You are able to join some Netball clubs at the age of 7 for example, Larkfield Netball club in Lisburn. The junior club teams are U14, U16 and the senior teams are usually 1sts, 2nds and 3rds.
There are different clubs to join to further increase skills and interact with different age groups and with people of different abilities than you in Northern Ireland. Many of the different clubs are shown in appendix 3.
There is concentration of clubs around Belfast as it is the most densely populated city in Northern Ireland. This could result in people who enjoy the sport but cannot access a club if they live in rural society.
School leavers have many pathways i.e. universities and clubs. After school there is still the opportunity to play for clubs as age does not matter.
There are many ways that you can get noticed in netball. The easiest way is for your coach to put your name forward for trials and competitions were you have to compete against people of around the same age as you for places on teams. They could be international or national for example Vi-Sport (an internal competition for the different areas in Northern Ireland) hold trials.
You can still compete at all ages in netball (see Appendix 1). The Development squads are there to give more people the chance to experience international netball at a lower level.
The International age levels do not go beyond the U21’s but the open squad caters for all ages. The open squad for Northern Ireland is a squad that is based entirely on ability and age does not matter.
When you retire from playing Netball there are certain opportunities as a coach, umpire, selector, club official or a spectator.
Individual clubs are organised by their members, the coaches and the club referees, there is also always a club treasurer to organise the funds.
Clubs can raise funds in many ways. Many clubs charge a membership fee, with different rates for children. Other clubs also charge a match fee which goes into a club kitty for the court hire and transport for teams. Schools and clubs have to raise their own funds but money is supplied from the government for international level netball. The governing body organises the leagues and match fixings for schools and clubs. Elite performers in netball are not contracted but are trialled for their positions on international teams. They do not receive money but an advantage of this is free membership to a high quality gym for example Gym Tech at Lisburn leisureplex. There is no support for injured players at provincial level but at international level there is support from physiotherapists and trained medics.
Netball in Northern Ireland is a female orientated sport and is seen as the “women’s version of basketball”. Although in countries such as Australia men have their own leagues as well as women and it is very competitive, in this country demand is not yet high enough yet for a men’s league. The only countries where male netball is played are Australia and New Zealand where men have their own organised leagues.
Northern Ireland is falling behind in terms of its provision of netball for people with disabilities.
In England some disabilities are catered for and others aren’t, and example of one that is catered for is deafness: -
England have a specific organisation for deaf netball players; England Deaf Netball Association (EDNA). EDNA is looking to improve access and support for deaf players with their local hearing clubs.
EDNA has also recently established a national team of deaf netball players.
In Northern Ireland there isn’t a lot of funding that goes towards disabled participation in Netball. There is funding for all sports but because netball here is single sex and a minority we unfortunately do not see too much of that money. The only point at which netball is funded here is at international level.
A major weakness in the provision of netball is the lack of disabled participation in Northern Ireland, and also if there were more funding in netball there would be a wider range of participants. Furthermore there is a major weakness for the popularity of netball in the fact that there is next to no media coverage in Northern Ireland. However there are strengths in that everyone has a fair chance to play at international and national levels, and that in this country there are many different clubs to choose from. This could also be a disadvantage to those living in remote areas as there is a concentration of clubs in the Belfast Area.
Bibliography
Web Sites-
Appendices
Appendix 1: National and Development Age Groups
Appendix 2: Secondary School Age groups
Appendix 3: Netball clubs in Northern Ireland
- Bangor Netball Club
- Belfast Ladies Netball Club
- Coleraine Junior Netball Club
- Gallagher’s Netball Club
- Laganside Netball Club
- Larkfield Netball Club
- West Side
- Banbridge
- First Trust Bank
