The Colliers Down Under: She shoots and she SCORES at Netta =)

Every term at school, the girls get to pick a new sport to participate in. The first term was swim, the second term was either Minkey (hockey), Netta / Netball, and multi-sport training. None of those are sports that are really played in the States, so we were really surprised when Morgan came home and said she wanted to try Netta. Sure why not?

I must say that Dustin and I were just proud that Morgan wanted to try something new! Netball is a rather big sport here for girls, so I was beginning to get a bit nervous since none of us have any idea how to play or what to expect. As with everything else, anything can be researched on the internet. So we went to youtube to at least see how to play the game. The rules on the other hand, well that will have to be learned along the way.

So our first Netta experience was this Saturday at 8:15 am. Let me start from the beginning....Year 3 is the first year that girls can play organized Netball, so it is called Netta. Every year there after it is called Netball. The game seems to be a mix between soccer and basketball. The first piece of advice we received was to arrive at the court EARLY because parking was limited and that fields are BUSY. Not knowing what to expect, we got to the game at 7:40. When we arrived, I was shocked to see how many courts there were...OUTSIDE. Morgan was on court 34. Okay now to explain the game....I am not sure how to start, so please bear with my rambling.

The court is split into three parts with a basketball goal on each end. The difference is that there is no backboard on the goal. The court has lines similar to a soccer field. There are five girls on the court at one time and they are each assigned a specific position...Goal scorerer, goal assist, center, defender, and assist. Similar to soccer, you must stay in your assigned area as well. The ball cannot be dribbled, instead it must be passed. If you have the ball, you cannot run with it....you can pivot on one foot to move around though.

Morgan played GS (goal scorer), GD (goal defense), and GK (goal keeper). The only people that can attempt a goal is GS and GA. So when Morgan was GS, she was able to try MANY times to score....she scored once. Now that is one more time than I would have scored because there was no backboard. She did a great job with passing, defending, and catching the ball. When she went to shoot, she was so excited that she often overshot the goal. Overall though she did AWESOME, and we cannot wait to see how she progresses this season. I think she is going to really enjoy it!

Below are some pictures: