FOR the Macorna Football Netball Club, sport means a lot more than results and the club will be proving that during their visit to India in February.
Across two weeks, 11 club members of various ages will visit villages in Kolkata, North Bengal and beyond to teach the game of netball to women and girls.
Club netball president Jo Bear said her idea was sparked by a similar project Sports Chaplaincy Australia’s regional Victorian coordinator Bruce Claridge created more than seven years ago.
“Bruce has been conducting a footy trip to India with the Bendigo Football League to teach AFL football,” Bear said.
“Whenever I travel, I like to meet the locals, immerse myself in their culture to try and understand it.
“We often hear about third-world countries and the negatives, but sport brings people together and creates a community atmosphere — so I really liked their idea.
“I always wanted to go to India as well, so I called Bruce about teaching netball and he thought it was a brilliant idea.”
Bear has attended the past two trips, where she has undertaken netball drills with the girls and women of villages while football has been taught to the boys and men.
“I was fortunate to present at a meeting involving many community leaders about why netball is important for females,” she said.
“While netball involves all different ages, sizes and skills, we come together, look out for each other and just have fun while forgetting about life for a while.
“It resonated with the leaders and they’re keen to develop netball in communities that are really poor and isolated.
“Women in India are like second-rate citizens, so teamwork and social benefits of team sports might empower these women and make them more confident.”
An annual football national championship currently takes place between seven Indian state teams, but Bear said the end goal for netball may not be the same.
“This trip is an investigative trip because we’re going to be listening to the communities so they can tell us what they want,” she said.
“I don’t want to go over and say netball is going to solve all your problems, and we might instead just go to schools and focus on physical exercise.
“Nothing is set in stone.”
But based on her past two ventures, Bear believes the club’s “Bright Tigers Project 2020” will be a hit as the communities understand the game of netball.
“They’ve been realising netball is a women’s game compared to their other sports like hockey, cricket and soccer, where the men’s game is the highest level,” she said.
“They’re embracing the idea that it’s special for them and that they’re the centre of attention.”
Bear said the introduction of the sport to India could one day create further programs, businesses and increase tourism.
“The last two years, I’ve been taking netball rings, balls, bibs and I just found a big cement area to chalk up a netball court with rough dimensions,” she said.
“This year we’re going to meet with one of the community leaders who makes judo uniforms to see if he can make netball dresses appropriate for Indian women to show less skin.
“We’ve also got a welder in our group who is hoping to speak with someone about creating netball rings, while I’ve got someone in one of the villages translating a netball rule book into Hindu.
“Social tourism is also an opportunity where people come to teach netball and the locals can take them on tours.
“We’re also looking at working with Netball Victoria to bring some locals back to undertake coaching and umpiring courses which they can take back to their villages and teach year-round.”
Bear said the party attending with her have shown a lot of enthusiasm, planning numerous drills and activities, but she is worried it may be in vain so early.
“These girls are only at NetSetGO standard because they haven’t grown up playing netball,” she said.
“We just did relay sprints last year and introduced them to throwing the ball and they had huge grins on their faces while doing that.
“Getting them to the standard of playing a game is challenging, but the goal will be to get villages to that standard so they can eventually play games.”
While their trip is self-funded, Bear has been overwhelmed by the support not only from the Macorna community, but surrounding areas.
“I’ve played netball at Macorna for the last 20 years and my kids are involved, so when I put the invite out to come along, the club responded well,” she said.
“Macorna’s big value is being community orientated, so we’re really focused about family and community.
“The Boort community has really got behind the project as well, so I’d like to get them involved over the next couple of years — both the school and netballers.”
The group are currently in search of donations of good-conditioned sneakers and bras to give to the girls and women of India.
“When we did our netball workshops last year, we noticed the majority of women played in sandals which is not exactly safe,” she said.
Bear said any clubs or individuals interested in donating or participating in the project in future years can contact her on 0408 578 211.
