NET Gains

Looking for a new workout for 2019? Get the ball rolling with netball, which is destined to be one of this year’s hottest exercise trends

- Gabrielle Nathan

We might associate it with school PE lessons and have memories of pivoting and passing the ball in the playground, but netball is having a renaissance. It’s England’s biggest team sport and the fastest growing – over the last few years, there’s been a 44 per cent increase in participation and there are now more women playing netball than there are men playing rugby union, with over a million women and girls playing the game during a typical week in the netball season. Its rise in popularity has been partly driven by the success of the Vitality Roses, England’s senior netball team, who won their match against home favourites Australia to claim gold at the Commonwealth Games in April last year. As a result, 130,700 women have started playing – or playing more – netball. And the team’s hard work paid off in other ways. Not only were they catapulted to second place in the International Netball Federation’s world rankings (behind Australia, and their highest position to date), the England Roses were recently crowned Team of the Year at the 2018 Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards, thrusting players such as Helen Housby, Ama Agbeze, Jo Harten and Geva Mentor, along with head coach Tracey Neville, into the media spotlight.