october newsletter
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October newsletterTRANSCRIPT
NETBALLNEWS
EAST MIDLANDS REGION
News from the Region
Volunteer VacanciesPAGE 2
Goalden Globe AwardsPAGE 3
Capital FM gamePAGE 5
Course InformationPAGE 7
News from around theCountiesPAGE 8
LoughboroughLightningPAGE 12
News from EnglandNetball
Young PeoplePAGE 13
Oversees DevelopmentPAGE 14
October 2011
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October13th and 20th- Loughborough Lightning Screening
16th- Regional Screening Day, Loughborough24th- UKCC courses released (regional priority)
November11th- CAPS pre assessment deadline
12th- UKCC level 1, Keyworth, Nottingham25th-27th World Netball Series
December14th- CAPS Assessment
23rd- Office closes for Christmas (reopens 3rd Jan 2012)
Further details of all dates of events and courses can be found on ourwebsite: www.eastmidlandsnetball.co.uk
Dates for the diary
National Goalden Globe Awards 2011
October 2011
News from the Region- Volunteer Vacancies
Regional Treasurer
Do you want to make a difference to how netball is managed and run in the East Midlands region? We arelooking for a new Treasurer to take on responsibility for the Regional Association’s financial accounts. This isa voluntary role and would ideally suit someone who is numerate, well organised, has an eye for detail andhas experience of income and expenditure recording and the reconciliation of accounts. We anticipate thatthe role will take on average about 2 hours per week to carry out, although some times of year will be busierthan others. You will need to have access to a computer with Excel software and have an email account. Thesuitable applicant will also need to be CRB checked before taking up the post.
The East Midlands Treasurer has a seat on the Regional Management Board and is accountable to theRegional Chair. All Board members are asked to attend a minimum of six evening Board meetings a year aswell as the Annual General Meeting, which takes place in June. Expenses for business travel and out ofpocket costs will be paid in line with regional financial policies.
To find out more about the role please ring Anne Henderson, Regional Manager on 01509 226753. CVapplications, along with a covering letter setting out why you would like to be considered for the role shouldbe sent to [email protected] by Friday 21st October 2011.
Recognition and Profile TSG Members
An opportunity has arisen within East Midlands Netball that willenhance your CV, allow you to gain specific work experience andhas the potential for interacting with a number of key stakeholderorganisations.
The role of the Recognition and Profile Technical Support Group isto raise the profile of netball in the East Midlands from grassrootsnetball to elite athletes using a variety of marketing andcommunication platforms.
The group is currently recruiting new members. This is an ideal parttime position (hours variable but relatively flexible) especially tothose who are interested in a career in marketing, sportmanagement, media or communications. Netball experience is NOTan essential requirement.
The Recognition and Profile TSG sits within the governance structures of the East Midlands Regional NetballAssociation and reports to the Regional Management Board. This is a part time voluntary position butout-of-pocket expenses will be covered.
Applicants should have an understanding or experience in one or more of the following: marketing; journalism;PR; sponsorship; media and communications and/or professional and amateur sport structures, pleasecontact Peter Dickenson, TSG Lead at [email protected] by 14th October 2011.
Keep up to date with the latestinformation on our website:
www.eastmidlandsnetball.co.uk
October 2011
News from the Region
National Goalden Globe Awards
On Saturday 17th September, the Athena in Leicester was once again thevenue for one of the most prestigious nights on the netball calendar as itwelcomed the national netballing community to the 2011 Goalden GlobeAwards event. The theme for the evening was “masquerade” and there wereplenty of exotic masks, flowing dresses and black ties on show – we netballersdo scrub up well!
England Netball Long Service AwardSue Collin (Nottinghamshire); and Andrea Scigliano(Leicestershire)Pass on Your Passion Award(400 hours volunteering) Oliver Hooper (Derbyshire)and Sara Bostock (Leicestershire)
No prizes but let’s see if you can guess who’s whofrom the East Midlands in this photo.
Just like at the Oscars, we all sat with crossed fingersand toes and held our breaths when the awards wereannounced and we’re pleased to tell you that theEast Midlands were worthy winners of the followingawards:
Inclusive NetballVolunteer Award
Julie Hunt (Leicestershire)
We’d like to pass on massive congratulations to every one of our nationalaward winners and also to those nominated volunteers from the EastMidlands region who didn’t pick up an award on the night but who are, to us,all winners in their own right. We really couldn’t do what we do so well withoutyou.
