Page 26 - Bugle Spring 2024

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Defence Academy Netball Club – Inaugural Season Wg Cdr Alexa Smyth
FOLLOWING THE ACSC OLYMPIAD in Sep
22, netball fever swept the Defence Academy. Competitive, high energy, tactical and contested, the Olympiad netball taster had piqued interest. Calls for more netball came as many (mostly male course members) were keen to play more. The Monday night ‘throw about’ was born.
A total cross section of players joined in, both female and male – those from the southern hemisphere where netball is hugely popular, experienced female RAF players, those who hadn’t played since school and even a Dutch Korfball player. Ball handling skills didn’t take long to master but the rules of the game were a different story. An attempt was made to break people in gently, starting with just the basics and slowly introducing more rules each week. There was definitely some scepticism that rules were being made up as a joke! Alas not, it’s the joy of netball being such a technical sport.
With experience and knowledge of the rules growing weekly, it wasn’t long before word spread and we were being challenged to matches by external clubs...it was getting serious – the Defence Academy Netball Team was born! Becoming a fully-fledged team within the Athletics Union, the team were able to secure funding for new kit to help look the part. They played matches against RAF Brize Norton,
the RLC and Larkhill, with some successes as well as some less favourable but very close results.
The team even managed to secure permission to escape the Academy for a day to attend the Army Inter Unit competition at Aldershot Garrison. It was a fantastic day out, great fun and the team came 4th overall. Such was the success of the team, word
of mouth spread to the civilian mixed netball world. They were approached by Kraken Mixed Netball
Club who travelled all the way from Worcester for a warm up match prior to the National Mixed Netball Championships. It’s safe to say the Defence Academy isn’t quite National Championship standard yet but
it was a fantastic match and brilliant to play against such a well practiced team.
It’s been a cracking year for the first ever Defence Academy mixed netball team. Gp Capt Kenny Futcher and Wg Cdr Chris Newcombe have been snapped up by the RAF men’s netball team
With men’s and mixed netball growing across all 3 services, it’s hoped the Academy team will continue in future years and help to feed mixed netball teams across the Armed Forces.
“With experience and knowledge of
the rules growing weekly, it wasn’t long before
word spread and we were being challenged to matches by external clubs... it was getting serious – the Defence Academy Netball Team was born!