#17 Coaching - a bigger responsibility than assumed?

I’ve been coaching netball, officially, since I was 16, assisting my Mum with the county U14 side.

If the truth be known I wasn’t a very good coach in my youth - but I guess many coaches, in many sports, might say that. You generally get better with experience!

One of my main motivations to get into coaching was that I was never really coached that well as a junior. There weren’t any junior clubs around in those days for starters. I am so envious of all the juniors these days - they get so many different options for netball and fabulous opportunities!

For me, getting into coaching was an escape but also motivation to do it ‘right!’

I had some lovely people as coaches, passionate, hardworking and dedicated. Their commitment to netball could never be questioned. They never really got the best out of me though. ‘Coaching the person, not the sport’ is a relatively new term, but I wished it was prevalent when I was younger.  I might well have been a better player!

There are definitely days when I regret getting into coaching so young.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, but I don’t think many people appreciate what a huge responsibility being a sports coach is.

We could get into specifics (it would be a much longer blog!) but, generally, you are responsible for a person’s relationship with their chosen sport. A sport they love or will grow to love. A coach has a huge contribution to make to that journey. There are going to be far more pitfalls than positives along the way and a Coach has to manage that roller coaster.

As a Coach you also have a potential responsibility to change lives. That’s an incredibly privileged position to be in. I’m incredibly proud that I have been a small part of some life changing decisions made by Netballers under my care.

I have the honour, these days, of introducing youngsters to our great game. It’s a privilege to try and give these players a great first experience and one I take very seriously.

We have a huge problem in this country with obesity and other health problems putting a strain on our NHS. We also have problems with females dropping out of sport during puberty, which can have a knock on effect to mental, as well as physical, health problems. That also can have an impact on confidence and empowerment issues. If I can make just a small difference by giving opportunities to girls to fall in love with our game and not leave, ever, than I view that as a huge success.

That’s the aim anyway!

The responsibility is not just about the player though.

Coaches, worth their salt at least, have a responsibility to not just protect themselves (insurance is a minefield and never having a clear answer as to Walking Netball Host cover,  I’m probably over insured now!) but also to keep themselves up to date with CPD, new rules, issues ‘outside the norm’ etc.

Only recently I completed an online course entitled ‘Prevent’ looking at the risks of radicalisation and the support available to those vulnerable to those risks. Maybe you think that’s going ‘above and beyond’ as a Netball coach. But, in this day of age, is it really? 45 minutes and my knowledge in this area has improved ten fold - that can have an impact.

Another online training course I am looking forward to completing is one on ‘Mental Health’.

I remember asking my former employers around 4/5 years ago if we can have some training on spotting signs of mental health issues or a ‘mental health first aid’ course. I wasn’t exactly laughed at, but the response was not positive. My argument was if I’m doing a physical first aid training course, why not a mental first aid one? I’m delighted Sport England have developed a resource in this area- now I just have to find the time to complete it!

To be brutally honest there are days, many of them in fact, where I wish I didn’t take my responsibility as a coach so seriously! I come across coaches, all the time, who rock up without any preparation, deliver and leave without thinking about coaching until their next session. There are many reasons for this - not always negative and at the end of the day they are facilitating netball and should be appreciated for that. Some days I am envious of their ability to completely ‘switch off’.

There have been times in my coaching career that it has been all consuming. The analysis went too far, I was receiving calls late at night and i didn’t really have a life outside of netball. That is not healthy.

I do try to encourage up and coming coaches to learn from my mistakes, to strike a balance and be a better coach than me! Sometimes you have to learn from your own mistakes though and that is a responsibility in itself.

These days I have taken a step back from coaching. Although I probably deliver  as much now as I have always done, my relationship with coaching has changed for the better.

I am grateful that currently (but temporarily) I have found a job coaching that I can put my all into. I am much more disciplined about time spent coaching and time spent away from coaching though.

Finding a balance isn’t easy and for me it’s definitely a work in progress. It is much healthier though!
I am much choosier about the coaching opportunities I take on, preferably taking on the short term or one off roles. I love coaching but not sure if I am ready to take on that all consuming commitment

Former Adelaide Thunderbirds Dan Ryan has been vocal about how coaching can be all consuming and the effect it can have on mental health - particularly if success is elusive. This comes from someone at the very top of their game, coaching in a professional capacity. Some might say if there’s no hope ‘up there’ what chance is there for grass roots coaches?