Just a reminder that we’ll be starting the Goalden Globe Award process for2012 in the New Year and your challenge is to submit more nominations thanever before. Suggest you all get cracking on those netball CVs pretty soon!
Pictures from the Goalden Globe Awards
October 2011
News from the Region- Competition & a Special Award
Date Competition25-27th November 2011 World Netball Series, Liverpool28th January 2012 Regional Schools Tournament, Northampton11th February 2012 Regional Back to Netball Tournament22nd April 2012 Regional League and u16 play offs, Loughborough29th April 2012 Regional u14 and u19 Tournament, Lincoln7th May 2012 U12 and clubs High 5 Tournament, Northampton20th May 2012 Regional League qualifying tournament, Derby9th June 2012 Marion Smith Tournament, Leicester10th June 2012 O35 tournament, Leicester24th June 2012 Regional Schools High 5 Tournament, Northampton
2011/12 Competition dates
The first East Midlands Fast Net Tournament took placein Derbyshire on Sunday 4th September. Five teamsfrom across the region entered and although the weatherwasn’t the most pleasant, some exciting games wereplayed and the sun managed to poke it’s head out for ashort while.
Well done to all teams who took part and congratulationsto TFC who won the competition and will now go forwardto play in the National Final at the World Netball Seriesin Liverpool in November. Thanks also to those whovolunteered on the day. We’ll let you know in the Januaryedition how they got on at the WNS.
Fast Net success!
Liz Broomhead received her MBE from Buckingham Palace amongst 105 otherrecipients from Knights and Dames to OBE’s and MBE’s as well as special recognitionof bravery by the armed services. Everyone was made very welcome in beautiful roomsand a briefing was given on what to say and do before it was your turn to be called.
Liz took a long walk down an amazingly beautiful corridor to the ballroom where theceremony took place; and waited nervously –remembering to say “Mam as in Spam”.The Queen pinned on the beautiful medal and asked genuinely interested questionsabout Liz’s voluntary work. It was all over so quickly. Official photographs and someunofficial ones with the Yeoman of the Guard were taken. Liz then went for a walk downthe Mall...... had a lovely lunch in National Gallery..... and then went home with a headfull of wonderful memories which she still loves to share with anyone and everyone whowill listen.
Liz receives her MBE
October 2011
News from the Region
The East Midlands Netball v Capital FM ChallengeOn Wednesday 20th July several East Midlands netballers were going about their usual morning routine whenthey heard the unthinkable, “Netball is not a sport; it’s boring; it’s for girls”. Twiggy on Capital FMs BreakfastShow was the culprit. Emma, breakfast co host opened the poll up to the listeners and one of those with theirears pinned to the radio was East Midlands Regional Coordinator, Katie Broderick.
Twiggy was a little scared with Katie on the line thinking she played for the England Team and when herealised she was a member of staff, he breathed a small sigh of relief. Twiggy said he could play the game ashe’s quite athletic having previously had trials with Wolverhampton Wanderers so Katie said the inevitable,“Well come and show us then!"
That he did and on Thursday 1st September, Twiggy brought a teamof men to play against an all female team. After taunts throughoutthe day saying they could smell the fear of the girls and that they had9 highly talented athletes (maybe!), the teams ready to play were:
Men: Twiggy; Producer Brainz; Dino and Pete from Drive time;Friends of the show Ben, Phill and Yatesy (these three were bringingsporting prowess!) and listeners Costa and Ryan
Ladies: Emma, newsreaders Anna; Laura and Sarah, andrepresenting the region: Stephanie Orr; Sophie Artley; NatalieChadbourne; Caroline Orton; Danni Gatt; Jo Cantrill; RachelStephenson; Stasia Guest, Mary-Ellen O’Driscoll and FionaHale
Rosie Port, EM Regional Excel Coach put everyone throughtheir paces in a warm up that tested their ball handling, staminaand counting skills! The boys began to look worried andregretted not taking it more seriously from the start (a couple ofthem even tried to escape). It wasn’t looking so easy now!
The men went head to head with the women taking a surprise earlylead after a wonder goal by Phill from the edge of the circle. The girlstook the lead quickly after that and at the end of the first six minutesthe score was 3-1.
Twiggy realised that the two shooters were not the only valuedplayers in the team and he and Brainz encouraged the men to goout in the next quarter victorious. Whilst the men were unable toscore, they defended well allowing the girls to score only twice.HT 5-1
Both teams got a little bit of coaching from Katie and umpires OliviaMurphy (Loughborough Lightning Head Coach) and Val Kindred(Leicestershire Netball Development Officer) and as the
male confidence grew, so did the frequency of questioning umpire decisions with Dino; Ben; Twiggy andBrainz constantly shouting to the “referees”.
October 2011
News from the Region
Katie thanked everyone for a great game; the effort put in;announced listener Ryan as Player of the Match and awardedthe win to………..well the girls of course! Final score: 12-7. SueCollin, EM Regional Chair presented each player with a medalwhilst Emma enjoyed lifting the trophy for the girls.
Referee Val (or umpire if you’re a netballer) said “the game wasplayed in great spirit and everyone really enjoyed themselves.The banter was brilliant!” The men did not go home defeated withDino concluding “We didn’t really know what was going on butwe still gave a good account of ourselves”.
We’re really pleased Capital FM took on the challenge and thatnetball has had some great publicity. Will Brainz’s offer of arematch take place? Watch this space!
The girls pulled together in quarter three, upping the pace andfinding ways around the dominant male defence and scored fourgoals. The boys had their best quarter scoring two after beingtold three seconds is longer than they think and to take more timewith their shots. The 20 strong crowd on the balcony enjoyedseeing more goals and continued with their support, cheering onboth teams. Q3 9-3
Quarter four saw the boys introduce a power play- double pointsfor each of their goals. Stares between the male and femalecamps showed the spectators that everyone was in this to win it.The boys found ways of getting the ball down the court with somelong lobs and one impressive pass through the legs of Capitalnewsreader Sarah Urwin!
The final score had to wait as the teams were split to play a mixed game. Despite Producer Brainz insistingthey had to leave (tiredness setting in!) Emma was adamant the mixed game would be played. A further sixminutes with rolling subs allowed the boys and girls to mix and for everyone to try out some new playingpositions.
The East Midlands Netball v Capital FM Challenge cont...
Sam Meade, Netball Development Officer for Northamptonshire, lefther post at the end of September. Sam isn’t going too far: she will takeup post in early October as NDO for Hertfordshire in the East regionand so we will still get to see Sam at England Netball events.
The regional team would like to wish Sam the best of luck in her newrole- she’ll be missed!
The post of NDO for Northamptonshire is now on the England Netballwebsite. The closing date for applications is October 10th.
Northamptonshire Netball Development Officer Vacancy
October 2011
News from the Region- course information
UKCC courses
The following UKCC courses are available to book onto now.Visit www.englandnetball.co.uk/coaching for more information.
Level 1Notts 12th; 13th Nov, 11th Dec 2011 Eastwood Sports Centre Closing date 14th OctoberLincs 13th; 14th Feb, 11th Mar 2012 Trent Valley Academy Closing date 13th JanuaryDerbys 25th; 26th Feb, 1st Apr 2012 da Vinci College Closing date 27th January
Courses for the period April - September 2012 will be released on regional priority on Monday 24th Octoberand the National launch will take place on Monday 7th November. Club secretaries will be emailed coursedetails in October and all information will be made available on the regional and national websites in November.Email [email protected] for further information.
Young Umpire Award
Safeguarding- Time to Listen
Time to Listen is a three hour workshop developed by the Child Protection in Sport Unit specifically for ClubSafeguarding Officers. The workshop has been adapted for netball and uses practical examples and casestudies to enable you to fully understand your role in the club and England Netball and how you can effectivelysafeguard young people in your care.
Workshops include the following areas:· What is an aware club· Involving young people· Legislation and government guidance and how it relates to your role and England Netball· The roles and responsibilities of key people in the safeguarding process including your role as a Club
Safeguarding Officer· England Netball's reporting procedures· How to develop best practice in your club· How England Netball can support you and your club in safeguarding
Who should attend?The course is aimed at Club Safeguarding Officers only and you must have already attended a SportscoachUK Safeguarding and Protecting Children course (or equivalent) as Time to Listen builds on this prior learning.
If you have not yet attended Time to Listen training and are interested in doing so, please [email protected] to register your interest. For details of local SCUK safeguarding courses,visit the club accreditation/courses section of the East Midlands website.
The Young Umpire Award (YUA) can be delivered in schools by teachers to promotethe development of young officials. It helps to improve an understanding of the game;introduces the generic skills of umpiring (foundations laid will provide a pathway tothe ‘C’ umpire award); offers opportunities for talent identification and assists withand fulfils the National Curriculum requirements at Key Stage 3, 4 and 5
If you are interested in attending an orientation workshop (essential in order to deliverthe YUA in your school) please contact Katie at [email protected]
October 2011
News from around the counties
Successful screening day held
On Saturday 10th September, 65 girls descended on Loughborough University’s Netball Centre, along withcoaches and scouts for Leicestershire’s screening day. Approximately 40 girls were asked to join thosealready in the academy for a second day of screening and 25 remained. A third day was required in order toselect 20 girls to take part in the 2011/12 County Academy.
Val Kindred, Netball Development Officer for Leicestshireshire said “The standard has gone up so much thatit was really difficult to select just a few girls from the 120+ who trialled.”
A Talent ID workshop was held at the same day allowing more coaches to be equipped with the skills andknowledge in order to make nominations to the academies in the future.
Thanks to everyone who trialled, and well doen to those selected.
Derbyshire
Leicestershire
Big Netball Reunion
September 24th saw Derbyshire Netball Association host a Reunion for players, coaches, umpires andvolunteers who had previously been involved in the County to meet up with old friends and share stories. Itwas held in a magnificent setting in Hartington’s Youth Hostel. The event was attended by about 50 peoplewho were able to share old photos, memories and personal profiles. Everyone got the chance to have a lookback over the years and several recounted their experiences from the different decades. These recollectionswere met with much laughter and appreciation of the efforts made by all involved.
An excellent lunch was provided by the YHA, subsidised by the county association, and some of the costswere recouped by a raffle, the prizes for which were donated by members of the County Management Board.Fun activities included a shooting competition and a village quiz. An auction was held with a particular itemdonated by Derbyshire’s Secretary, Hilary Flint, an unusual piece- a netballer in a glass sphere which raised£60 alone. Proceeds from the auction went to the Netball Development Trust which is a charity dear toDerbyshire’s President – Liz Broomhead.
The County Association would like to express its thanks to everyone who came to the Reunion and to all thevolunteers who helped to plan and run the event.
October 2011
News from around the counties
Back to Netball Louth
The Back to Netball sessions at the Meridian Leisure Centre, Louth have been running for just over a year.The ladies love the sessions as they are full of skills, laughter and a variety of games. The sessions arerelaxed but give ladies a full hour of exercise.
Lian Harrison, volunteer for the Louth B2N, has been working as a coach to run the sessions, she has beenpart of the scheme since April. Lian commented 'The Back to Netball scheme is great for the ladies of Louth,it is a good run around and the ladies have such a good time. Everyone's skills have improved over the lastfew months and we would welcome any new members with open arms'. Lian is taking her level 1 in October2011 and her commitment to volunteering with the scheme has been recognised by the leisure centre whothey employ her as a casual coach delivering activities and sports session to young people on a weekly basis.
Ladies who want to start playing netball or getting back into netball are welcome to come along:Monday evenings 6-7pm at Meridian Leisure Centre, Louth.
Lincolnshire
Details of all Back to Netball sessions being held in the region can be found on theregional website www.eastmidlandsnetball.co.uk under programmes
School Games
On Thursday 14th July the pilot of the Lincolnshire School Games was held. Nine counties across the countryhad been tasked with hosting the pilots prior to them being rolled out nationwide next year. The newcompetition is one key part of of the Government plan to create a lasting sporting legacy following the 2012Olympic Games, creating a range of new opportunities for young people to get involved in competitive sport.
The top 10 teams from the Lincolnshire County School finals were invited to attend. The children were treatedto a spectacular opening ceremony with parachutists dressed in Olympic colours dropping into marked outcoloured Olympic rings and a welcome by the Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.
A hot sunny day saw some inspirational netball from the year 5 & 6’s playing High 5. Each team played fourmatches and the excitement rose as England International Olivia Murphy arrived to talk to the children andsign autographs. Rosie Port, Regional Excel Coach and talent scouts from the county handed out ‘you’vebeen spotted’ cards to invite potential athletes to county screening in September.
St Hugh’s just beat Saxilby 4-3 in an exciting and tense semi final and went on to meet Grimoldby who beatSt Johns 5-1 in the other semi-final. In the final the half time score was 4-3 to Grimoldby. The countychampions and regional runners up St Hugh’s continued their winning streak by winning the final 11-4.
