#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!