So what the heck is netball?

So what the heck is netball?

By Kyle Jorrey

jorrey@theacorn.com

If you’ve ever happened upon the asphalt court located on the corner of Pederson Avenue and Erbes Avenue in Thousand Oaks and wondered what happened to the backboards that are supposed to be hanging behind the nets there, try coming back on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. for a little explanation.

Because what the untrained eye might think is an oddly-painted basketball court is actually one of only two official netball courts in the entire state. Constructed in 2001 by the Conejo Recreation and Parks Department, the court is home to California’s first-born netball team, the Thousand Oaks Comets.

Spearheaded by the unrelenting efforts of South African import Sharon Fluxman, a Westlake resident on-and-off since 1995, netball continues to grow both in the area and in the state as ex-patriots like Fluxman and current California Netball Association (CNA) president Karen Walker, a native of England and an Oak Park resident, keep spreading the word.

"I played netball my whole life and loved it, and when I came here I just missed it so much that I decided to kind of bring it with me," Fluxman said. "So I started putting up flyers everywhere I could find to see if there were others out there who wanted to play. I was working on this day and night . . . I knew I would get netball to come here come hell or high water."

Walker, who had left her home in Switzerland only a few months earlier, was delighted to see an ad for netball in her local Pennysaver.

"It was just fantastic. It was a real beacon of hope in what otherwise seemed like a tough life change," Walker said. "Everything at that time was new to me, even going to the supermarket."

As it was for many of the original members of the Comets, the opportunity to play netball again meant more to Walker than just getting to compete in an old favorite pastime—it was a link to the lives they had left behind.

"It was like a guiding light for me," she said. "It was something I knew about in a world that was otherwise totally new to me."

Since the team’s inception in 2000, it has averaged about 20 members and has featured women of all ages and skill levels. Though the group is primarily made up of immigrants from places such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and other formerly British colonies, Fluxman hopes more Americans will eventually get on board with a sport that was actually invented in the U.S.

"We need more Americans. We have a few, but we don’t have as many as we would like," Fluxman said. "Unfortunately the sport doesn’t have the exposure in this country but we’re always encouraging people to come out even if they don’t know anything about netball . . . It’s great exercise, and it’s also great fun. They’ll love it, I guarantee it."

Shortly after James Naismith first invented the game of basketball in 1891, a girls’ version of the game was designed and brought to England by American school teachers.

While the sport lost popularity in the U.S., it caught on in the United Kingdom and has been played in schools there by both men and women ever since. Called girls’ basketball for many years, the sport was renamed "netball" in 1970.

Since the creation of the Comets in 2000, California has added three other teams that combined make up the CNA—the Santa Monica Waves, the Southern Stars (of San Francisco) and the San Diego United. Only San Francisco has access to an official court, the other teams must make due with a regular basketball court.

This past November, the four teams got together for a tournament in Thousand Oaks at the Comets’ home court at Oakbrook Neighborhood Park in T.O. In the weekend’s final game, the Waves defeated the Comets 13-10 in a highly-defensive matchup. Most netballs teams average between 30 and 40 points a game.

"It was a really tough game," Fluxman said. "It was so close right until the end because both teams were playing such tight defense."

Fluxman called the tournament a great success and said another is in the works for the month of April.

Until then, the team will continue to practice on Tuesdays and Saturdays and continue to look for new members.

For Walker, looking for new membership often means trying to find other non-natives who are looking for friends and an enjoyable way to connect with their new environment.

"If you talk to members of the team they’ll tell you, the netball club isn’t just about netball . . . we all are quite close socially," Walker said. "It throws you all together with a common bond, and it allows people that love the sport to continue to do that thing they love."