Eat, sleep, netball, repeat

By Stella Carter

Last month I had the immense privilege of participating in the senior Indoor Netball Inter Provincial Tournament (IPTs). The seniors tournament catered for the U23 ladies, U23 mixed teams and the Over-35 ladies category, which I participated in. The tournament was held from the 21 – 26 April at the Vanderbijlpark Action Sports arena.

It was six days of eat, sleep, netball, repeat!!!! It was tiring, both emotionally and physically – but it left me with more than I ever imagined. Here are some of my take-outs from this experience:

• Team work really does make the dream work

There is something to be said about team sports. The sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself. Team sports bring so many different personalities together, all focused on the same end goal. The support, the motivation, the unity. When you’re down, your team builds you up. You are constantly filling each other’s emotional cups. It brings an energy that is unmatched.

• Leave it on the court

My son’s soccer coach once told him, “play the ball, not the man” and this really stuck with me, beyond just the sports field. As with any competitive sport, tempers flare and emotions and adrenaline run HIGH. We are all playing for the same end goal – to win. Put your game face on when you are playing the game, but leave it behind when you step off court. Laugh with the other teams, build a relationship, and have fun. It changes the way you feel about the game, the match and the team.

• Don’t take yourself too seriously

Before every game, we reminded ourselves to have fun and play “our” game.

When you let the competition get into your head you lose the enjoyment in what you’re doing, which impacts on your performance. Yes, take it seriously, but not to the point where you lose focus and turn on your team and yourself. Be lekker, laugh and have fun. The wins will come!!

• You are never too old to kick ass

It’s that old saying of “not judging a book by its cover”. And netball is a good example of that. The Over-35 category is a broad age group that includes 35 year-olds to people in their 50s. There were games where we were the oldest on the court and games where we were the youngest, and it was genuinely anyone’s game. In many games, the victory went to the team that played unified, communicated and stuck to their game – and that team wasn’t necessarily the younger/fitter team.

• It’s not all about the medals

We (my team and I), went into this tournament with zero expectations. The goal was to have fun and play some netball. And that’s exactly what we did. We won some and we lost some. We laughed every day, through the losses, the bruises, the falls. We laughed at ourselves and at each other. We enjoyed every game. We went in with a positive attitude and came out a stronger team.

There is nothing I would change about this experience. We will be back for the next season, stronger, happier and ready to have bucket loads more fun!