I have been following The UK Players Netball Association twitter page since it’s inception and also follow the success of the similar organisation in Australia. Our great sport is growing and evolving and it is only right professional player’s needs and welfare are put as a priority. Isn’t it about time we provided the same opportunity to our coaches?

#16 Netball Glory

It still brings tears to my eyes! You know, that moment, Helen Housby shoots the winning goal in the Commonwealth Games Final and turns, hands covering her face, not quite realising how huge that moment was, or what to do next! It was euphoric and only a handful of  people will experience that kind of moment on that scale!

I’m sure readers will have experienced their own euphoric netball moments, not on quite the same level obviously: but that’s why we play isn’t it? The 1 goal victories against your arch rivals, the tournament final wins or the victories when your team is really up against it! That’s why we make sacrifices to train and play, why we get upset when we are benched - it’s for those moments when netball is euphoric and the glory is yours and your team mates!

I write about this today as I had my own euphoric netball moment recently!

To put it in some context it was touch and go whether I’d make the game at all. The youngest got chicken pox and the hubby was on a night shift and didn’t get home until 10mins before I was due to leave! If it wasn’t for him agreeing to stay up after working nearly 14 hours straight I would have missed my moment!

It was one of of those ‘backs against the walls’ games for my team mates and I. We only had one circle defender available, our regular Centre wasn’t fit through injury and we were against top of the league. We were second, on goal difference. So not the game preparation any of us wanted!

I didn’t start and during the second quarter we went 10 down. It didn’t look great but over the course of the last few weeks we have developed our team ethos and have improved our support and positivity for each other. By three quarter time we were one down and I was thrown into the deep end at WA

I’ve not had the season I have wanted to be fair. You only need to read my ‘netball mums’ blog to know that! There have been moments where I’ve wondered if the ACL reconstruction and later, arthroscopy, prehab and rehab had been worth it! It took me to some very dark netball places.

I can confirm, after just 15 mins of netball, those monotonous squats and lunges, often in isolation and bored out of my brain, were indeed worth every repetition! It wasn’t my best performance in a netball bib by any stretch of the imagination but I did the job i was brought on to do, keep ball safe, and thanks to some awesome interceptions from our makeshift defence, we won the game by 2!

It might not sound much but for me it was euphoric. I collapsed on the floor and allowed the tears to flow. ‘Sad bugger’ you may well think, but I can divulge I was not the only one in tears after that game!

Upon reflection, it is a personal disappointment that I haven’t had more  glory moments in my netball playing or coaching career! I realise that is also my responsibility. It was my decision to give up playing for coaching and consequently not being a ‘successful’ coach in terms of trophies and league wins! (Not the only measure of success, as a coach, in my opinion though!)

My first netball glory moment was  probably as an Under 18 County player and we came a very impressive 5th at the Alex Barless Intercounties tournament. East Hampshire have never been a threat to anyone but there we were mixing it with the ‘big girls’ of netball. Not only that we were competitive with them! We came out of nowhere to finish 5th, completely unexpected and probably not appreciated at the time, by myself and my team mates! I look back with euphoria, even if we were ignorant of it at the time!

My other euphoric netball moments came in 2012. I had been away for a number of weeks, unavoidably,  but knew my team I coached were doing exceptionally well in my absence and were on course to ‘play off’ to get into the regional league. It was an aim we’d been working towards for a long time.

Turns out we’d be against our local rivals for a place in the league, the pressure was on! Then we found out we’d be without our star GS too! By this point I was back home and practicing shooting like a woman possessed! I won’t lie it was a special evening winning that game. I needed it and was probably more euphoric about doing it with my mates, than the actual result.

Later that year we had our first regional game........... away v Guernsey! We had more or less the same team, thankfully with our shooter this time! It was a magical day out, the airplane ride, 100+ spectators (there hadn’t been a competitive netball match in Guernsey for a number of years. They were new to the league too!) as well as TV & radio interviews! Not to mention the one goal win to us! It was proper heart stopping, nail biting, fist clenching stuff!

Probably my best ever euphoric netball glory experience! Here’s to more!

#15 100-1 who wins really?

You see it quite a lot on social media ‘Well done Scarlett’s 79-3 win v Topaz Gems’ or ‘Shadows were on fire today, smashing it 101-7 in their U16 fixture this morning’

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!

#14 Role Models

I was watching the Vitality Netball Nations Cup recently, my toddler climbed on my lap, probably wondering what Mummy was shouting at! My 6 year old was buzzing around in the background, trying to ignore my explanations of good footwork ‘look Heidi, Jade Clarke landed 1-2!’.

