Hear from Walking Netball Host Caroline and Julia, a participant in her sessions about how Great Coaching really does impact lives!
I decided hosting Walking Netball would be a brilliant chance to be able to keep us ladies that love netball, playing netball. We all have different reasons why we have to give up playing, mine being crumbling knee joints. I am lucky I am still involved in netball, helping coach our local Juniors.
I started hosting our walking netball sessions in February 2018. Some sessions we only had 3 but now we have 14 members. They are a very competitive gang of ladies. Once the ladies are warmed up they just want to play netball. The ladies are a pleasure to work with, treating me as a fellow colleague, not the host. I just make sure they warm up, play to the rules and leave time to cool down.
The ladies have called themselves Budwey Strollers, and we now have some t- shirts printed with our names on!
Caroline, Walking Netball Host
I loved netball at school! I was on the school team and then continued to play beyond school. I even started a mum’s netball group, with a bunch of other mums I met at the school gates. Fast forward to now and being quite new to Weymouth, I’d never really found physical activity that would fit into my schedule. I think it’s important to keep my body moving, but it’s not easy. I enjoy arts, crafts and yoga, but these don’t really get my blood pumping! I’ve lost a stone through Slimming World which gave me confidence that I can move more. I have a bit of arthritis in my knee and have previously used that as an excuse as it makes it less easy to be active. But, having lost some weight, I felt ready to get active too.
Walking Netball was something I wanted to try! And it was just a short journey away – I had no idea such an activity existed on my doorstep! I called the number and the person who answered the phone was very kind. The first week I went along, I was immediately introduced to a lovely group of kind, like-minded women. Straight away I was smiling, and having a laugh.
It takes place for an hour every Tuesday evening and costs a worthwhile £4.50 a session. We start off with a warm-up and stretches, then we shoot some hoops! All at walking pace. Finally, we end with a friendly game. Sometimes we choose positions, at other times we’ll pick the bibs pot-luck out of the bag. It can get quite competitive! And vocal! The rule is that you need one foot on the ground at all times, but it’s very tempting to step up the pace! It’s exciting! We break for a much-needed breather and refreshment halfway through. It really does get my heart beating!
The community I’ve found is wonderful. It makes life a lot brighter. And my body is feeling the benefits. I was a bit sore after the first couple of sessions but my muscles have quickly awakened to the new activity. It’s given me new confidence to do other physical things, such as DIY around the house. It’s very easy to say “I can’t do that” and no one questions me, but it was just a way of hiding. I can do that! I was capable of doing much more than I thought but just lacked confidence.
