During the ANZ Premiership Community Round, we thank the thousands of volunteers across the country who make netball possible.
We speak to Waiuku Netball Centre President Rachel Browne-Cole about how vital an army of volunteer is to the smooth running of her courts.
Standing on the netball court last Saturday, desperately trying to warm up in the freezing Auckland wind (everyone else in the country, feel free to laugh but it FELT cold), I couldn’t help but notice three things.
One - my goodness this netball dress is getting snug.
Two - I really need to stop being a weekend warrior and warm up for my games properly because I’m already two ACL replacements in and I don’t think my knee surgeon will go for a third.
And three - wow, it must take an absolute army to get this netball centre ready for me to pull on my slightly-too-tight dress, knee braces and my usual touch of delusion and give me 40 minutes of pure joy (mixed with a bit of frustration of course, I swear sometimes these balls have a mind of their own).
Looking around, I see the pads someone has affixed to the posts so we don’t knock ourselves out thanks to an ill-timed baseline drive. I see the rubbish bins that have been lined, the scorers huddled together on sidelines making sure they don’t miss a single goal, the umpires running up and down with their shrill whistles blowing.
Then there’s the centre committee members bustling around, filling in umpiring gaps and chatting to club presidents about tournaments, the ladies upstairs manning the control centre, the coaches and managers providing pep talks and orange slices, and dads dutifully carrying loaded gear bags and heading over to pump up flat balls.
Getting a grassroots community netball centre ready for game day requires an army of volunteers – willing, unpaid and passionate netball fans who do what they do simply for the love of the game, or as Waiuku Netball Centre president Rachel Browne-Cole says, “the team behind the team”.
“It’s a saying our volunteer coordinator Kim loves to say,” says Rachel.
“And she’s right. It’s a pretty incredible thing when you think about how much it takes to make netball happen every weekend.”
Netball Centres operate like little communities within communities – bringing people together through the love of netball. It’s something that Rachel says brings her huge amounts of joy – and it’s made possible by incredible volunteers.
“I just absolutely love it,” she says of the feeling she gets on a Saturday morning watching the courts bustle with players and teams.
“You see all the connections people have made, and you see how happy they are to belong to something, and that they’re part of something.”
Having been involved with netball for 45 years – she began on the very same courts she now presides over as a seven-year-old – Rachel’s passion for the game has never been stronger, despite the time-consuming nature of her voluntary role.
“Oh, it’s very time-consuming – speak to my husband!” she laughs.
“I never saw myself as becoming president. I help… and coach two teams and still play so I get plenty of on court enjoyment still.”
As volunteer-in-chief, Rachel works with the rest of her committee to keep the Centre humming, and she says she owes a great deal to the aforementioned Kim, who even organised a ‘Roaring Twenties’ volunteer appreciation night for the Waiuku Netball Centre volunteers last month – to both say a huge thank you for their contributions, and to mark Netball New Zealand’s Centenary.
“We really wanted to say thank you. We want people to know that we’re a centre for everyone. The time and effort that Kim put into organising the roaring twenties night was amazing. We had such a fantastic night with games, and the highlight was Yvonne Willering, our guest speaker.”
Rachel says her centre enjoys huge community support, with volunteers coming out of the woodwork all the time to offer their services.
“Kim held another day upstairs last year where every single volunteer was welcome to come up and have a cup of tea and refreshments. Kim had a piece of paper there for people to add their name to it if they wanted to volunteer for the Centre, that’s how we got our web design techno person.
“Kim also sent out an email at the beginning of this year to all our members advising of what jobs needed filling and from that lovely email we got a minute secretary.
“We have really tried to share the load with roles at our Centre. The more volunteers the merrier we will be.”
So here’s a challenge: this ANZ Community Round, and the next time you’re down at your local netball Centre, take a look around and really appreciate just how much effort has gone into ensuring that netball games are played, for players of every level – and maybe ask yourself how you can help, too!