#50 BINGO!

Now here’s something I never thought I’d be writing about for my 50th blog - comparisons between netball & bingo! 

Stay with me! 😉

Specifically, the welcome newbies get and the ‘first time’ experience.

I don’t do ‘new things’ very often and I am conscious that one of my weaknesses as a Back to Netball Coach & Walking Netball Host, is that I don’t know how it feels to walk through that sports hall door / court gate for the first time. 

In many ways it’s such a pivotal moment in time. For women, in particular, taking that first step through the door is the hard part - the welcome they receive and the first impression they have, often contributes to whether they come back - or even stay! 

So, my experience at Bingo was always going to be a bit ‘loaded’ but I was keen to learn, as well as observe! 

Firstly, as always, there is safety in numbers and there were ten of us rocking up to the bingo to celebrate a birthday. 

Coincidently we are all Netballers, but I digress, most importantly we were all first timers. 

Our fabulous organiser posted the membership form on our what’s app group a few days before & we all duly ‘signed up’. We, enthusiastically, arrive with more than an hour to go before ‘eyes down’. 

Just as well, as I kid you not, I was waiting 35 minutes in the newbie queue, waiting patiently for membership as apparently, the website doesn’t work! 

Now, you can say what you like about ENgage, England Netball’s membership platform, and you only need to look at social media in the run up to 1st September, to see that members frequently do! 🤬

But, I’m yet to hear of anyone waiting outside a training session because sign up hasn’t worked! 

Whilst waiting for 35 minutes I was also being looked up and down by ‘regulars’ who, on mass, ‘popped out the front’ for a cigarette break or fresh air. (or not as the case may be!) 

Two things here. 

1. Waiting 35minutes to sign up for your average Back to Netball session would see over half the session completed! 

2. The Bingo Club was 20% full on the evening we attended. When we struggled at my last B2N session with numbers, the regulars could not have been more accommodating / enthusiastic / patient / welcoming / friendly. They wanted more team mates so they could play full games! 

Bingo players didn’t seem to like ‘competition’ which is odd because surely the more people who turn up means more money to win and more chance that your only ‘20% full club’ might survive long term! 

I’m not intimidated easily, but some of those women, ‘the regulars’, really did get under my skin. I wouldn’t have waited in the queue alone. 

35minutes in the queue was a clue that Bingo wasn’t all that well staffed that evening! And so it proved. 

Only one (very hardworking!) lady serving both behind the bar and their hot food outlet led to long queues and some very despondent customers - mostly regulars again I hasten to add. 

The staff, although few, did not disappoint with their welcome and super helpfulness. Michelle, in particular, was a godsend - she handed me £17 in winnings when I didn’t even know I had won! 

You’d have thought Bingo was a simple game but good grief, with the implementation of tablets, as well as books, plus the ‘boards’ during intervals it was really a bit of a minefield! You had games for in house, as well as national games and then had to contend with not only ‘a line’ and ‘full house’ but ‘2 lines’ as well! New bingo concept to me! 

But then if I was a complete newbie to netball all those rules and constant whistle would also be quite overwhelming! 

I would never ‘pull up’ a newbie or any back to netball participant for that matter, for every rule infringement - they’d never get to play! Perhaps Bingo could learn something from netball in this vein and have a ‘starter’ pack or session for new to bingo-ers! 

Probably best not leave that to the ‘regulars’ though! 

Now, despite the wait, dodgy website, regulars not being particularly welcoming, drinks not quite on tap etc we’ve all agreed we are going to Bingo again! 

Bit strange given my complaints you may think. 

But there’s every incentive to go back to Bingo when you’ve taken home nearly £500 in winnings (between us, to clarify) and you’ve been given so many vouchers that next time we go it’s going to cost us £9 for a whole evening’s entertainment, including a drink and a meal! 

Perhaps Netball relies too much on the product to get people to return and needs to take a leaf out of Bingo’s book (!) and include some incentives! 

#49 When is a Back to Netballer, no longer a Back to Netballer?

Early doors admission, I’m not going to be able to answer the question! I'm not sure anyone will be able to, to be honest. 

I think it’s worth exploring though as my own recent experience and looking at nationwide trends, indicates it might be becoming an issue. 

Back to Netball is a hugely successful programme introduced by the National Governing Body in 2010. I have had the privilege of delivering it almost since the beginning and believe it to be one of the best programmes ever created, not just in netball, but sport in general. 

