#3 The corporate stain on the netball community

I’ve lost count of the number of times a local ‘corporate’ netball  league has appeared on my Facebook timeline.

I gather, I am a targeted audience member, you see. I am in the ‘right’ geographical area - mainly where Back to Netball has been successful, I suspect. And I fit into one of two specific groups

1. Twenty something ambitious career woman with disposable income (I wish)

or

2.  Yummy mummy who has no spare time on her hands but would enjoy ‘ a night out’ reminding herself what it is to be young, with  no responsibilities, again. (That may well be me!)

‘The Corporates’ (as defined by me) are the money-driven companies with head offices normally at the other end of the country, offering ‘rock up and play’ netball at astronomical prices. I feel in my rights to label them ‘astronomical’ because I know what they are charging in respect to what they are paying out! Make no bones about it, they are there for the money, not for the netballer!

Their success, I believe, firstly comes from doing their research, (kudos to them!) targeting the areas where Back to Netball and other such programmes have been popular, but (and it’s their own fault) the NGB hasn’t necessarily acted quick enough to offer participants a exit route, if they indeed want one. Think Portsmouth, Southampton, London, Newcastle and Bristol. But by no means are they the only cities these companies have aggressively targeted!

My own experience of these ‘corporates’ hasn’t been great.

One, I believe, sent a ‘spy’ in the guise of a ‘coach who’d like to offer something back to netball by volunteering / coaching at a Back to Netball session’. Pumped me for information (perhaps I was naive but I had no idea 00GA was operating in netball circles!) Only never to reply to any emails, voicemails or even say hi to me in passing again! Yes, she was known to me. Yes, it does make it worse!

Another,  I was ‘forced’ to work with in my previous role and let’s just say they got a lot more out of the deal than I, or EN did. Lesson definitely learnt. By me, at least.

Now let’s be clear, I have no problem at all with people making money out of netball.

I never have done and indeed, if it wasn’t for ‘All About Netball’ in my area (an organisation, wrongly, I believe, regarded as a ‘corporate’ by netball bigwigs) then the 5,000+ ‘ballers who walked through the doors in my previous position,  would not have had an exit route. Many of them still play in this ‘fun & friendly’ league and are very happy doing so.

All About Netball, and other organisations like them, have their priorities right, you see. It’s the netball first and the money second.

Now, I’m no expert in business and I’m not going on Dragons’ Den anytime soon, but this to me makes sense in any business plan. If the ‘customer’ is happy then they return, they tell their friends, they are hungry for more and start talking umpiring courses, coaching courses and the like.

In my area the ‘traditional’ leagues have declined mainly due to the ‘corporates’ turning up. Let’s be honest many of these ‘7 birds & a ball’ leagues are run by volunteers who have sat on the league committees for years. They are not about change and they are not about rolling with the times.

With the success of Back to Netball and Netball Now though we have a new breed of ‘baller who will not sit through 3 hour league meetings, accept points deductions because their signature doesn’t match, when it was scrawled on a wet & windy night,  or pay a £5 fine for not wearing full length leggings because it’s in the league rules to do so! (True story!)

Which is where the problems begin I feel. These ‘corporates’ actively target players who just want to ‘rock up and play’. Their netball experience is sketchy and probably limited to school and they don’t necessarily know any better. £6 for a 40minute game of netball (often 32 as no ‘baller carries a stopwatch round with them on court!) with one umpire and a mention on social media for the POM, is acceptable.

Down the road there’s a league at half the price, better organised, with more match time and support for those who wish to progress with umpiring, coaching etc if they wish. Theres always two umpires and even more than that mentors actively supporting up & coming officials. There’s a development plan for those who want to be involved but equally, for those who truly want to just rock up and play, the experience is player- centred and for my money, first class.

I’ve talked openly and honestly about the evolution of netball in my blog, for better or for worse. In my opinion, the ‘corporates’ will never truly ‘succeed’ or dominate because they’re not putting the netballer first.

True netball fans, volunteers on local leagues and dare I say, our netball NGB,  need to wake up and smell the coffee though - ‘corporates’ are not going away: they have the money & resource to ‘hook’ ladies in and there is  always a steady turnover of personnel because they’re not interested in where the money comes from, as long as there is a steady flow!

 It’s true ’ballers  responsibility to offer these ladies an viable alternative: a netball experience so good that they will never want to leave our great game!

Now, who’s up for the challenge!?’

#2 Who’d be a volunteer!?!

I have the most enormous respect for volunteers, from all walks off life, but, of course, slightly more for netball volunteers! 😉

There’s been a huge push, rightly so, in recent years for ‘rock up and play’ netball: aimed mainly at ladies who are inactive, lacking self esteem and / or time poor. Programmes such as Back to Netball, Netball Now and Walking Netball have been unbelievably successful.

I believe, this has come at somewhat of a cost, with enormous pressure on already busy volunteers and the very nature of the programmes, not necessarily providing fresh blood!

