Netball is a sport in which two teams of seven players try to score points against each other by placing a ball through a raised goal. The sport is popular in Commonwealth countries and is predominantly played by women. Netball shares many similarities with basketball, having been derived from early versions of women's basketball. It developed as a distinct sport in the 1890s in England, from where it spread throughout the British Empire during the first half of the 20th century.
Games are played on a rectangular court divided into thirds, with goal posts at each short end. The object of the game is for teams to score as many points as possible by shooting a ball into the opposing team's goal. Players are assigned "positions" that define their role within the team and restrict their movement on court. In general play, players advance the ball towards the opposing goal by passing it to each other, and a player with the ball can take no more than one step before passing it. Goals can only be scored by the assigned shooting players. Netball games are 60 minutes in duration, divided into 15-minute quarters, at the end of which the team with the most goals scored wins; tied games can be declared draws or extended until a winner emerges.
The sport is administered globally by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA), and is reportedly played by over 20 million people in more than 70 countries.Local-level participation is widespread in Commonwealth nations, particularly in schools, although international competition and domestic leagues receive substantial recognition only in a few countries. The highest level of international netball includes the Netball World Championships, the netball event at the Commonwealth Games, and the World Netball Series.
History Of Netball
Netball traces its roots to basketball. Basketball was devised in 1891 by James Naismith for his students in the School for Christian Workers (later called the YMCA). Female teachers got curious and started to formulate a version for girls. The outfits of women at this time prohibited them from effectively executing important basketball moves such as running and dribbling, so the game had to be modified to accommodate these restrictions. Women's basketball was thus born.
In 1895, Clara Baer, a gym teacher from New Orleans, asked Naismith for a copy of the basketball rules. Baer mistook Naismith's pencil markings showing the areas players should best patrol as the areas within which women players could move, and consequently introduced "zoning areas".[This was the start of netball's formalization. These zoning rules, along with many other provisions (such as elimination of the dribbling rule), were all included in the first draft of Rules for Women's Basketball. In 1901, this set of rules was ratified and netball officially became a competitive sport. However, it was several years before regular competitions were held.
Netball was first played in England in 1895 at Madame Osterburg's College and soon spread throughout Australia, the then-British colonies of Jamaica and Antigua, and indeed most British Commonwealth territories. It did not yet have hard-and-fast rules. So loose were the regulations, in fact, that some games were played by nine players in each team, while some were played with only five players in each. The nets used were also ineffective—they were not open at both ends, so after each goal was scored, the umpire had to retrieve the ball from the top of the post. Netball has been played at the Commonwealth Games since 1998 after becoming a recognized Olympic sport in 1995.
On the 6th June 1907 an exhibition of "Net Ball" was organised between the "Ladies" and "Gentlemen" of the Regent Street Polytechnic as part of a garden party to celebrate the opening of their sports ground in Chiswick (West London). Poly Netball Club can trace an unbroken heritage back to this match and are therefore seen as the world's oldest netball club.
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