The Netball South West website puts the figures at more than 110,000 participants. That is an incredible amount of netballers being introduced or reintroduced back into the sport.*

According to the EN website Back to Netball is ‘welcoming, fun and understanding. It is a series of sessions that introduces people back to the sport of netball. It's primarily for women who haven’t played for a long time or have never played at all and are complete beginners!’ *

So, when does it finish then?!? By nature of the title it surely can't be never ending?!?

Example from my own experience as a Back to Netball Coach: we had an incredibly popular session in Fareham (Hampshire) which regularly saw 30+ participants at an hour session each week. It was a huge learning curve for me as a Coach, not just delivering that programme, to that amount of people, but also managing expectations and meeting needs of the participants. 

It was fairly quickly evident, that there were different needs and motivations of the participants and therefore pretty easy to split the session, incorporating a 'Next Steps' concept. 

With hindsight it would have been awesome to have that session at the same time as the original Back to Netball session, but on this occasion (and probably not uncommon, unfortunately!) venue and coach availability meant the Next Steps followed the B2N session. 

It was hugely successful and served as a stepping stone to regular matches. Indeed, the team is still going in local league nearly 10 years on, with many of the originals still participating. 

I was spoilt back then because the session was easy to split and it's the identification of the motivations and needs of those participants that is key. 

For me the NGB didn't react quick enough to the success of Back to Netball, failing to provide a sustainable national programme to entice those new Back to Netballers to become members. 'I Love Netball' leagues popped up occasionally but, in my opinion, the national infrastructure didn't support it. 'Next Steps' was dabbled with but was never taken seriously at a national level, to be a contender. 

To be fair they may well have been taken by surprise by the success. 

The outcome is that many Back to Netballers wanted more and went elsewhere! (Please see Blog #3 The corporate stain on the netball community)

Side thought (!) Can we put a time limit on being a Back to Netballer? For example if you haven't played for a year? 

I don't think so as that would make most of us Back to Netballers after Covid! 

Will England GS George Fisher be a Back to Netballer after her ACL recovery? Aussie Greta Bueta after the birth of her second child? 

Unlikely : ) 

So, where are we today? In the last year I have been delighted to take on a new Back to Netball session - my first since way before Covid. I had forgotten how much I enjoy delivering it and have met some fantastic people. 

My experience is pretty much the same as before though! 

We've bought in over 75 new to netballers through the doors, credit to the 6 or so ladies I inherited from the previous incumbent, who worked their socks off to promote the session. 

We've identified volunteers and potential coaches, who are in the process of upskilling and gaining coaching qualifications. I'm not sure this is focused upon around the Country and I would love to know out of those 110,000 participants how many have gone on to become volunteers, coaches and umpires. 

Unfortunately, at our recent session, we have seen a dramatic drop off of first timers not coming back for a second session. I believe this is a national trend but currently there is no public insight as to why this is happening. 

No surprise, I have my own ideas! : ) 

Back to Netballers who regular attend sessions often improve their skills and form friendship groups quickly. Newbies coming through the door can often find that intimidating.  

I don't believe its intentional but unless it's acted upon quickly, before you know it, you no longer have a B2N session, you have a team / club session. I'm as guilty as anyone else allowing this to happen - as far as I am concerned as long as everyone is smiling and red faced, leaving, it's been a successful session! I need more specific measures! 

That environment is no good for potential Back to Netball participants, who haven't played for years, don't take part in any other activity and are nervous walking through the doors for the first time. 

I do struggle to understand that mentality because I've always been a netballer. 

The one experience I do have, that I can compare it to, is when I was long term injured and tried sitting volleyball. 

I had heart palpations and sweaty hands before I even left my house, let alone getting to the venue! 

The session was mixed abilities and whilst everyone couldn't be more welcoming, I didn't return. 

Do you know why? 

It was two hours of torture on my hands which were sore, blistered and bleeding by the end. I was pelted by bullets by national sitting volleyballers for much of the session. Two hours was far too long for a newcomer and the mixed abilities just didn't fit, just like a Club or Team session is the wrong programme for a netball first timer. 

Each Back to Netball session is different and it is down to the Coaches to identify the needs and motivations of each participant. It is also up to the NGB to listen to those Coaches. 

Back to Netball remains an incredible programme with thousands of participants up and down the country every week. The legacy has to be how many of those participants remain netballers and I don't believe we have got that sustainability quite right yet. 

We also can't answer: When is a Back to Netballer, no longer a Back to netballer?! 

* correct at time of publishing