Final postitions:
1st St Hugh’s 6TH Kirkby La Thorpe2nd Grimoldby 7th Burgh Le Marsh3rd St Johns 8Th John Harrox4th Saxilby 9th Benjamin Adlard5th Helpringham 10th Carlton Rd
October 2011
News from around the counties
Nottinghamshire
Back to Netball Nottingham launch
On the 10th September 2011 England Netball launched the newinitiative, Back to Netball Nottingham. The launch was held inNottingham’s Old Market Square with several activities for thefamily to get involved in taking place throughout the day.
A shooting competition was available all day, with males andfemales of all ages taking part. A netball assault course was set upbetween 12 and 3pm aiming to get ladies involved and todemonstrate to passers by how fun a Back to Netball session is.
As the day went on the weather improved and we gathered moreand more interest. The words ‘I loved netball at school, I’d love to
The Launch would not have been so successful without the helpfrom volunteers, Loughborough University netballers,Loughborough Lightning, face painters, Nottingham City Counciland several Nottingham Back to Netballer’s. With everyone’shard work we engaged directly with 200-250 ladies and gave outover 500 leaflets throughout the day.
play again’ were repeated on several occasions emphasising the need to launch the project in Nottingham.
In the 2 weeks since the launch Kayleawas been contacted by over 30 ladies whowill be attending one of several new Backto Netball sessions from September.
Kaylea McQuade, Netball Development Community CoachPhone: 07872 407215
Email: [email protected]
Back to Netball NottinghamB2NNottingham
Contact Kaylea:
October 2011
News from around the counties
Nottinghamshire cont...
Kaylea McQuade- NDCCSince Kaylea started as Netball Development Comminuty Coach for Nottingham City in March, she has welland truly settled into her role and we caught up with her to find out about her achievements so far:
Power League: I secured a free facility for a weekly Back to Netball session open to everyone. Each weeknumbers have increased and over the last 6 weeks, 25+ ladies have been attending. I organised a minileague for the ladies to compete in and this was held 30 minutes prior to the Back to Netball session, thereforeladies had a chance to compete and to train afterwards. This league has been very successful with maximumcapacity.
Engagement: Since March I have successfully engaged with 176 ladies through organising and promoting 21Back to Netball sessions across Nottingham City. This is over 2/3’s of my yearly target of 240
Newark and Sherwood Active Festival
Newark and Sherwood District Council Sports Development team held an Active Festival on 24th July whichcincluded a netball tournament . The festival was organised in partnership with the Olympic Open WeekendActivities supported by BP, marking only one year until the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Five teams entered from Newark and Grantham and were a mixture of regular netball teams and thosereturning to the sport. The event was well supported by Newark Shooters netball club and Fenland netballclub with VISPA volunteers helping throughout the day with officiating, refreshments, timekeeping andscoring. The winning team was Muskham Mavericks but had close competition from Newark Shooters andthe Shooting Stars team who are the newly formed Newark back to netball team. Grantham Fenlands backTo netball team came third winning two games and losing two. Thisis the second tournament the Grantham ladies have entered andthey are now looking forward to September when back to netballenters the Lincolnshire League. Newark will be holding Back toNetball sessions starting Monday 12th September at the GroveSchool, Lilley and Stone site from 7-8pm with sessions costing £3.If anyone would like further information on the sessions, pleasecontact Sally Thomas on 07984 812219, Louise Key on 07545924994 or email [email protected]
Talent Identification courseplanning
We are in the process of arranging aTalent Identification workshop to takeplace in Northamptonshire. If you oranyone from your school or club wouldlike to hear about the course, please [email protected] sothat details can be forwarded to you.
Northamptonshire
October 2011
Loughborough Lightning
Sophia Candappa gets England call up
Loughborough Lightning netball player Sophia Candappa has beencalled up to the senior England squad for the first time. Sophia, whois studying Psychology at Loughborough University, impressed at theEngland trials and has been rewarded with a place on the Englandtour to Australia and New Zealand.
Olivia Murphy, player coach of Loughborough Lightning said: “Sophiafully deserves her place in the England squad after making fantasticprogress over the last 12 months. She has only played one fullseason with Lightning, but has already made great strides, whichhave caught the eye of the England selectors.“
There was further good news with University graduates Jade Clarkeand Jo Harten also being selected. Former Lightning player Jade,who has been a regular in the England squad for seven years hasbeen chosen as the new England captain.
Jo, who graduated this year and has been Lightning’s goal shooter forthe last four seasons, also makes the tour. Jo will come head to headwith future rivals and team mates, after agreeing to sign for theCanterbury Tactix in the 2012 ANZ Championship. The Tactix arebased in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.
Lightning secure 4 year franchise
Loughborough Lightning has been selected to continue their participation in the Netball Super League. Thedecision by England Netball will see the sport’s premier competition continue to be played at LoughboroughUniversity for the next four seasons. A number of England internationals have played for Lightning in recentseasons including current coach Olivia Murphy, Karen Atkinson, Jade Clarke and Jo Harten.
Jo Emmett, Loughborough Lightning Franchise Manager commented: “We are delighted with the news thatwe have been offered a Netball Super League Franchise for the next four years. This will enable us to buildon our successes over the past six years. The announcement means we can enhance our strongpartnership with England Netball, and build on our aspiration to be the best netball development environmentin England. In the run up to the new season we will be working hard to ensure that we offer an outstandingmatch day experience for our loyal Lightning fans, and also to encourage new supporters to come and watchtop class netball.”
The eight franchises selected are: Celtic Dragons • Hertfordshire Mavericks • Loughborough Lightning •Northern Thunder • Surrey Storm • TeamBath • Team Northumbria • Yorkshire Jets
The new season gets underway on the weekend of 21 January 2012 and will conclude with the Grand FinalWeekend on 19 and 20 May.
We will have more Lightning news for you in the January edition, including details of the 2012 squad. In themeantime, keep up to date with all the latest information on the Lightning website.
www.loughboroughlightning.co.uk
Lightning screening:October 13th & 20th
October 2011
News from England Netball- Young People
High 5 resources
A day in the life of a young volunteer
Sarah Brady from Leicestershire recently signed up to England Netball’sPass on Your Passion scheme. PoyP is for every young person aged 12-25 that is actively volunteering in netball; whether as a coach, official,committee member, event helper....the list is endless. Sarah updates uson a day volunteering in the community.......
“On Sunday 10th July 2011, I was chosen to supportEngland Netball in promoting local Back to Netballschemes at the Race for Life, Western Park, Leicester.Me and two other volunteers, Charlotte and Viccy,helped to encourage everyone to take part in a shootingchallenge which made many people interested innetball. They asked for more information about joiningclubs and netball in their local area. Many people tookleaflets and seemed keen to start or get back intonetball.
England Netball have released new resources for High 5, available on theEngland Netball webiste (www.englandnetball.co.uk/mygame) Informationincludes downloadable resources, playing high 5 in schools, thecommunity and workshops for teachers and coaches.
Free membership is available to all primary schools. To register, visit thehigh 5 section of the England Netball website
I really enjoyed talking to people about netball and felt like Iwas making a difference, getting ladies to play netball again!Taking part in the race warm up and challenging attendeesin the shooting competition were fun too!”
If you would like to register for Pass on Your Passion, emailyour address to eastmidlands@englandnetball for a leaflet, orsign up online at www.englandnetball.co.uk (visit the youthzone)
October 2011
News from England Netball- Oversees Development
Every year for the last five years UK Sport and IFNA (International Federation Netball Association) have beendelivering Netball Safaris, primarily in the African countries. The aim is to empower teachers from the regionsand provinces so they can support the many young children who live in some of the worlds poorest regionsto make a difference for them through netball, developing skills that will enable the programme to be sustainedafter the volunteers have gone home. In this case the volunteers are young leaders who have to raise all thefunds themselves.
Natalie Simpson from Lincolnshire was one of those volunteers chosen to take part in the safari this year. Withsupport from the East Midlands Regional Management Board and Lincolnshire County Netball Associationand under the guidance of Liz Broomhead, Natalie embarked on a remarkable journey to Zimbabwe. This isher story……
Making a difference through netball
Having spent a week in the country deemed to bethe ‘hardest country in the world to live in’ I cansafely say that I have had the most inspirationalexperience possible. I have met some of the mostamazing people that, despite all the hardshipsthey face, have a passion for netball and use it notonly for enjoyment but also as an escape fromtheir personal difficulties. The coaches andteachers that we spent the week with help providehigh quality netball coaching for children of allages across the country in order for them to regaintheir childhoods and as a contrast to their difficultlives, even for a few hours every now and again.Yet they never failed to have a smile on theirfaces, which was what was truly inspiring and Ibelieve that the week long Safari was anexperience that not only benefitted theZimbabweans but also all three of us who wentover there.