 I wonder if you know who  in your netball club or team,  does the following things?

🏐 Orders equipment and kit
🏐 Puts out posts
🏐 Makes sure first aid kit is replenished
🏐 Washes the bibs
🏐 Works out the finances
🏐 Organises the end of season shin-dig

That’s just a few ‘duties’ off the top of my head, before we even think about affiliations (ENgage doesn’t seem to be making things any easier at the moment. But there was always going to be teething problems!), league entry, safeguarding and first aid courses and the dreaded CAPs accreditation. I have the misfortune of being in charge of my clubs reaccreditation at the moment, for the second time! (‘Please help Debs, it’s so much easier now it’s online!’ Liars!)

And that’s just team or club volunteers, let’s not get started on those wonderful people who dedicate time to league committees, county committees, regional and higher! These people have huge responsibilities for governing and organising netball on a large scale and very rarely get the credit they deserve.

I’m a passionate advocate of netball volunteers - always first to fight their cause in my former role for the National Governing Body. And always eager to point out their dedication and sacrifice to any ‘ballers (especially those not contributing!) if they criticise!

There is just not enough consideration for those organising netball, from those who participate, in my opinion!

For example - we’re playing in a couple of pre season tournaments, the first one tonight. What’s App has been pinging with organisational stuff such as kit, bibs, umpiring responsibilities etc and also with excitement from players!

Ping goes What’s App, this morning, one player, who frankly should know better ‘Cant play tonight ladies!’. Not even an apology, but that aside, there’s been no consideration that she’s on the umpiring rota, or that if we can’t get someone to replace her we are actually short of £s to enter the tournament!  That’s not to mention the effort that’s gone in to getting a team together in the first place.

It’s also that time of the year where trials / selections are being completed. The amount of time and effort that goes into organising these selections is quite phenomenal and you just wouldn’t realise unless you have been involved! Consideration has to be made to every players’ 1st, second and sometimes third positions, what combinations you play to ensure fairness, every player gets similar court time, you have independent selectors and umpires and most of the time that’s not enough! You always get trialists who don't turn up at the last minute - throwing all those considerations up in the air! You also get players who have no intention of sticking around if they don’t get into the team they think they should be in - what a waste of time and energy that is!

I don’t believe it’s a netball problem, I don’t believe it’s a sport problem. I actually think it’s a society issue but we will leave the ‘snowflake’ debate for another day!

Going back to my ‘off the top of my head’ list above. It does occur to me that that list of things that needs to be done on a regular basis, in order for netball to happen, may well be completed by just one person! That person is likely to have a family, work full time, or both. He or she doesn’t get paid to do those things, I would bet money that they aren’t even thanked for doing them, regularly. Yet, so many people benefit from the actual action of them being completed.

I am also passionate about awards for volunteers as I think this is one of the best ways to recognise and acknowledge their efforts. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t nominate my Walking netball volunteers for the NGB Goalden globe awards because they’re not affiliated! A strong example of our fabulous game evolving fast but the infrastructure that supports it, not evolving fast enough!

I also feel for Coaches.

Now, many coaches, including grass roots are paid for their work, which is a great step forward and sets out progress for the future, where we may well see more professional netball coaches at different levels.

A quick poll of my fellow local coaches ( and I understand this isn’t very scientific but it’s just an example!) confirms that most qualified Level 2’s earn an average of £15 for an hours session. Not a bad payment for an hour of doing what you love, you may think! Now consider the following:

🏐 Planning session
🏐 Sorting equipment
🏐 Planning rehab / programme for injured players
🏐 Travel
🏐 Post session analysis
🏐 Communication of analysis / team selection
🏐 Dealing with after hours player queries

🏐 CPD / qualifications

Now think £15 is a good deal?

I have less experience or knowledge of other roles such as umpires, assessors, mentors, timers, scorers - the list is endless! But I bet they are also on the end of a pretty raw deal and more often than not do it for the love of the game!

There is no doubt that these wonderful volunteers wouldn’t do it if they didn’t want to. . I commend them, support them and thank them often for their passion, hard work and dedication. I know what it’s like to be a volunteer and I also know what it’s like to try and manage and motivate volunteers. I’m privileged to see both sides.

So, it’s my request after reading this blog that I ask ‘ballers to do two things please:

🏐 Say thank you the next time you see your Captain / Coach / netball volunteer. Believe me it goes a long way.

🏐 Have some consideration for what goes in to making netball happen! Sometimes we can’t help cancel best laid plans and it’s the last thing we want to do. Shit happens!

BUT if it’s just because you can’t be bothered or it’s your Uncles, girlfriends’ cousins’ dog’s birthday party (I’ve heard worse excuses!) have a think about those who could be bothered to make that game, that tournament or that other netball event, happen for you.

Up and down the country week on week, month after month and year after year netball volunteers create thousands of opportunities for ‘ballers to actually play. Imagine if they didn’t.