It suddenly occurred to me that my daughters will never really know how lucky they are growing up with so many fabulous sporting female role models.

I had no where near the amount of sportswomen to look up to when I was growing up!

I remember cheering on Sally Gunnell at the Barcelona Olympics and the furore when Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean returned to the ice in the 90s. But there were no posters on my wall or regular interviews watched on TV.

I knew what was going on in the England Netball set up as I used to literally live for my Mum’s Netball Magazine coming through the letterbox! We’d never see Kendra Slowinski or Tracey Horton on TV or in the newspapers though!

I do remember The Sun sponsoring a County Team for the annual Inter-counties Tournament one year and they appeared in the paper (possibly not in the sports section though) showing off their netball knickers with The Sun logo emblazoned in them. I thought ‘how cool is that!? - how naïve was I!?!

My girls will have their pick of sports women posters to put on their walls - if they choose to do so! We have the England Netball team in Grazia, women footballers given exposure in traditionally male football magazines and world superstars like Serena Williams and Simone Byles smashing every glass ceiling that is thrown at them.

As well as exposure to female sporting greats, the attitude also seems to be changing which is overdue and very welcome! Gone are the days where women sports stars are sexualised in magazines, talked about in laughable tones or not taken seriously.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have a long way to go. But the tide is definitely turning!

We have professional Netballers for Heaven’s sake, never in my lifetime did I think I’d see the day!

I can’t help but be a tiny bit jealous to be honest!

Without meaning to be a pessimist I do worry about what happens when (and I believe it is a when, rather than an ‘if’) a female sporting icon loses her halo or lets it slip!

Tennis star Maria Sharapova admitted to failing a drugs test in 2016.

Recently retired World Cup winning Silver Fern Maria Falou is probably the closest Netball has got to ‘ a scandal’ with her support of her husbands homophobic views.

We have seen in men’s football enough ‘scandal’ to know the impact it can have.

Perhaps it is the way ‘the story’ is told rather than the ‘scandal’ itself.

For example former England Men’s footballer Paul Merson’s alcoholism and gambling addiction problems were recently written and broadcast about in a much more sympathetic and educational way compared to the headlines he endured in the 90s.

Women’s sport may have a chance to rewrite ‘scandal’ into more helpful and thoughtful pieces - although this means the tabloid press will have to come onboard! As I said earlier: there is still a long way to go!

I find it really exciting that Women’s sport has so much opportunity to change the sporting landscape in so many different ways - media and promoting our superstars as role models is just the tip of the iceberg. There are some great ‘trailblazers’ and anyone who listened to Claire Balding’s closing speech at the Netball World Cup in 2019 could not help to be moved, as well as inspired.

The Nations Cup could have been revered or ignored because of the earliness of the event in the 4 year netball cycle. World Champs New Zealand being part of the competition and the teams taking part by,  being in the top 5 in the world, rankings would have indeed helped. I don’t remember a competition, not even the QUAD series, being so popular, so early on in the cycle though. With the greatest of respect the England Roses were of a ‘reserve’ nature, so the sold out stadiums, Sky & YouTube coverage and ‘buzz’, not just in the netball community but outside that ‘bubble’, is even more extraordinary and hopefully a sign of things still to come.

The NGB must take some credit for that. It won’t be easy to continue and even improve on the momentum of the World Cup, particularly with what, arguably, could be viewed as a ‘lesser’ product without our Roses Superstars. The likes of Captain Natalie Haythornthwaite & rising Rose Amy Carter are certainly filling the space as awesome role models to the watching masses! Long May it continue!

#13 Nations Cup review

For me the stand outs for the England Roses were the sensational shooting capabilities (and ability to play over both shooting positions) of Ellie Cardwell and the emergence of Amy Carter, who frankly looked like she had been playing in the red dress for a lot longer than she has! 

A lot has been said about the start of a new 4 year netball cycle and when you consider we still, potentially, have the likes of Serena Guthrie, Jo Harten, Helen Housby and Geva Mentor (plus others!) coming back into the squad, the future is looking bright! 

The Nations Cup does highlight an ongoing concern for me, and that is who is, realistically, going to replace Geva Mentor? She’s gone on record to say that she wants a crack at the next Commonwealth Games and World Cup and, frankly, who would bet against that happening!?! 

But, she will retire at some point and I don’t see a natural successor emerging! 

Whatever defensive combination was played during the Nations Cup, however influential Stacey Francis is back in the Roses fold, we were exposed in every game, at some point or another. There was little consistency at the back. 

