![\"Tessies](\"https:\/\/digbyyoung.co.za\/boggy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Netball_45-300x143.jpg\" "\\"Netball_45\\"")
<\/a>Tessies supporters look on as their new team concedes yet another point.<\/p><\/div>\n
Things were not going as well on the dwarf-netball field though… The Tessies girls barely know the rules and are nowhere near fit, but found themselves up against a team from Greyton with an 18 year history. The \u201cB\u201d team scored an early goal – and never saw the Visitors’ hoop again. The visitors shooters passed the ball through the Tessies hoop fifteen times.<\/p>\n
After a few minutes break, the women from Greyton took on the Tessies \u201cA\u201d team. I think they were the \u201cA\u201d team simply because some of the older women had actually played Netball at school! Perhaps that was why they managed to score two goals, both in the first half. The visitors incessant scoring took it\u2019s toll though – on the hastily constructed goal-hoop! The match was considered truly won at 45 to 2 in the second half, when the Tessies hoop parted company from the pole!<\/p>\n
![\"Tessies](\"https:\/\/digbyyoung.co.za\/boggy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Netball_Team51.jpg\" "\\"Netball_Team51\\"")
<\/a>Tessies Netball team after their first match, against a very experienced team from Greyton.<\/p><\/div>\n
![\"Netball](\"https:\/\/digbyyoung.co.za\/boggy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Netball_Hoop_51.jpg\" "\\"Netball_Hoop_51\\"")
<\/a>Perhaps the broken hoop should become a Floating Trophy!<\/p><\/div>\n
People who live in cities with well-funded sports facilities take so much for granted. Out in the rural areas, simply getting to a venue is a major undertaking, thwarted by lack of funds for transport, complete lack of facilities and lack of knowledge about running an organisation.<\/p>\n
It occurred to me that away from the hoopla about the Olympics, the Soccer World Cup and other headline grabbing sport, most of the world\u2019s potential athletes have to battle this kind of hardship. The thing is that this is about more than sport – I am not a great sports fan, but I\u2019ve seen how a little guidance has given indigent youth a new focus and how their enthusiasm has in turn re-vitalised a community. In the process of creating sports clubs from scratch people will simply have to learn other skills such as basic bookkeeping and event management, which can possibly be applied to creating their own employment opportunities. If nothing else, sport in small towns and villages can do a lot to counter the feeling of hopelessness and abandonment rife in many economically depressed communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unburdened by targets, deadlines and form-filling, I attend a Sports-Day in the bush, which leads to a few thoughts on the real distance between City and Country. Continue reading