Two's company, four's a crowd!

Did you get a chance to watch any of the World Cup football matches in South Africa? It was a spectacular event, but I hope those vevezualas don’t make it to the netball courts!
While watching the World Cup football matches, I was sympathising for the reserve goal-keepers in each squad who would never get the chance to run on the field. These guys train as hard as the starting keeper, dedicate their lives to their sport (and may be equally as good as the first-string keeper), but unfortunately only one goal-keeper is allowed on the field at a time.

Its similar in all team sports with designated positions and none more so than netball! Fortunately, I think all junior coaches do attempt to give each player fair game time in order to develop their talents. However in later years (especially at a semi-professional level upward) no one is ever promised court time – and the cold hard facts are that you have four shooters in a team. Two will take the court and two will miss out. So how do the reserve shooters cope?

I’ve been on both sides of the court and personally think you have to have to weigh up a few options. If you’re sitting on the bench throughout the season, are you benefitting from the training? Are you gaining skills by playing with shooters who have more experience? Are you developing as a shooter, even without getting the court time? The most important thing is that you should be constantly developing and moving forward, regardless of the amount of time you get on the court.

One of my mates used to play at a high level in NSW and spoke to Susan Pratley when she was an up-and-coming 18- year old playing for the Sydney Swifts. Susan was the third shooter in the team, with Australian Diamond netballers Catherine Cox and Megan Dehn getting the bulk of court-time. However, Susan would openly object to not being in the starting lineup – even though she was a much younger and inexperienced player. You have to admire that level of self-confidence and it’s no surprise Susan has been a stalwart for the Australian Diamonds for the last four years.

During the ANZ Championship Grand Final last month, Erin Bell played a stellar game as GA for the victorious Adelaide Thunderbirds. Erin started the season playing a sprinkling of games as WA and it was only during the end of the season that she cemented her spot as GA (the starting GA was Australian Diamond Kate Beveridge). Prior to her standout performance this season Erin spent five years on the sideline for the Sydney Swifts as the third shooter behind Catherine Cox and Susan Pratley. She gained valuable experience training with the Swifts but made the smart decision to move cities and teams to gain more court-time. The Thunderbirds were the champions of the 2010 ANZ Championship and last week Bell was named in the Australian Diamonds squad for the Commonwealth Games later this year. All the best to her – a great role model with fantastic dedication and persistence!