For many years netball was only played by girls, but it has seen a resurgence in popularity, both for playing and watching. There is even a campaign to try and get it included as one of the sports in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Here we look at the increase in popularity as well as how it is broadening its appeal to those who want to play and how you can get involved.

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In November 2016 England Netball will play Jamaica in a three-match Vitality Series for the first time in four years. They will be starting off at the Copper Box Arena (part of London’s Olympic Park), with the series then moving to Coventry and Manchester. This demonstrates the popularity and appetite for the game among spectators. Added to this is the fact that England Netball have just announced a new TV deal with Sky Sports which aims to bring the sport to a whole new audience.

Encouraging Everyone to Get Involved

While there are a large number of women coming back to netball as a way of getting fit, men are also getting in on the act. The sport is slowly gaining in popularity among men in the UK, and several men’s teams play in various leagues throughout the country. England even have an Indoor Netball Men’s team, so it truly is a sport that is open to all. In other parts of the world such as Australia and New Zealand, it is almost as popular among men as women.

How to Get Involved

Whether you are male or female, the routes to getting involved are the same. The first thing is to try to find a local club. Clubs with men’s and women’s teams are all over the place, so it is worth looking, or if you can’t find one, then maybe get a few friends together and try starting your own team! Wherever you decide to go or whatever you decide to do, there will be training involved, which may mean watching a netball drill video such as those from https://www.sportplan.net/drills/Netball/drills.jsp as well as doing physical training.

This should have given you some insight into what a great sport netball is, whether you are male or female and whether you want to play or prefer to watch. There is plenty going on to suit everyone.