When we finally landed in Harare after three flightsand 28 hours of travelling, we met two very specialpeople; Joan (Ambassador for netball in Africa) andBarbara (Secretary of ZINA). The taxi driver was areckless driver on the way to the hotel, I was literallypetrified! But the scenery was breath taking. Thisbarren land suddenly turns into a high-rise city, butthe roadsides seemed so poor. I already knew thatwe were going to do something so worthwhile. Wevisited the venue which was a local girls’ school andwe saw them measuring and painting the courts onan area that they previously used for tennis – thetennis net posts were welded into the ground in themiddle of the court, there was no health and safetyissue for them though, we seemed to be the only ones
worrying! We knew that tomorrow teachers were coming and we were going to deliver a course on how tocoach netball, the skills they need and introduce some simple drills to them because it was the ideas foruseful drills that they lacked.
October 2011
Some of the teachers/coaches had travelled over 8 hours on public buses to be there. By the end of the weekwe had 108 enrolled on the safari. The Zimbabwean people are the most friendly and funniest people I haveever met, but also they have the most inspirational work ethic. They literally wrote down everything we toldthem, word for word. We had an eye opening ceremony too where they sang the national anthem in threelanguages at the same time and you couldn’t even tell. They were so grateful and it’s as if it was an honourfor them to have us there, as much as for me it’s an honour to be there. We taught them the basics of coachingand netball and learnt some fun things about them - one man had the most brilliant dreadlocks and one wasa preacher. We spent the afternoon in the gorgeous sunshine showing them drills. It was however, sohumbling to see them laughing and having fun, remembering these are grown adults playing children’sgames. It was so nice to see they have such a desire to learn, and how they could tell us what they learnedthe previous day, they remembered even the smallest details.
They all got so animated when we talked about rules and umpiring and in Zimbabwe it’s like ‘ChineseWhispers’ and the rules are interpreted so differently from province to province. Watching them play thoughwas wonderful, they are so fast and athletic and the men and women play very differently. They are sopassionate and enthusiastic, even all the supporters sing and dance constantly and they do everything witha smile on their face. It was a joy to watch them learn and develop.
Making a difference through netball cont....
When it got to the day the children were joining us they didn't arrive on time,they run on Africa time here you see, so when we said 10am, it was gone11am before any arrived. But they had the most gorgeous and brightlycoloured netball kits ever! It amazed me how they play without shoes,especially on the terrible uneven and dusty surfaces, but to them, they find itharder in shoes as it alters their balance! The children (aged 9-20) have thesame work ethic, they listen attentively and behave well but they do everythingwith massive smiles on their faces. They loved every second of it and they arevery good netballers too, but the best thing was seeing the teachers put intopractice everything we'd taught them, the end product was excellent. Theyalways want to be the best they can be and they clarify even the smallest pointso they know they are right. And they were so good, their coaching ismagnificent. What I loved though was how their warm ups involved singing anddancing so the atmosphere was always happy and jolly!
We played a tournament with the children and their netballability was incredible, they have the most amazing power intheir passes and in their fitness levels. This is because they areso used to walking distances to school or doing householdchores or carrying younger brothers and sisters on their backs!The coaches became so protective and energetic andcompletely engrossed and passionate towards their own teams- it was amazing!
I think it’s important to teach the adults as it’s them that willimplement it after we left and nurture the younger generation. Ifelt like we made such a difference and giving countries likeZimbabwe a structure within sport gives children skills ingeneral, as well as a passion for something that allows them tolearn discipline too. All they want is to be recognised by the restof the world and be known for their sporting talent and not bedismissed due to their politics.
News from England Netball- Oversees Development
October 2011
Contact details for Regional staff
Anne HendersonRegional [email protected]
Rosie PortRegional Excel Coach
Katie BroderickRegional [email protected]
Kaylea McQuadeNetball Development Community Coach-
Nottingham [email protected]
Val KindredNetball Development [email protected]
Olivia MurphyLoughborough Lightning Coach
Louise KeyNetball Development Officer- [email protected]
Liz BroomheadEast Midlands Netball- Vice Chair
Sue CollinEast Midlands Netball- Regional [email protected]
The East Midlands Team