My name is Sakina Bonsu and I love to play netball. I played for my primary school and at the start of Year 7, I tried out for the secondary school team. Alhamdullilah, I gained a place on the year 7 netball team.
In primary school, my team won the Oadby & Wigston netball tournament and the South Leicestershire netball tournament which enabled us to go to the Leicestershire & Rutland Summer Championships 2018. By the grace of Allah, we won the bronze medal position despite meetings with very tough opponents. In addition, the team also won the Oadby & Wigston netball league.
Also in year 7, my team has had an eventful season throughout the academic year. Alhamdulilah, my team won Secondary Sports Team of the Year which was awarded by Learning South Leicestershire School Sports Partnership. All this time I have been repeating the word ‘team’. Yes, netball is a team sport and there are two main types of netball. High-five netball has five players and is normally played in primary school. 7-a-side netball is played in secondary school and is also the type I play. There are seven people on the pitch and each one has a different job:
1. Goal Shooter (GS): To score goals and to work in and around the circle with the GA
2. Goal Attack (GA):To pass and work with GS and to score goals
3. Wing Attack (WA): To pass to the players in the circle giving them shooting opportunities
4. Centre (C): To take the Centre Pass and to link the defence and the attack
5. Wing Defence (WD):To look for interceptions and to prevent the WA from passing to the circle
6. Goal Defence (GD): To win the ball and reduce the effectiveness of the GA
7. Goal Keeper (GK) :To work with the GD and to prevent the GS from scoring goals.
In primary school, I would rotate and play different jobs but now I only play Goal Defence. Netball is a great sport and it has numerous benefits; you build teamwork skills, it improves hand-to-eye coordination, increases reaction time and improves ability to make split-second decisions. I hope this article will encourage you to take up netball and who knows… Inshallah there could be a Nasirat Netball League (NNL)!!!
