Rojales Netball Club need support

Rojales Netball Club growing in popularity

LADIES, looking for a new sport to keep or help you reach your fitness goals during 2012, then maybe Netball might be answer! Played in Girl’s schools across the UK and Ireland, after field hockey, Netball is the next most popular ladies school team sport in the UK. However it’s a very foreign sport to the Spanish, mainly due to football, basketball and handball being played in junior and primary schools but it’s slowly gaining a following on the Costa Blanca due to a few enthusiasts who play with the Rojales Netball Club.

Although the Club has been in existence for more than ten years, it’s kept a low profile with games mainly played on the Costa Blanca North and news about the existence of the team spread mainly through word of mouth. The team was formed in Cabo Roig, moved to Los Montesinos five years ago and in 2011 took up residence in Rojales. At the moment Rojales has the only court area that is marked out for Netball play but the team are keen to expand to other areas in the region, such as Torrevieja or the Orihuela Costa.

Training takes place on Tuesday between 7.00~8.30 pm at Ciudad Quesada Muncipal Deportivo, with New Year sessions starting on Tuesday 10 January at 7.00 pm. New players of all ages and abilities are always welcome and at the moment, their youngest player is 16 and their oldest, a youthful 63, so if you have every played and enjoyed the game before, age is not an excuse for not taking up the game again!

Unfortunately there are not enough local teams for a league so tournaments are held four times each year. At the moment these take place in Javea and Alfaz but the team are hoping to add to this by hosting their own tournament in Quesada this summer, 2012. There are also two big tournaments in June and September on the Costa Brava that they would also like to attend plus they play against other teams from Spain (Valencia and Marbella) and touring UK teams.

If you are new to the game or have not played in a while, that’s not a problem as each new player is worked in groups of their own ability and the basics taught from scratch if required. Netball is not very well known in Spain because it is not taught in school so they have coaching of basic skills for all players. The cost for each training session is just €3.00 per session which goes towards the costs of running the club. They have their own outdoor court and in winter they train under floodlights. The squad contains English, Spanish and Irish players, some whom have previous County and international experience, even playing in Australia.
 
Netball in Spain is played to the standard English National seven-a-side game laws. There are always two umpires and an interchange of players at all times. Rojales Netball Club presently has 20 girls who play at the club with some also playing for teams in the UK. For tournament play, they take all their players to a tournament and play two teams if enough players are available; otherwise they rotate players in and out so all members have a game. They actively encourage players to rotate and have a game at every position to encourage and advance their skills for all positions on the court.

Along with new players and supporters, the team are also seeking sponsors to help with purchasing a new kit and also for their travelling costs. Most importantly they are looking for kit sponsorship. This is their most important goal for 2012 in roder to survive and grow the club. They have to travel over 110 miles each way to play in the tournaments and this all is self-funded. Being one of the few female athletic teams in the area, the photo opportunities for a Kit Sponsor are very good with the majority of local publications happy to add Netball to their mix of local sports news.

Tracey Burton is the club Secretary, Claire Naylor is the team Captain and Veronica Defreitas is the club coach. Tracey is also a fully qualified Netball Umpire and one of the few in Spain. She is called upon to both play and umpire during the same day as there are very few fully qualified umpires in Spain. The club has just launched a Facebook page where you can find out more information as Rojales Netball Club. To contact the club directly please direct your Email to: traceyburton@hotmail.co.uk, call Tracey on 679 539 995 or Claire 680 300 637.

Keith Nicol