Walking netball has caught on across the state with many people sinking their teeth into a new brand of netball. Carly Kinkella, the Program Coordinator at Melbourne East Netball Association (MENA), is an advocate for the sport, highlighting the many positive impacts walking netball has had on her association and local community.
“We get a lot of really positive feedback about it, the thing that’s really showing is that it’s a fun program that anyone can play. We’ve got a group on Monday afternoons for over 65s and we have around 14-16 ladies that turn up each week,” she said.
“Obviously they used to play netball years ago and they want to get back into doing something physical. Afterwards they have a coffee and catch up, it’s a really social thing for them and keeps them connected to the community.”
MENA didn’t know what to expect or how many people would get behind the new form of netball when they decided to give it a try, but saw it as an opportunity to make the most of their newly redeveloped facilities.
“We saw some associations doing it overseas and we thought ‘let’s give it a go here’. Our new venue was built in 2019 – we’ve got four new indoor courts and four outdoor courts, and with the indoor courts a lot of people are more comfortable doing walking netball,” Kinkella said.
Walking netball is an inclusive and accessible way to engage in netball, and appeals to all demographics according to Kinkella.
“It’s really important for older people knowing that they can return back to sport, and we’re also finding that a lot of people who’ve had injuries are playing walking netball as a way to make the transition back to sport. They’re having fun and still keeping up their fitness, anyone can play and that’s a really good thing.”
The program has grown at a rate of knots with the association running both social and competitive divisions to cater for the number of people that wanted to get involved.
“We had a lot of people come to our come and try session – people that just wanted social, friendly games with some warm-ups and drills, and then people that wanted to play competitively so we started up a competition,” Kinkella said.
Walking netball caters for people of all ages, and having both a competitive and social option allows participants to foster relationships and engage in physical activity.
“The competitive sides like to have their scores up on the scoreboard, but for the rock up sessions we don’t keep score – we just do a couple of warm-ups, we do some drills together and we play a game. They’re not worried about the score, it’s just real fun with lots of laughter.”
The community benefit is a major driving factor for Kinkella, who emphasised the fun and welcoming environment that walking netball has established for participants at MENA.
“Building the social relationships and making friends is such an important part of growing older, you need relationships to feel part of the community and that’s what walking netball does. Physical activity is really important, they’ve got to keep moving and keep the blood pumping and that’s what walking netball can do,” she said.
Kinkella encourages anyone to give walking netball a go, noting that while it’s “harder than you think”, it’s a great social outlet.
“I love the community and the people that do it, it’s just good fun,” she said.
Learn more about walking netball and how you can get involved
