LornaJane

It struck me the other day that I hardly ever write about netball here, which is odd if you think about how much time I spend playing it! So here’s an update on the season so far.

I’m playing in the Northern League (in England) for Shipley Netball Club. There’s been lots of changes to the competition structure in England and to be frank things still seem to be shaking down into place! This season also sees the introduction of a new kit at the club – little purple dresses with very little matching shorts. Its best described as “ickle” and leaves me feeling like a porn star as I de-fuzz and fake-tan for each outing! Its short, sleeveless and I definitely wouldn’t have chosen it myself, but I’m sure we look great.

I’m now playing for the first team and I’ve had a slow start to the season, only getting on court for three quarters [1] out of four matches so far – but watch this space and who knows how things will progress :)

The same team is playing in some other leagues as well and hopefully I’ll see more action in these. I played a whole match in our first Challenge Cup fixture and really enjoyed the game – although we got drawn against Linden (who are one of the best teams in the country) and predictably got walked on. We’ll also be playing in a Yorkshire and Humberside league but I haven’t got full details of that yet.

¹ Netball is usually played as four quarters of fifteen minutes each.

Recently, an email went around the netballing fraternity asking for stories of how netball has changed your life. I put together something to send back to them and thought I’d share it here too.

This is going to be a long story … netball has accompanied most of the major changes in my life so far, and I’m only 25!

I’ve played netball on a regular basis since going to secondary school at the age of eleven. As I was a good 6 inches taller than pretty much everyone else, I was put at goal shooter. I wasn’t any good at it but I was very keen and after a couple of years of my mum cringing on the sideline at my hopeless efforts, the penny dropped and I actually got quite good. That’s lesson one, most things can be learned with enough perseverance.

Throughout my teens I played a lot of netball at a high level, representing my club, county, school and even region. I met a lot of people from different walks of life and sort of floated through my teens with fewer distractions than most. With no saturday job (because I was always on court) and no late night (always got a match the next day), the scope for getting into teenage scrapes was much diminished. At the time I thought I was missing out but now I’m not so sure that was the case. I travelled all over the country and went to different events, meeting women of many different ages along the way.

When I accepted my place at university, in with the forms was a leaflet from the AU, asking me to tick which sports I was interested in, as there were introductory sessions in Fresher’s Week. So off I toddled, at 10am on the first morning after arriving while my peers were nursing hangovers, and met the girls. Some of the girls that were there that day are still my closest friends. We laughed, cried and partied together. Involvement with the netball club at university transformed me from the schoolgirl who couldn’t hand in her homework on time (ever) to a young woman with a degree in engineering who started her own sports club and organised information systems for a large campus event. I have learned that I’m a leader, a team player, and someone who can get things done. Without the sport and the other girls in the club I feel sure that I’d have eaten better, had far fewer injuries, rung my mother more often and probably got a lot more sleep while I was at university … but I wouldn’t swap it for the world.

Now, three years out of university, I’m on to my third job, my fourth address and my third netball club as well. In every place I’ve met women and girls that have been welcoming, supportive and also a lot of fun. They all have their own reasons for playing, but together they make the club(s) what it is. I’m now starting my first full season with the new club and look forward to another thirty years of this (at least!)

Well its that time again, the Commonwealth Games. This year they are in Melbourne which means that those of us here in the UK either need to be able to work the video recorder, or be able to stay up until three in the morning!

The groups are:

Top two teams from each group through to semi-finals

I haven’t found any comprehensive list of what’s on when yet, so here are a few different sources (all from the BBC website) put together in one list. Also further down the page are instructions for videoing those extra freeview channels (coming soon)

17th March

Interactive 3 (sky) and freeview 3

10.00-11.30 Netball

11.30-13.00 Netball

BBCTWO

13.50-15.00 Netball

England began their 2006 campaign with what looked a straightforward match against Malawi; Wales, on the other hand, faced the huge challenge of playing the host nation Australia.

Interactive 2 (sky) and freeview 2

02.00-03.30 Netball

18th March

Interactive 5 (sky)

17.30-19.00 Netball

19th March

Interactive 5 (sky)

13.00-14.30 Netball

Interactive 4 (sky) and freeview 3

10.00-11.30 Netball

BBCTWO

14.10-14.25 Netball

Presented by Clare Balding. Wales play the second of their netball pool matches against Samoa.

20th March

Interactive 4 (sky)

13.30-15.00 Netball A

15.00-16.30 Netball B

Interactive 5 (sky)

21.00-22.30 Netball

Interactive 3 (sky)

22.30-23.00 Netball

21st March

Interactive 3 (sky) and freeview 3

12.00-13.45 Netball

22nd March

Interactive 3 (sky) and freeview 3

10.10-11.40 Netball

Interactive 4 (sky) and freeview 3

17.30-19.00 Netball

Interactive 3 (sky) and freeview 2

22.00-23.30 Netball

23rd March

Interactive 3 (sky) and freeview 3

06.00-07.30 Netball

Interactive 2 (sky)

06.30-08.00 Netball

Interactive 4 (sky)

08.00-09.30 Netball

Interactive 4 (sky) and freeview 3

17.30-19.00 Netball

25th March

Interactive 5 (sky)

07.30-09.00 Netball Semi-Final

09.30-11.00 Netball Semi-Final

26th March

Interactive 4 (sky)

04.00-05.30 Netball-Bronze

Interactive 2 (sky) and freeview 2

06.00-08.00 Netball-Gold

Interactive 3 (sky) and freeview 3

14.00-17.00 Netball Finals

I’ll update this site with more info as and when I find it. Please email textpattern@lornajane.net if you have any additions or corrections. The schedules are quite confusing because we’re in a different timezone and “day 5” there spans two days here :)