Nothing but net: English netball players show ASU students how to play basketball’s sibling
Players from a women's netball team from Cheshire County, England (in white T-shirts), and members of Associate Professor Eric Legg's parks, recreation and sport management class play the game during a demonstration at the Downtown Phoenix campus' Sun Devil Fitness Complex. The Cheshire team had won the U.S. open women's netball championship, held in Mesa, just before the ASU visit. Photo by Mark J. Scarp/ASU
More than likely, however, most pro or college basketball stars — many of whom are great dribblers, bounce passers or slam dunkers — would find netball quite unusual, because it doesn’t allow any of those things.
While basketball is far better known in the United States, netball — named for its lack of a backboard — is played by more than 20 million people, mostly women, in 80 countries.
Recently, an English champion netball team visited an Arizona State University parks, recreation and sport management class to show its basics to the students, who then tried the sport at the Downtown Phoenix campus’ Sun Devil Fitness Complex.
Cheshire County Netball, a team of teenage players, was in Arizona to compete in the Nov. 8–10 U.S. Open Netball Championships in Mesa, where they won the women’s division title.
School of Community Resources and Development Associate Professor Eric Legg said he learned about netball while on a trip to Africa, where it's quite popular. He said he became more interested in the game as he saw its potential as a tool for women’s empowerment, particularly in rural African and Muslim communities. He arranged for the Cheshire club to visit ASU when he learned they were here to compete in the championships.
“One of the things I’ve wanted our students to learn is the power of sport internationally, and that includes knowing about sports that are popular internationally, but not in the U.S.,” Legg said. “This was a perfect opportunity to see that firsthand.”
A variant of basketball, netball emerged in the late 19th century about the same time as its much more famous sibling. With no backboard, a netball goal consists of a net suspended from a rim attached to a pole.
In netball, shots must go directly into the basket to count. The ball must be passed, never carried or dribbled, through each of three zones, each one-third of the court, on its way to the basket.
Netball has no foul shots. Penalties involve the ball changing hands for a free pass. Contact is minimized by a minimum three-foot distance between opposing players.
One of Legg’s students, second-year undergraduate Sophia Smith, said the British visitors did an amazing job explaining netball’s differences from basketball and some of its peculiar terminology.
“When we had the opportunity to join in and play, I played C, which is a player who can go from one end of the court to the other but just can't go within the shooting ring,” said Smith, a parks, recreation and sport management major. “My job was to ‘mark’ the C on the opposing team.”
Donovan Perez, a third-year undergraduate in parks, recreation and sport management, said it was rewarding to meet the Cheshire team and learn netball.
“Hearing about the sport's history and how it's grown throughout the years showed how much it has grown,” Perez said. “Seeing … in person how the game is played by the Cheshire team was a huge learning experience because I had no prior knowledge of the sport. Seeing their practice drills makes the sport look easy, but it's a very fast-paced game that takes a lot of physical training.”
Victoria Lewis, one of the team’s coaches, emphasized the significance of the team’s recent showcase at ASU in promoting netball in the U.S.
“Introducing netball to ASU students has been an incredible opportunity to raise the profile of our sport in the U.S.,” Lewis said. “The event was not only fun but also inspiring, and we hope it sparked a genuine interest in netball. Perhaps some of these students will explore the sport further and play it again in the future.”
For more information on the sport, visit www.netballamerica.com.
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