To be honest there is nothing that annoys me more!
Firstly if Scarlett’s had been on the 3 goal end of the scoreline they wouldn’t be so quick to publicise it and secondly, who actually wins in such a blow out result, similar to those above? Absolutely no one!
I talk about this, as I was saddened that a coach recently broadcast her teams’ 100 goal win, across all social media platforms, tagging in the opposition as well. My opinion is: there is just no need. I fail to see what her teenage players would have learnt from it, despite the almost boastful nature of ‘all players took to the court’
I believe in being humble in victory as well as defeat!
I doubt the opposition will forget such a drubbing: surely those girls would have had such a bad experience of netball they may never want to play again. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, how about considering confidence and mental health problems that effect so many female teens in the UK? I don’t think it’s going over the top to be considering such consequences.
I remember, as a teenager, playing for the now defunct East Hampshire County U18 side, travelling up and back to Greater Manchester in one day for a 50odd goal defeat. It was soul destroying and you could literally hear a pin drop on the 8 hour coach trip on the way home.
It will take an extraordinary Coach / Team leader to find positives in such a huge loss and build momentum from it. I’m sure there are lots who try, but the impact, especially for impressionable young players is surely immeasurable?
Maybe I am wrong and my experiences as a player and a coach are isolated. Maybe lessons can be learnt by both the winners and losers in such ‘blow out’ games and positivity can be taken by those in defeat.
But, can anything be done about such results in the first place? Prevention better than cure, so to speak.
We have heaps of opportunities for netball players of all ages and abilities, to take to the court which can only be a good thing! There are so many competitions, tournaments, festivals up and down the country and the increased popularity of our fab sport does make it difficult to ‘manage’ expectations.
For example, when does a Back to Netball team stop being a Back to Netball team? I’ve run plenty of Back to Netball festivals in my time to know that even with the very best of intentions there can be ‘blow out’ score lines because you have ‘true’ B2N teams that are weeks old against original B2N sides who have gone on from their sessions to compete regularly in leagues.
Should common sense prevail? For example, when you have junior sides unknown to each other, can a conversation not take place between the coaches to make sure everyone gets a great experience of netball? How about a handicap system at friendly / back to Netball festivals?
Even if worst comes to worst and you have a huge deficit at quarter time in a match, surely it falls to the ‘winning’ Coach or organiser to swap players around or play those who don’t always get a full game for the maximum amount of time? Is such sportsmanship asking too much? Perhaps the Coach on the ‘losing’ end of the scoreline can suggest limiting time to reduce the impact on her players.
Even better, proper common sense prevails and all the players get to mix up on both teams, play positions they’ve never played before and everyone has a great time!
The focus is, of course, on the coaches. In a brave new world where the phrase ‘player centred’ is commonly used in coaching circles, are coaches really honest about the player- centred responsibilities of their role?
I know, first hand, that there are ‘outside’ pressures where you wouldn’t necessarily consider them to be, that can conflict a ‘player-centred’ approach.
For example, independent schools have fee paying parents who expect results. Fair play, sportsmanship and a participation ethos isn’t always their priority.
Then you get league placing or tournament medals that can be decided on goal difference. That blow out scoreline could prove pivotal to the medal placings.
At the end of the day if you are keeping score you are playing a competitive sport no matter how many times you emphasis the words ‘fun & friendly’ before, during and after the competition!
It doesn’t just happen at grass roots or junior leaves either. There are international matches that see scores blow out to disproportionate score lines. Australia beat Sri Lanka at the 2019 World Cup 99-24 for example.
I guess on reflection and with that international scoreline in mind, there is one good thing we should be grateful for when discussing ‘blow out’ scores on the global stage - we have definitely moved on from the regular 30 goal ‘tonkings’ England used to suffer at the hands of Australia & New Zealand!
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