Netball

Over lunch today I played my first ever game of Netball. I've never even watched a game of netball, let only played. But I've joined a sports team at work that plays 10 different sports over 10 weeks against other teams from the Department. I figured it'd be a good way to meet people. But who wants to meet the American (who sounds Canadian) who doesn't have the first clue about this game?

I was put in the position of goalkeeper, a defensive position without a lot of running, as my knees are still really hurting. Netball is basically basketball with no dribbling, soccer with no feet, and a little bit of dodge ball. At least that's what it felt like to me. I'm sure Australian Netball (http://www.netball.asn.au/) would describe it differently. The first quarter (4 10 minute quarters) I pretty much stood there, slightly dumbfounded. In the second and third quarters I played a little, even knocked the ball away from my opponent a couple of times. In the fourth quarter I started to run a little more and realized it would be helpful to know what ll the lines on the court meant - I was offsides more than once, and had no idea where I was supposed to line up for 'kiskoff', or whatever the restart after a point is scored is called. Oh well. People seemed okay with my bobbling attempt at their game and I enjoyed myself.