By Kavya Thirunavukkarasan (25S03I) and Valerie Ng (25S06N)
You had to be there to see it. The tug of war on the scoreboard; the constant push-and-pull between both teams; the ball flying from end to end of the court in a matter of seconds. The Netball NSG Finals would have had you on the edge of your seat, eyes glued to all the happenings on the court, waiting with bated breath every time the ball landed in the goal circle.
You had to be there to hear it. The squeaking of shoes on the court; the shouts of encouragement from the coach and the bench; the thunderous cheers from the spectator stands of both RI and ACJC. This match would have had you screaming your lungs out on a fine Thursday afternoon, fingers striking the heart of your palm whenever RI scored a point, turning over to your friends to gasping in disbelief every other minute.
You had to be there to feel it. The blood, sweat and tears put into the preparation for this final match; the fiery passion for the game of Netball every one of the players had; the sheer level of teamwork put into every single ball brought up on the court. The game would have left you in a state of immense admiration for the team, in utter respect for the way they played their hardest till the final whistle, the near-loss of one point rendering you feeling several times as deeply for them.
Hard work, passion, teamwork – the three big keys to excelling at a team sport. Through witnessing the exhilaratingly fast-paced and intense match, we let the Netball team teach us a thing or two about them.
Hard Work
As with many sports, nothing about playing Netball is easy. To be among the top teams in the nation, it is guaranteed that one would have to dedicate a great deal of time and effort to the sport – and this concept is not at all a stranger to the Netball team.
They can be found on the Gryphon Square every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, training at least eight hours every week. Not to mention the work that the individual team members put in: waking at 4am before the sun comes up to go on runs, meeting up on non-training days to workout at the gym, going for external training on the weekends, the list goes on.
Certainly it is all this dedication and hard work that the players put in that translate to the impeccable passes on court: the ball passed firmly to the receiver’s hands and the receiver grabbing it tightly without letting the sudden impulse from the ball give it the chance to escape. The seamless intercepts: players leaping out of nowhere to turn over the possession in our favour. The near-perfect shooting percentage: it seemed that shooting the ball had already become second nature to them, not to mention with textbook form.
The final match served as a true testament to all the work that the team had put in throughout the season, and it is without a doubt that the journey had not been easy. Still, the team had stuck to their guns, achieving a nonetheless formidable result in the NSG this year.
Passion
To the Netball team, Netball is not just a game to them. Each and every one of them treat Netball as a central part of their life, and that plays a big part in what makes the team so outstanding. It is the shared understanding that they all see Netball as one of their top priorities, and will always show up for the sport. Another term for this shared understanding is love: they love the game of Netball so much that they choose this lifestyle – every run, every gym session, every training session – over and over again.
The toughness of the sport does not deter them, but rather further spurs them to give it their all every time they are on court, whether it be during training or during games. It is no wonder, then, that even while we were sitting on the edge of our seats during the Finals, it was apparent that each and every one of the team members, had willingly strung themselves to their beloved sport; it was even more apparent these strings were never taut.
Teamwork
Team: (n.) a group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport
As with all team sports, the principle of teamwork proves pivotal to determining the success of the team. Especially with Netball, where the ball can only be passed around to move around the court, where each player has their own position, where it is against the rules to simply hurl the ball across all three thirds of the court, the team’s communication with each other has to be impeccable. They would have to be extremely familiar with each other’s playing styles and have an immense amount of trust in each other.
This was apparent in the game we witnessed: the ball being launched back into the air and into another teammate’s hands in a matter of milliseconds with pinpoint accuracy only serves as a confirmation that the team had played with each other to the point they knew their teammates like the back of their hands.
This sense of camaraderie within the Netball team is not just apparent on-court, though. Their togetherness extends to their interactions off-court as well – the more significant shows of comradeship: their tradition of having grapes and chocolate milk after every training session and game, singing Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” on the bus before matches; and the little things: helping each other to stretch after training, and affirming pats on each other’s shoulders between possessions.
On 24 May, we saw a well-oiled machine. If we looked closer into the intricacies and the seemingly mundane of their interactions, we would no longer see just a well-oiled machine; but rather, a family; one that truly reflects the very essence of what it means to be part of a team.
Team: (n.) a group of people you can always count on, a group of people who will always be there for you no matter the day (even non-training days!), a group of people you can always come home to.
The final loss of 44-43 now seems minute in the grand scheme of things; in fact, it serves as nothing but a game that confirms that the team will be back stronger next year, with the everlasting certainty that they will be back to show us what it means to uphold the three key principles of team sports once again.
Watch the team’s interview video here!