One of the focus’ of late has been a bit of nostalgia, with club Twitter feeds sharing old photos, Facebook pages ablaze with old newspaper cuttings and ‘ballers sharing netball memories left, right & centre! The most heart warming thing about this, for me, is the former players reconnecting.
Anyone for another big spike in participation after this is all over!?!😉
I love a bit of reminiscing. So, I’ve come up with my ten favourite netball memories.
I imagine some will be quite common and others are pretty specific to me! I’ve had to leave a fair few out, including coaching in Australia and Holland, separate experiences at the International Netball Festival Disney, various good memories from different netball jobs I’ve been fortunate enough to have, meeting netball superstars and even the World Cup in Liverpool! The top 10 must be good! What are your top ten?
💜10. Being brought up around the netball courts. My mum was a lone parent so where she went, my sister and I generally went too - especially when we were little. This meant practicing 100 passes without dropping the ball, court side at Portsmouth’s home of netball, Bransbury Park. Exploring forests in Odiham and Chichester, whilst she played in the local leagues and making life long friends with other netball kids watching their mums, aunties and sisters playing our great sport!
💜 9. Role models. See above. The amount of feisty, spunky, independent, strong, caring, opinionated, intelligent, ambitious, talented, fit, hardworking, committed, loyal, real women we regularly spent time with was, I realise now, hugely important in my upbringing.
💜 8. Pontins. Those who know, know. I don’t need to say anymore.
💜 7. Alex Barlass Inter counties. I have memories of two of these competitions for completely different reasons! I was treated to new trainers before my first Alex Barlass Championships - I choose some very ‘different’ bright orange Nike’s. No one would blink an eye at them these days but they caused quite a stir back then! Anyway, I got attention for all the wrong reasons when I hurt my knee during the tournament and struggled to get up that hill at Bassett Sports Centre, Southampton on crutches! The second year was memorable for all the right reasons, exceeding all expectations (our own as well as others!) by finishing 5th at the tournament. Never to be repeated! Unprecedented.
💜 6. National Clubs Tournament. I cheered on my Mum and her Meon team mates at two of these ‘pinnacle’ events, one at Crystal Palace, one at Wembley. I remember painting banners, throwing purple & white tic a tape & my Mum signing autographs! I also remember ALOT of alcohol being consumed by players on the way home!
💜 5. East Hants at Inter counties Bournemouth. For reasons I won’t go into, I found myself in a very ‘scratch’ County representative side for the end of season inter counties tournament. Without meaning to be offensive I don’t think the side we put out would have done very well in the ‘2nd team’ competition. We were in the 1st team event though and absolutely hammered. I remember Essex Met were in our group, with the absolutely marvellous Fiona Murtagh, recently retired from England Netball I think, playing - I couldn’t wait to play against them, especially as I was being stuck in at WA & Murtagh played WD! Anyway dreams aren’t always fulfilled - she was ‘rested’ for the match against East Hants and I was pulled off at half time!!! 😂
💜 4. My wedding surprise! Those who know me well, may well describe me as a ‘control freak’, so, it will come as no surprise my wedding day was planned within an inch of its life! When I stepped out of The Square Tower in Old Portsmouth, with my new husband, the last thing I expected was to find my netball team outside, in full kit, waiting to give me my ‘Guard of Honour’! It was the only time I cried during the day! I still don’t know how they pulled it off, 10 years later!
💜 3. Writing for The News. For nearly 8 years I had the privilege of writing the netball page for the local newspaper. It wasn’t the most glamorous of roles and I remember having to battle pretty hard on occasion, to be heard, in the very male dominated profession of sports journalism! However, the good always outweighed the not so good and my favourite memories were writing the more ‘real life’ stories about overcoming challenges, off court success and controversial issues (always a rebel!). I also loved getting to know the person behind the on court player. So many people helped and contributed to that page it’s such a shame it finished recently, but I believe it was a real trailblazer for women’s sport in local news.
💜 2. Meon presentations. Our netball club goes back a long, long time - the 60’s I believe and the club was very fortunate in the 80s & 90s to have legendary duo ‘Karen & Kimmi’ in charge - particularly of the end of season presentations. Nothing was left to chance, everything had been thought of, down to carefully written menus to home made flower displays. I truly believe professional party planners couldn’t have done a better job. So much thought, hard work and personal touches were offered and hugely successful. Those parties were the highlight of my late teens / early twenties! Legendary. How I miss them!
💜 1. Regional League. Since I began Coaching Meon (a club I had been a part of since I was 11 years old) In the early 2000s I had wanted to get them into the regional league. It was a personal goal but also one that I knew could be realised when we started building a potentially talented young (ish!) team. It finally happened in 2012 after a few near misses that clearly made us stronger. For me it was a personal triumph after a very difficult few months off court and away from home. I actually came back to find the team in a really strong position, but losing our starting GS who had decided a holiday was priority over the play offs! 😬 Cue me, frantically trying to get match fit and putting shots up at every opportunity in the couple of weeks before the big game!
Anyway, the rest they say is history. But the biggest memory for me from that day is achieving that dream with my friends.
The legacy is Meon still have a team in the regional league. Proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment