adamknight

From Doom-Scrolling, to Netballing...

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Finding Netball: How Tuesday Evenings Became the Best Part of My Week

Five months ago, I was that person. You know the one working from home, scrolling endlessly through feeds, avoiding the home gym I have built, feeling increasingly disconnected from anything physical or meaningful and my health was suffering. I knew very little about playing netball despite being surrounded by it. My wife Fliss has played for our entire 22 years together, and all of our three girls have also played. Some of my wife's closest friendships have been forged on netball courts, decades-old bonds that have lasted through careers, children, and countless life changes.

Maya my middle daughter plays several times a week, is a qualified umpire, and lives and breathes the sport. When she mentioned her club's mixed team was short on players for a Tuesday evening training, I agreed to come and help out. It was a favour more than anything just making up the numbers because a few people had dropped out. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made in years.

I hadn't done any real exercise for four or five years, and after about ten minutes I was really struggling, that wasn't even the full warm-up. But everyone was having such a good time, you could tell they were genuinely enjoying it, so despite being unable to breathe I managed to keep going till the end. There may have been a few more drinks breaks that session than normal, but that's the club adapting to the people that are there and it was lovely to be part of.

Lyndsay, the coach and one of the founders of Momentum Netball (along with Max), has a passion and love for netball that is completely infectious. You can see how much she loves playing and coaching, helping everybody understand what they're supposed to be doing and why certain elements are important. She makes you feel genuinely welcome. For the first few months, I've had little to no idea what I'm doing at almost every moment, but I haven't ever been made to feel like that's a problem.

Even then, completely unfit as I was, I could see this was life size chess on speed. The restrictions create the complexity: because you can't go everywhere, where you can go matters enormously. Good players don't just move; they anticipate. They create space before they need it, block passing lanes with subtle body positioning, and communicate constantly.

The game suits different strengths brilliantly. I've learned that my height advantage means nothing if I can't read the play. Maya's speed counts for little without timing. The shooter who rarely misses still needs someone to feed them the ball. Every Tuesday, I watch players of all ages and abilities find their niche.

But the tactical side isn't why Tuesday evenings have become sacred. It's sharing this with Maya. We drive to training together and talk about the session. When I first started, we'd sometimes arrive 5-10 minutes late so I wouldn't completely die during the warm-up. These last few weeks we've been getting there early to do extra shooting and passing practice. We often partner in drills, and obviously she's much smaller than me so we play to our strengths. I'm trying to learn different tactics and movements, trying to catch the ball and land properly, and hopefully not crush any much smaller players...

Netball has reshaped my fitness in unexpected ways. Every few hours during my work day (I WFH) I will use the post in our garden I bought for the girls years and years ago and shoot 100 or so shots. At 44 years old and 21 stone, I'm not any sort of athlete, but my 6'4" height gives me an advantage as Goal Shooter. Now my fitness is improving I am definitely less tree like. Most importantly, I finally have genuine motivation to get fitter. You're accelerating, decelerating, jumping, pivoting—but always with purpose. It takes me a good couple of days to recover from training but that is getting less and less each week, but the game makes the effort worthwhile. Research confirms what my body tells me: netball delivers sustained moderate-to-vigorous exercise that trains both cognitive and physical systems (Eijwoudt et al., 2023; Shaw et al., 2020). So it's good for your mind and your body.

What strikes me most though is the community. Five months in, I'm one of the newest members, yet I already feel woven into the fabric of the club. There's a really nice social aspect, this weekend two of the men's players have been competing in a national tournament, and it's been lovely on the club WhatsApp group. People have been sharing results and supporting the guys. Everyone's been supporting them, and it's been lovely to see. I'm starting to understand now why my wife's netball friendships have endured, there's something about working together on court that creates genuine connection. The sport builds communities, not just teams.

This is what I'd missed without knowing it. Not just exercise, but exercise with meaning. Not just time with Maya, but time where we are part of something bigger, learning together. For the first time in years, we have something that's properly ours. Not me watching her play, not her humouring my interests, but both of us learning and improving together. We're teammates in the truest sense.

Join us on Tuesday evenings

Starting was simpler than I'd imagined. As I mentioned, I just turned up to help make up numbers, and Lyndsay had me playing within a few minutes. For men interested in mixed teams, the EMMNA "Find a Club" map shows options nationwide, though if you're near Andover, come find us at Momentum Netball. You need minimal kit: decent trainers, trimmed nails.

Whether you're a parent wanting to connect with your child's sport, someone seeking purposeful fitness, or simply curious about what netball offers. Drop by momentumnetball.co.uk or just turn up to training.

Sources and further reading