here