I like to be well aware, if not well-versed, in sports that don't have as much a hold here in the states. There are some sports that had their origins here, but have been forgotten. One of them is netball.
The history of netball, a sport made for girls of all ages (though guys do play it too; can't imagine Shaquille O'Neal literally tearing the rim out in a netball getup) began a few months after James Naismith introduced basketball to the denizens of the Springfield YMCA in 1891.
In 1893, a lady by the name of Madame Martina Bergman-Österberg watched a game of basketball being played in the States, and returned to the Hampstead Physical Training College in London introducing a version of basketball that would be the forerunner for netball as it is.
And through revisions and more revisions, netball would then begin its proliferation throughout the Commonwealth, including Australia.
Fast forward to 2009, where I watch the ANZ Championship Grand Final between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and my newly adopted netball club of choice, the Melbourne Vixens.
You know, I associated Melbourne with sports. Ther...
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Fixin for a Vixen: On Netball and the Seeds of My Curiosity
On August - 15 - 2009