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Netball. You were no doubt coerced into playing it in school at least once.
Whether you excelled at the sport, or couldn’t for the life of you work out how to keep at least one foot on the ground at all times (me), netball continues to be a gleaming jewel in ‘Straya‘s sporting crown, and for damn good reason.
It’s the most popular women’s sport in the country, with an estimated one million active players at any one time.
couldn’t be a more spot on representation of the sport imo
It’s strategic, inclusive and gets your heart rate going like nothing else. Us Aussies are damn good at it too – out of the 14 Netball World Cup events staged since 1963, we’ve taken the gold 11 times and silver the other 3.
That’s why people are getting rightly revved up about the Fast5 Netball World Series.
If the name doesn’t give it away, it’s like the regular game, only faster. Similarly to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens, Fast5 is a condensed, on-crack version of your classic netball game.
We’ve got a while before the World Series cranks up again (it’s back at Melbourne’s Hisense Arena over two days in October 2017) – but there’s no time like the present to get up to speed on the ins and outs of the game.
Which countries play?
Teams from six nations are involved: Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Malawi and Jamaica.
How does the series work, exactly? How do you win?
Over the two days, each team plays five games which include four six-minute quarters (don’t worry, took me a while to get my head around those numbers too).It’s a knock-out style competition, with the two top teams making the grand final, the 3rd and 4th placed verse each other, and the 5th and 6th battle it out.
How many people per side?
In regular netball, you’ve got 7 a side; in Fast5, you’ve got… 5. Wing attack and wing defence are eradicated, so we’re left with two shooters, two defenders and a centre per side.
How do you score? Is it like standard netball?
If the shooter gets in the hoop within their attacking third, they cop three points. Getting a shot in within the larger surrounding circle will gift you two points, and a shot from the goal circle will get you one point.
How’d Australia go in the last World series?
While we made the top two, New Zealand served us up a pretty brutal thrashing. That’s fine – it just means we’ll be coming back this year with even more ferocity.
complete with str8 talking commentators galore
If you’re a Melburnian, you’re in luck; we’ve scored the rights to host the game till 2018.
So next time someone asks you what on God’s green earth the Fast5 is… simply whip out your new-found facts and you’ll shine brighter than an orange quarter.
Photo: Kath and Kim.
