Five reasons why netball is a great first sport for kids

Netball has sky-rocketed it's way to become one of the biggest team sports’ in the country, played by over 1.2 million men, women and children across Australia. Netball is also the highest participation sport for Australian girls. Regardless of age, gender and ability, anyone can play netball, have a great time and learn skills to take into their everyday life.

As a fast moving and non-contact team sport, we love netball, so we’ve compiled our top five reasons why we think netball is such a great first sport for kids:

1) Teamwork

As netball is a team sport, children learn valuable social and communication skills as they work with others as part of a team to achieve a common goal. Each player is assigned a position which is constrained to different parts of the court and plays a different role within the game, this means that no game can be played or be won without the help of all members of the team. Team members must communicate with one another and work together to defend, attack and score goals.

2) Coordination

In netball, when a player has the ball they must stand still, they can’t run or dribble with the ball. This means that players must use a variety of throwing techniques and passes to get the ball to a player on their team. Some passes are high and slow, others are short and sharp; practising these passes at training and using these passes in games helps to develop hand-eye coordination and quicker reaction time.

3) Fitness

Netball is a fast-moving game that requires players to run around the court, sprinting and changing direction quickly, over time this greatly improves children’s’ cardiovascular fitness and strength. Training also involves a variety of fitness and skills drills which help to develop fitness so that all team members are primed and ready come game day.  

4) Diverse

With seven different positions within the game that each require different skills and abilities this gives kids great variety, plus continually challenges them to learn and build on different skills. It also keeps the game fresh and exciting for them! 

5) Progressive

Netball has a range of different pathways which gives children the opportunity to continually progress their skills at different levels within the sport, if they wish to do so. There are plenty of development pathway programs in Western Australia, opportunities to compete at a state and national level, as well as a variety of levels for WA State representation and National representation.

HBF Arena offers specialty netball clinics that will equip your child with the skills to step into a netball game with confidence. Click here to learn more.