How Urban Rec is Improving Netball
March 6, 2021 - 3 years ago
Netball is one of Aussies most beloved sports! But as we have grown the sport within our leagues we have come to realise that it’s a complicated beast, and in order to keep our players happy, here are some changes we are making…
Our Event Hosts: As you know we pride ourselves on making sure our Event Hosts are so much more than just umpires. Our staff have personality and coaching style game play. BUT we do recognise that in order to learn, you need someone who knows the rules intimately, so we are committing to hire Event Hosts who have umpire experience or an intimate understanding of the rules.
Calling your own contacts, offsides, and stepping: Across all of our leagues, we ask you to be adult enough to make these calls if you knowingly make a mistake. We never want our leagues to be where people come to cheat. BUT if you are a learner or you genuinely did not know you made a mistake, our Event Hosts will be making those calls for you. READ: We get tougher, and you learn when you have stuffed up, and hopefully become better at making that call for yourself next time.
Wet weather calls: Most of our Netball leagues are outdoors, which is awesome – until it rains. But making calls can be tricky. We would like to make the call a little less subjective. While our rain out policy does not change, if the courts are wet, on most occasions we will cancel the games. Netball is tricky enough on the knees without adding further risk. This does mean you should expect 1-4 rain out’s per season, potentially extending your season to run for 11-14 weeks instead of 10. We never take away games, but you do need to plan a little longer into the season.
CHOOSING A NETBALL LEAGUE THAT SUITS YOU AND YOUR TEAM:
STREET NETBALL: This style of Netball is basically the gateway sport for people who are new to the sport, and want to learn more. We take away all the intimidating factors. No bibs, fewer postisions, and in some cases, fewer hoops (wow). The same principals apply, and the basics of netball remain, but this is netball re-imagined, and re-purposed for people that truly want to play a simplistic and non-intimidating version of the game. Expect to see alot more of this style game popping up, and opportunities for you to learn and play this style of Netball.
FAST5 NETBALL: Our original and best. This is a league suited for players who want to get involved and play Netball, but they don’t want all the snooty behaviour that can go along with Netball. This league calls for a lot less stoppage in game play, and a few adpatations to make the game a bit more unpredictable and fun.
7’S NETBALL: This is the style of Netball you have come to know and love. It’s proper 7-aside, and a more traditional version of the game. There is a bit more structure, and if you are a Netball purist, you should probably start here. HOWEVER...this is not some horrible and scary comp with faceless umpires, this is still Urban Rec style, meaning you will use fun points, and always play with a fun first attitude. We will continue to offer some more of these leagues across Sydney, but we are concious that there’s plenty of other people doing it, and we don’t want to saturate the market!
These changes we hope, will help elevate your experience and help you to choose the right league that suits you, and also understand that we are listening, and we do want to make changes if you guys are want them. It is, afterall… your sport.
Do you have any suggestions you think would help improve our Netball leagues? Please shoot us an email [email protected] and let’s get chatting.