Netball, which started as a derivative of US women’s basketball in the 1890s, enjoys immense popularity in over 85 nations worldwide and is arguably the most popular women’s sport in the world. First played in England Great Britain British Commonwealth regions such as Canada Caribbean and Australasia and is now gaining much popularity in the USA Mongolia Asia ) to Argentina South America ) are rapidly affiliating to the world wide governing body, the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Netball became a recognized Olympic Sport in 1995.
In the US, Netball has affiliates and contacts in over 35 states. The US Senior Squad was ranked #9 in the World following the 2003 World Netball Championships in Jamaica. The latter was achieved with no government or financial backing other than sponsorship by Kea for uniforms.
From July 21 – 31st 2005, the World Youth Netball Championships (WYNC2005) was held in the US at Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This event was the largest ever World Youth Championships and attracted over 500 athletes, coaches, and support personnel from over 20 countries world wide and an enormous spectator following from the 400,000 people living in the South Florida tri-county area in addition to spectators and affiliates from the participating countries including the USA.
Worldwide, Netball is played by over 20 million people from high school through to adult leagues. In Australia alone, there are over 1.3 million participants and 330,000 registered players making Netball the country’s largest participation sport over Rugby, Cricket or Australian Rules Football. Other major participating nations are New Zealand and England. New Zealand, the current Senior World Champions, with 500,000 participants and 120,000 registered players often airs Netball in prime time TV viewing slots over Rugby, the country’s national sport. England has 1 million participants and over 55,000 registered players making Netball the most popular women’s team sport.
Netball is a ball game played by 2 teams of 7 players on a specially marked court divided into equal thirds. Players are zoned to specific areas of the court. Like basketball, teams score goals by shooting the ball through hoops at each end of the court. 1 point per successful shot.Unlike basketball, the hoops are atop posts that have no backboards. There is no running with the ball, passes must be made within 3 seconds and only two players on each team can score goals.