I wasn’t lucky enough to go to any of the games live this time round - but you could hear and feel the atmosphere through the telly box! Social media was awash with support and the players’ appreciation of the crowd’s efforts. The matches were live on Sky and YouTube, with Lisa Alexander commenting that netball has really grown in England, even since the World Cup. The sport continues to build momentum and the Nations Cup has refuelled the hunger and desire from the netball community! How exciting! 

Looking at the other nations involved, if NZ was worried about the retirement of Maria Falou - they needn’t have been! Ekinasio seems to have got even better with the responsibility of the Captaincy, Bailey Mes has been given a new lease of life, Selby-Rickett is playing with confidence and Wilson, oh my, what a player! 

The World Champs just looked a cut above everyone else and were not really troubled in terms of results. 

There really was only one winner to be honest. 

I was disappointed with South Africa - they can’t seem to just get that extra 1% to take them over the line in the close games. (Thankfully, in the last one!!) Karla Pretorious has a quiet series for me. I have a bit of a soft soft for Sigi Burger and would have liked to have seen her on court more. She offers something different to the other SA shooters and I really hope she has a great season for new side London Pulse to put herself into national contention. 

Jamaica have been touted as ‘back to their old selves’ and in terms of their ill discipline & consistency over 4 quarters, I agree! 

I’m not sure ‘back to their old selves’ is such a good thing anyway - they’ve not made a final or any inroads against the top sides in recent years. 

For me, they are too reliant on the long ball into Fowler - they couldn’t adapt when Shimona Nelson came off the bench - an absolute cracker of GS, in her own right. New coach Connie Francis has her work cut out, but as usual with Jamaica their strength is their unknown quantities and you always have to expect the unexpected! 

Away from the actual netball action I was thrilled to hear the dulcet tones of Aussie Head Coach Lisa Alexander on commentary. 

By her own admission she was there spying - and why not!?! Shows how much the Aussies are hurting right now and her desire & belief to be on top, once again! 

Her insight and knowledge is first class, she’s not afraid to be honest and her passion for all things Netball is infectious. What an amazing global ambassador of our great game! 

So, it’s now less than a month to the Vitality Netball Superleague and of the Netball Nations Cup was meant to quench our thirst, it succeeded! 

What I’m looking forward to most is the coverage Netball will get. Sky will broadcast games and hopefully will learn lessons from previous years as to which games to broadcast and when! 

We’ll see more newspaper column inches, photos and magazine articles about our players. They’ll be local TV coverage and hopefully national coverage too - I’m still surprised when I see netball featured on BBC Breakfast, but it’s becoming ‘the norm’ so shouldn’t be! 

All that attention can only be a good thing for our great game - bring it on! 

#12 Mummy Netballers

I feel I am a better all round person for becoming a Mum and I suspect many mums feel the same way. Perhaps it’s patience, tolerance or just a better understanding of what is really important! 

I believe I am also a better coach. I’m also a better Mum for being a Coach! There are a lot of transferable skills! 

Figures from my previous job also prove that I was far better at my Netball Development Community Coach role when I became a Mum. 

Am I a better netball player though? It’s a difficult one for me, regular readers will know, I only recently returned to playing  after 3 years of ACL injury & rehab. (Had a baby in that time too / I like life to be challenging!) Before that I was concentrating on my job & other coaching, so was never a regular partaker at training & only played ‘when desperate’! 

The reason I am writing about mummy Netballers is I am somewhat conflicted with my playing at the moment & that’s mainly down to being a mummy & childcare problems! 

As a Coach of a regional club side I expected commitment & if you fell short of expectations then you fell short of the team. Harsh maybe, but I was bought up around netball at a time where players didn’t book holidays during netball time , youngsters didn’t leave their squad half way through the season due to exam commitments & you came to training even when injured / pregnant/ ill. 

Oh how times change. 

My own rule came back to haunt me recently when I was dropped from the squad due to absence from training. The reason I was absent from training was that hubby was on a late shift & my two main trusted babysitters (Mum & Sister) were.......you guessed it, at netball. 

I was not happy!

I have not worked my arse off in prehab and rehab, lost nearly 4 stone and completed rounds and rounds of excruciatingly mind numbing, repetitive knee and leg strengthening exercises to be benched. Well, I wasn’t even benched to be fair - wasn’t even required. 

But, from my experience as a Coach, I could see that other players who were at training, might not be happy if I was named but hadn’t been at training. It’s a difficult one. As I say, conflicted! 

However, isn’t it about time more consideration was given to mums who want to start / return to sport when they have a child / children? We have a severe obesity problem in this country, not to mention other health problems, self esteem, domestic violence problems, social isolation - I’m not saying women playing sport solves these problems but Sport England data suggests it does no harm! I know first hand how Back to Netball and Walking Netball can change lives.

In my experience, an apology and ‘ I can’t come tonight, ‘Paul’ is working late / playing football / is going out’ has become commonplace. I’m not sure ‘Paul’ apologises for not being at football because Trish is at netball practice! I hope you get my drift!

We do seem to be better with such ‘returner’ programmes in netball and I suggest our NGB’s commitment to insight data is a factor in this. It really is industry-leading.

Later evening sessions are always popular as mums can put their kids to bed and have an hour of ‘me time’ at the local  sports centre or school. In my area there are also successful ‘Mums and Tots’ or ‘post natal’ Back to Netball sessions, so the barrier of childcare is taken away. We could be much better, across the country at this though, but at least we’ve made a start.

It seems things are progressing for Mothers at elite level too. Our Southern Hemisphere counterparts seem to eagerly support their mummy athletes and World Champion Silver Fern Casey Kopua is a prime example of this. One of my favourite media moments of the World Cup 2019 was Kopua being interviewed after the World Cup win, with toddler Maia in arms, licking sweat of her mum! Kopua later revealed she was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of winning gold.

In the UK we have Superleague players such as Liana Leota plying their trade as well as being a Mum. Sophie Candappa (Wasps) and Lauren Nichols (Loughborough Lightning) are both due to return to action next month after becoming mums during 2019. I really hope they document their mummy / netball journeys on their social media feeds - they are inspirational, trailblazers and a great example to young netball fans.

The latest This Girl Can campaign hi/lights the problems faced by mums who want to exercise. The problem needs solutions as well as awareness.

It’s the ‘intermediate’ netball mums that I think we need to do more for - the mums who are playing competitively when they find out they’re pregnant but need help to return! If nothing else it will stop a huge raft of women dropping out of netball altogether.

I’ve coached numerous mums and mums to be, been through it myself (twice) and have recently seen team mates come back after having a baby, as well as recently announce pregnancies.

There are many ways we can give them more support and help during this time: offer them other roles in the team other than ‘Player’ - it’s extra help, as well as keeping them involved in the team. Write a programme / encourage them to keep active - heaps more advice out there now than there was even five years ago. Keep in contact! Particularly when bubba is born, new mums can feel even more isolated, calls, messages and visits from netball friends will be welcome!

Ideas such as ‘mobile creches’ at matches, other mummy squad mates working a rota to look after children court-side, choosing venues with child-friendly facilities, setting up kids netball at same time as fixtures can all help mums, particularly struggling with childcare. We need to break down all these barriers by thinking ‘outside of the box’ to allow these women to return.

One thing is for sure, if I ever return to ‘semi serious’ league coaching I will be more sensitive to childcare & general ‘mummy’ problems. There are too many talented, committed & enthusiastic Netballers  out there, to lose them from that level, when they become mums is a sad state of affairs. What’s more, with some thought & planning it is preventable. 

I’m not sure what my netball playing future involves. It’s currently the second half of the season & I’ve already missed one game & missing another tomorrow. This is just down to my hubby being on shift & no other childcare available. My enthusiasm, loyalty & effort has not wavered, in fact it’s stronger than ever. My motivation for playing netball is all-consuming these days ( wish I had a bit of that attitude when I was younger I might have got a bit further!) which makes my predicament all that more frustrating!

The injustice of it really irks me. It really shouldn’t be this difficult.

I’m reluctant to drop down to social league - I injured myself playing regional & whilst I realistically wouldn’t have got back there I promised myself during the hours of lonely squats, lunges & cycling I would get back to playing the best level I could. I am left wondering if all those squats were worth it

#11 Facilities

I once sat down in front of a Leisure Centre Manager to explain why my Back to Netball session that wasn’t yet up and running and had no participants  ‘deserved’ sports hall time in a specific spot, over a men’s five a side  football team who had been in that spot for over 15 years and (this is key) paid the ‘going rate’.

My ‘pitch’ (for an hour in a local council-owned leisure facility, remember) included stats on women’s participation in sport locally, figures on obesity and domestic violence in the area and a detailed ‘menu of opportunity’ hilighting the need for the netball programme in the area!

He wasn’t having a bar of it - until I pulled out one of the leisure centre’s timetables that I had taken the trouble to colour code with opportunities for males to take part in activities, opportunities for women to participate and opportunities for mixed gender. It will come as no surprise it was male dominated. (By some margin I may add).

