Lucy Bingham - Netball in Australia

The women’s Australian netball team, otherwise known as the Aussie Diamonds, are the best in the world.  We know that lots of you play netball here in the UK, but what’s it like playing ‘down under’.  We are Girls in Sport community member Lucy Bingham from Melbourne, Australia shared her love of netball and gave us an insight into her favourite team.

Just like in Great Britain, netball is a really well-known sport and is played in schools, mostly by girls.  I started netball when I was eight as part of the Net Set Go programme which is a starter program for young kids who wish to learn netball skills. It introduced me to many skills that I have used for other sports as well, such as learning quick reflexes which is useful for softball and tennis. I thought that netball was a great sport to start because there are so many different skills that you can learn and use. 

I play netball for my school during the week – we play against other schools around Melbourne.  At the weekend, I play for a team where I know lots of people as they went to my primary school.  It’s really sociable but we work hard! Netball makes me feel like myself. In games I can show people who I am by using my strengths that others don’t usually see and use them to win a game for me and my team. As it’s a team sport, it’s nice to have other people supporting you and motivating you to do your best.

Netball is physically demanding but exhilarating at the end of the match.  You need speed, agility and precision but for other skills, it all depends on the kind of position you play. If you are a shooter, it is more based on precision of shooting and a skill called leading, which is escaping a defender so you can receive a good pass. If you’re playing a defending position, you need to be good at sticking to a player which requires fast reflexes. If you’re playing as centre or a wing position, you need to have good agility and speed.

My favourite team is called West Coast Fever and my favourite player is Jhaniele Fowler because she plays my position of goal shooter and has scored over 3,400 goals. She has won the last three Most Valuable Player awards.  West coast Fever are one win away from playing in their third grand final, so I really think that they have the spirit and skills to win this year.

Thank you Lucy and good luck with your netball career!  Good luck to West Coast Fever too!

You can watch the Aussie Diamonds at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham or on TV.