Yikes, i have tons to update on! This week was awesome! netball is now my favourite program that i have. it makes me feel like i am at home because all we do is show up and practise/play for an hour and a half. i cant really explain the rules of netball to you, because i dont know them myself!! This is how the first meeting went.. We met James (the coordinator for the area) and walked to where the girls usually practise.. we stop at an open area right outside a school..remember, everything is dirt here, no tarmac courts or anything…however, we see no courts in site. James starts talkign to one girl who is selling mangos..we get the jist that she is on the team..there are no other girls in site. James then tells us that the girl is going to go to everyones house and try to find some other people to play. as this is happening, the school gets let out..oh no.. the majority of the students just come walking towards us…while we had been waiting there, children had already started to form a circle around us..the students then add to the circle to make it about 100+ people just standing there starring at us.. the starring part is nothing new, but is hilarious none the less.. its not like they are standing there talking with us.. they stare, giggle, and the odd person will come up and touch our skin.

Finally, we begin to see some girls gathering. but they were just in their skirts and flip flops, so we assumed we would arrange another day to play.. nope..One girl then comes out from behind her house with 2 long tree branches, and rusted, thin, metal rings roped to the top..we find out that these are the nets. Then, the girls kick all the kids outta the area and start digging a hole in the ground.. then they size up the court, and dig a hole at the other end and stick the “poles” in. The sidelines and such are then drawn in the dirt with a stick…and we are ready to go! Chelsey and I were planning on just watching for a while because we werent sure on the rules or how to play..James does not have the best english, and no one else around could really speak it either..so we get pointed at, you on this team, and you on the other….so I guess we are playing then!!! The first 10 min of the scrimmage was spent by me and Chelsey starring at each other, laughing, having no idea what to do…thankfully, the girls would motion as much as they could to us and try to demonstrate some rules. they would also stop the play if we did something wrong, and try to explain how to do it.

the girls turned out to be awesome! We met with them again on thursday and they had their “jerseys” out.. we thought that one team wore the skirts (yes, they play in skirts) and the other team was wearing the shirts.. but apparently that was wrong.. we think offence wore shirts and defence skirts.they helped us with a lot more strategy stuff this time, and i got to play offence.. i scored two..goals? or points? we arent sure what to call them..

as for the rules, all i can say, is that you dont dribble, you cant move when you have the ball, only pass or pivot. there is some weird footing thing when you shoot.. you can take one step, and then shoot.. most girls can go in 2/3 of the area of the court, but the “shooter” and “goaltender” on each team can only go in 1/3 of the court….thats enough for now.. i cant wait to go again next week!!!!