Having already mentioned my strong ties with the local newspaper and I had hotfooted it from an appearance on local radio to be at the meeting - I think he got the point and gave me what I wanted!😉

It really shouldn’t be that difficult,  at a local authority facility, to secure an hour of time on a netball court though.

I’ve had vast experience of booking various facilities across my county. Both indoors and outdoors, leisure centres - mainly run by private companies on behalf of local authorities now, schools - who seem to be heading the same way, especially those with Academy status and private courts run by community groups, entrepreneurs and church organisations.

I’ve received many different levels of customer service at these places! The best levels always seem to be outside courts where you are often out on your own - no groups before or after you and no big music systems or class equipment to put away! The drawbacks normally include toilets being half a mile away, teenage groups hanging around either to intimidate (purposely or not) or cause trouble and occasionally having to clean up glass or dog poop before we can start.

By far the worst customer service is when the staff members have no idea about netball - the posts come out but they have no idea where to put them. They are late because they’re aren’t enough of them and they double up as lifeguards. They’re there earning minimum wage for unsocial hours with little appreciation from Managers, who are locked away in offices counting the revenue. They have no opportunity for career progression because there are no sports development teams anymore (shout out to Eastleigh Borough Council, who not only have an AMAZING Sports Development team they are a great example of how they impact all areas of the local community positively!)

That’s when you can get in to the sports facilities by the way! I have two examples of brand new indoor facilities that were left abandoned or can’t be used by the local community!

One is a sports hall, built in an inner city school, but isn’t allowed to be hired to the public as the school didn’t realise it had to pay VAT on the build and owes HMRC £2million! I’m not an expert in building, accounting or education but surely common sense should prevail - the school should be able to hire out  facilities in order to pay the VAT bill quicker and the local community can use the hall to the improve social deprivation, obesity and other health issues, in the area.

The other example is in a more rural location, where a new housing site was being built - as with all housing projects various facilities and amenities normally need to be built alongside housing, at the cost of the developer. I kept hearing wonderful things about this new small, community sports hall and was looking forward to viewing and using! Unfortunately it took over a year from full completion to it first being open - because the developers, local parish council and County Council could decide who ‘owned’ it and who had responsibility to run it!

A whole brand spanking new netball court (OK other sports could be played on it too!) stood there waiting to be played on but the doors remained locked!

I’m not a political animal (although I made sure I vote when required) but I do remember a more positive time when local councils ran their own facilities - they weren’t without problem but space seemed  to be easier to book, it was definitely cheaper and sports groups had relationships with Sports Development Officers and colleagues to actually progress, promote and provide opportunities for participation in all sorts of sports.

Our local leisure centre (the only accessible indoor 2 court facility in the city) had its floor re laid recently. The previous floor has been down since before I was born so you could say it was a bit overdue!  I managed to arrange a meeting there on the day I knew it was meant to be finished and  I will admit to finding an unlocked door and having a little jump on it in celebration! Always the rebel! It was and is, beautiful! Sprung (godsend for anyone who’s been through ACL rehab) and the netball lines are purple - my favourite colour!

It is a crying shame therefore, that the kick boards that separate the two courts, mostly made up of MDF and gaffer tape patches and the ripped and stained surrounding curtains were not also replaced!

The cherry on top by the way......... a model railway exhibition was the first event the new sprung floor welcomed onto its shiny lines! 🙄

It’s not all bad of course, I have struck up relationships with various facility staff members over the years and benefitted from the effort. The best example, of course, is the generosity shown when I’ve organised charity netball festivals. I have had several local facilities give me sports hall or court time for free and have always been exceptionally grateful, particularly publicly, for their support.

I’m not sure what the answer is to more equality in our sports centres and better access to netball courts for our growing number of ‘ballers. It all boils down to cost of course and I don’t see many new facilities or courts being built in the near future!

I am attending a ‘focus group’ soon, organised by the local university who are tentatively building a very exciting inner city sports facility. I am positive about contributing my experiences and excited about the prospect that this new facility will be organised and run in an entirely different and maybe, even fairer, way! I am also interested in what is going to happen to their existing sports facilities - a vast outdoor site on the edge of the city  which is well maintained and very popular with the local community. There are also two indoor sports hall in central locations, neither one has anything wrong with them and are categorically NOT surplus to requirements.

My hope is that there are lots of opportunities for progression for sports in the city, the new facility could be a catalyst of change for good!