Netball

Netball is a ball sport played on courts between teams of five to seven players, with the object being to get the most goals by getting the ball through a goal ring attached to the top a pole. Netball has a similar relationship to basketball as softball has to baseball, in that it is derived from the other sport and is played predominantly by girls and women, especially as a school or amateur sport. However, netball is an Olympic-recognized sport governed by the International Netball Federation, with a world championship tournament held every four years. It is played around the world, but is popular mainly in Commonwealth nations.

Netball originated in physical education programs and remains primarily an amateur sport, albeit one played at an intense level of competition and skill. Its initial spread owed much to the growth of interest in physical education, the sport’s social acceptability as a pursuit for women, and the size of the British Empire. Though comparatively little-known in the United States, the sport continues to be promoted both by domestic boosters and at the international level.

Brief History

Netball could actually be considered the sibling, rather than descendent, of modern basketball. It was invented so soon after basketball’s introduction that the two sports evolved simultaneously. James Naismith was responsible for the invention of basketball in the United States in 1891 as an activity for young men, initially using a soccer ball until the sport became popular enough to warrant a custom-made ball. Within days women had taken up the new game as well, championed by gymnastics instructor Senda Berenson. Thanks to the growth of physical education programs and of American colleges, basketball spread quickly, and initially rules often varied from program to program.

A significant evolution of the women’s version of basketball came as basketball spread to women in Great Britain, as dribbling the ball fell out of use. By 1895 women at Madame Ostenburg’s College in London, England, had taken up the game and continued to differentiate it from men’s basketball. Like other early versions of the sport for women, play was intentionally slowed down for decorum’s sake. The baskets used as goals were replaced by netted rings around 1897. In subsequent years British women also adopted the division of the court into three zones, a rule allegedly introduced to women’s basketball after an instructor in New Orleans misinterpreted a court diagram by Naismith, and later promoted by Berenson and others as a way to prevent exhaustion.

By the early 1900s, the British version of women’s basketball had evolved into its own sport, and became known as netball. The first official rules were released in 1901, and the sport spread throughout the British Commonwealth, again with rules often varying slightly from place to place. It became especially popular in Australia and New Zealand, where it remained known as women’s basketball as late as 1970. Although strong social taboos existed in the anglophone world governing women’s behavior, netball faced little opposition because, unlike most sports, it neither commingled men and women together nor involved physical contact between players.

Many national netball associations and organized leagues were established in the first half of the twentieth century, and the International Federation of Women’s Basketball and Netball—later the International Netball Federation (INF)—was formed in 1960 as the sport’s worldwide governing body, concurrent with the worldwide standardization of netball’s rules. The first Netball World Championship (later known as the Netball World Cup) followed in 1963 and is held every four years. Men’s netball, as well as mixed games, earned limited popularity beginning in the 1980s. The United States joined the INF in 1992, as American interest in netball developed late. Netball was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1995, and lobbying efforts continue to have the sport included in the Olympics.

Overview

As with both men’s and women’s basketball, netball is played on a rectangular court with a raised net on a ten-foot post at each end in each team’s goal area. The official netball court size is slightly longer than a basketball court; netball goals have no backboards and the goal hoop is slightly smaller than in basketball. Each player is assigned to a named position, defining their objectives and restricting their movements to one of three zones. The ball is passed from player to player until or unless one attempts to throw it into the net to make a goal. In most circumstances, a player can take no more than one step before passing it, and must either pass the ball or shoot for a goal within three seconds. Standard netball games last for sixty minutes of game time, divided into four equal quarters. The winning team is the one that scores the most goals.

Netball terminology differs somewhat from basketball analogues. Teams score goals, not points, reflecting the fact that the sport originated and is played in Commonwealth countries where basketball has historically been a minor sport. The uniform is called a "bib," the term "jersey" for athletic apparel being less common in Commonwealth countries than in North America.

In standard netball, each team has seven players: the goal shooter, goal attack, wing attack, center, wing defense, goal defense, and goal keeper. Abbreviations for the players’ position are displayed on their bibs. Only the goal attack and goal shooter are allowed to score goals, and in order to do so validly, they must be inside the semicircle around the goal area. The goal defense and goal keeper are tasked with blocking goals, but because netball was designed to prevent physical contact, players maintain a greater distance from one another than in basketball, and blocking must be done from at least three feet away from the goal shooter’s landing foot.

Several variations of netball have been developed, generally with the goal of speeding up gameplay. Fast Net was conceived of by the INF in 2008 and uses six players per team rather than seven. This further evolved into Fast5, featuring five players per team and altered rules. Beach netball, and outdoor variant, has proved popular. Several variants aimed at children have also been developed.

While modern basketball often relies on running, netball more closely resembles earlier forms of basketball in its emphasis on passing strategy. Because players in different positions are limited to different regions of the court, passing, rather than running and dribbling, is the way to move the ball from one side of the court to the other. Typically different styles of passing are developed and used by different positions. The center and goal attack are familiar with the largest number of passes, for instance, while the wing attack often relies on the lob pass (in which the ball is held behind the head, released over the head, and thrown in a high arc) and long passes like the one-handed shoulder pass (which throws a ball a great distance with the weight on the back foot) and the chest pass (which throws the ball a great distance with both hands at chest height). Other positions may make use of fast, short distance passes like the two-handed side pass or the one-handed bullet pass.

Netball is primarily a collegiate and amateur sport. In addition to the Netball World Cup, which has been dominated by the Australian team, other international tournaments include the Asian Netball Championship and the Nations Cup. Netball has been played at the quadrennial Commonwealth Games since 1998, and Australia and New Zealand have had consistent success in that tournament. There are numerous leagues in various Commonwealth countries, many competing at a very serious level of play, such as Great Britain’s Netball Superleague, but professional netball is nearly nonexistent. However, the ANZ Championship, organized in 2008 in Australia and New Zealand, marked a step toward professionalization in the sport. Although the salary cap imposed on each team effectively made participation in the league a part-time job, it was nevertheless a paying one, and this semiprofessional development led to players in other leagues agitating for pay and pointing out the profits that their games earn through the sport’s television broadcasts.

Netball in the United States is overseen by the United States of America Netball Association (USANA), which was founded in New York City in 1992. Historically, most netball players and coaches in the United States come from countries where the sport is better established. Netball remains a lesser-known sport in the United States, believed to have been first introduced in New York City in the 1970s. The rise of professional women’s basketball in the 1990s may have actually interfered with concurrent attempts to promote the similar sport of netball in the country.

Bibliography

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