I try to be a glass half full kind of person.
It’s been a challenging weekend though, both on and around the courts and my normal sunny disposition has greyed somewhat!
I’ve spent the last 24hours chuntering to anyone who would listen about the injustices and unfairness of a variety of netball scenarios over the weekend.
Frankly, most of which have nothing to do with me and don’t effect me! Why do I get involved? Because I care, of course!
I’ve been writing a blog, in my head, at least, about these negative netball atrocities (!) but have come to the decision that me spouting off actually doesn’t do any good and may actually give air to those fools, who don’t have netball’s best interests at heart, use the system to their own advantage and despite appearances, make no attempt to conduct themselves in the spirit of netball!
Instead, I choose to celebrate the benefits of netball, all the positives since we’ve been back on court ‘proper’ and all those lovely members of the netball community who are determined to see netball rise again!
So, here is my top five highlights since netball has restarted! What’s your top netball moments in the last few months?!? Who are you going to share them with to spread some netball love!?!
1. Three netball festivals. 100s of Netballers coming together, reconnecting & playing the game they love. Extra benefits of this include: fundraising for charities including Macmillan, some amazing cake making & supporting our local facilities who are also coming out of lockdown.
2. Kindness of non Netballers. The best recent example of this is when Walkie Talkies, our Walking Netball lovelies, applied for some community funding. We approached our local Councillor for some support and the interest she showed and the letter she wrote supporting the application, blew me away. It went above and beyond what she had to do and led to a successful bid and, in turn, secured the long term future of the group.
3. Messages of support! Social Media is a beast that for me, is a necessary evil of sorts! My social media followers only see the positive but those who have grown to know me well have an uncanny knack of contacting me with a note of appreciation or a text of support when needed the most! Thoughtfulness costs nothing but is always appreciated.
4. Old netball friends. I’ve seen people in the last few weeks, who I grew up watching or playing with, who I haven’t seen for years! Isn’t it funny how you fall into the same ease & comfortable-ness almost immediately with people you know so well! I even went to the pub after our walking netball friendly with some of them! I’ve never been so grateful for ‘normal’ !
5. 25 new to netball primary school children! I really do find it a privilege to introduce Newbies to our great sport! It’s also a huge responsibility and one I do not take lightly. Two new after school sessions have been started during September and I get a huge buzz from the positivity, enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge from these kids! It’s infectious!
For me, it’s not just about the netball either - these children are learning about team work, resilience and overcoming challenges during weekly sessions. I also believe being active at a young age leads to greater benefits and healthy habits throughout life. I love making this contribution to young people’s lives.
