Netball is a sport practiced mainly by women that bears many similarities to basketball.
The inclusion of netball in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Sports Games San Salvador 2023, recently approved, marks the entry into the Olympic orbit of a sport that until now was only consolidated in the Commonwealth Games program.
Promoted by Jamaica, the fourth federation in the world ranking behind Australia, New Zealand and England, the admission of netball to the oldest regional games in the world (1926) is a substantial first step in its intention to achieve a place in the Olympic Games. Brisbane 2032.
Thirty-eight countries will participate in San Salvador 2023 and the Jamaican Olympic Committee (JOA) has committed to organizing seminars and trainings for Spanish-speaking countries that do not know the technical foundations or lack tradition in a sport rooted almost exclusively in the territories of speaks English.
“I have the privilege of being part of the Technical Commission of Centro Caribe Sports and from the first moment I campaigned for netball, because I was sure that the credentials of this sport would translate into a landslide victory,” said the general secretary of the JOA, Ryan Foster.
Centro Caribe Sports, formerly known as CACSO, is the body responsible for these regional Games, in which Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia head the historic medal table.
A female sport related to basketball
Although there are men’s teams, netball is a sport practiced mainly by women and the main international competitions are only for women.
It has many similarities with basketball. In fact, it was born in England in 1893 as an alternative to basketball, so that women “had to run less.”
The objective is to dunk the ball in a basket hanging from a post, which has no backboard. There are seven players per team, who cannot move with the ball in hand.
It is a passing game. The ball must not be held for more than three seconds and only two players, the attacker and the shooter, may enter the shooting area and score.
The games are divided into four 15-minute quarters.
New Zealanders, world champions
The New Zealand team is the current world champion, after its victory in the 2019 World Cup in Liverpool. Australia and England completed the podium.
There were three participants from America, all from the Caribbean area: Jamaica (5th place), Trinidad and Tobago (9th) and Barbados (12th).
In the three previous editions Australia had been imposed (2015, 2011 and 2007).
These two teams have shared the fifteen titles played since 1963, although in 1979 they both shared it with Trinidad and Tobago, as a group stage was played without finals.
Low international presence
This concentration of championships in so few countries and their limited presence in countries outside the Commonwealth will be the main obstacles for netball to break through in competitions at the IOC level.
World Netball, the international federation of this sport, was created in 1960 and is the regulatory body for the discipline. It has been chaired since 2019 by the British Liz Nicholl, who played two World Cups with the Wales team.
In America there are 15 national federations supported by World Netball and only one is Spanish-speaking, Argentina.
In Europe there are 11 affiliates, but thanks to the fact that territorial associations are admitted. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar are participating separately. Malta, Israel and the United Arab Emirates are also in this continental group.
Twelve Asian federations complete World Netball, six in Oceania and twelve in Africa. (I)
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