Sport / We want you – three-year project aims to grow netball in the isles
A full-time development manager will be sought to entice lapsed players back to the court
NETBALLERS who want to play for fun – or want to get back into the game – are being targeted as part of a new three-year project to expand the sport in Shetland.
Netball Scotland is seeking to hire a full-time development manager for the isles, who will oversee work to grow and improve the game.
Despite being of Shetland’s biggest sports already, Shetland Netball Association committee member Linda Thomson said they had felt they could do more to encourage people of all ages and genders to take to the court.
“We were starting to get frustrated in terms of our set-up up here,” she said.
“Currently we have three competitive leagues for senior players, which is anything from 14 and up.
“But we were aware there weren’t any opportunities for just recreational players, or players that had maybe been away and had bairns and wanted to come back to it.
“It was very focused on competitive sport.”
Thomson said there were a couple of players within the committee coming to the end of their competitive playing days, but who wanted to keep playing netball in some format.
“We were realising the huge benefit that netball has, to women in particular,” she told Shetland News.
“You get to meet up weekly with your fellow players and have a fun.”
The local association decided early last year to find out if Netball Scotland could assist in any way, with development managers in post throughout the mainland.
And they agreed to find a development manager for the isles, who will take the pressure off local volunteers by seeking to grow the game on a day-to-day basis.
“We really felt like there was huge potential to really expand netball in Shetland,” she said.
“But we felt we really needed someone to come in and take on that role.”
Funding the post was a “fair lump of work”, Thomson admitted, with the association having to seek out external grants.
Three-quarters of the costs are coming from Shetland Islands Council’s coastal communities fund, with the Sandison Trust in Unst one of the local donors.
The Bill McLaren Foundation – which typically supports causes related to rugby – also provided a grant because of the post’s work to remove barriers in rural sport.
Thomson said that “everyone we have gone to us has supported us”.
“There’s not many households in Shetland that have not been influenced by netball in some way,” she said.
“So we’ve been lucky that folk have really been able to connect to the project quite easily.
“Everybody has been really keen to see this going ahead, and recognised that it’s a really exciting time for netball.”
Thomson said they were “not looking really to expand on our leagues” at present – but to ensure that any keen netballers do not fall through the cracks.
“It’s a sport that should be accessible to everyone in Shetland.
“Our main priority is expanding our opportunities and targeting new players.
“We want a strong netball pathway – some bairns do slip through the net after fourth year at their school.
“We want them to come into the sport in P5 or P6, and within their local community in Shetland stay in the sport and continue through their adult life.”
Along with walking netball, Thomson said there was a “huge push in Britain” for men’s netball – which could be rolled out if there was enough interest.
A senior mixed netball league has proved popular over the past two years, but she said there was “nothing for bairns” in that regard.
The development manager role is similar to one created for table tennis in Shetland, which Joan Smith has been overseeing for the past two years.
That has resulted in a major upsurge in the sport, and Thomson said they were hoping for a similar effect in netball.
“We’ve worked quite closely with Joan, she’s been a really good help,” Thomson said.
“Joan has been really open about how many hours she has worked. We know that it takes a lot of time to make change.”
While they hope to emulate her success, Thomson said they wanted the new development manager to focus firstly on good connections with the local clubs.
“I hope they’ll be really involved with our set-up and each community as a whole,” she said.
“Their work is going to be decided by Netball Scotland in the first instance.
“But for the first year we’ll be looking for easy wins, and want to be able to offer training to folk that would like to be involved in delivering our activities.”
Thomson is also hoping the new role will offer a better connection with Netball Scotland as a whole, saying it can “feel quite isolated” when trying to argue Shetland’s case on the mainland.
The post is a three-year term, and though Shetland Netball Association is hopeful that can be extended Thomson was realistic about the difficulties of finding further funding.
“We would like to continue that after the three years,” she said.
“But we know we just need to be ready for the future if that doesn’t happen.”
Thomson thanked all of their funders and everyone who has supported them for their help in securing the post.
You can apply for the role here.
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