by Lisa Gibbs
Janet waited a minute for the girls to find themselves a partner. Prani chose to work with Maddy as usual.
‘Okay, let’s go slowly at first. One person passing and the other catching.’
Janet proceeded to call out the numbers one at a time, slowly and in order at first and then faster and mixing up the order to test the girls’ concentration.
Prani watched the ball intently as Maddy sent different passes her way.
‘Three … Five … One … Two, five, four, one!’ called Janet.
Maddy tried hard to remember which numbers went with which passes, and to keep up with Janet’s calls. But Prani didn’t bother trying to keep track. It wasn’t her turn to pass by the numbers and she preferred to react to the ball as it came. She laughed as she leapt and dove to catch Maddy’s passes and shot them back to her quickly. It wasn’t long before balls were flying all over the place, out of control, as the girls got mixed up and sent wild passes to their partners.
‘Maybe that was too fast!’ said Janet, laughing. ‘Swap around so that your partner can have a go at the numbered passes and we’ll take it slower this time.’
As Prani grabbed the ball to start the drill, she realised she didn’t remember which numbers went with which passes. All she knew was that ‘five’ was a chest pass. Luckily Janet started with that.
‘Five.’
Prani shot a chest pass to Maddy, who caught it and sent it back.
‘One.’
Prani hesitated and then saw Maddy raise her eyebrow and point her forefinger down to the left. Prani quickly tossed Maddy a low pass to the left.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the others do the same. I got it right!
‘Four.’
Again, Prani saw Maddy point. This time it was up and to the right, so Prani aimed for Maddy’s right shoulder with her pass. By now, she was giggling. We have our own secret signs! All throughout the rest of the drill, Prani, with Maddy’s help, got each of the passes correct.
‘Well done! You’ve mastered that,’ said Janet. ‘This time team up with another pair. One pair will continue passing to each other and the other pair will defend and try to intercept the ball. Keep mixing up the passes to your partner and hopefully you will be able to stop the other pair from getting it.’
Prani and Maddy teamed up against Sienna and Kasey. Prani knew they were fierce defenders and would be hard to beat. She held the ball ready, focusing on Maddy. Which pass should I start with? High or low? Left or right? Or chest pass in the middle?
Straining to see past Sienna’s waving arms and Kasey, who was bouncing up and down on her toes, Prani noticed Maddy’s finger point down to the ground on her left.
Aha!
Prani sent her a low pass to the left and Maddy snatched it up before Kasey got there. This time, Prani looked up to the right and Maddy tossed her a high ball without hesitating.
Again they got it through the tight defence, and for the first time that morning, Prani felt a little better about her netball skills.
The girls walked back into the stadium with a bounce in their step. They were ready, now, for the next game, which was against a team in green and white – locals from Harrington. Prani was waiting with Maddy to see what positions Janet would give them. Her heart sank when she remembered that she had to sit on the bench again, for the first half of the game.
I just want to go on and have fun …
Prani sat there gloomily and tried to watch for the set plays that Janet insisted the Gems use. Harrington was a really strong team and the pressure was causing a lot of the Marrang players to drop their passes and miss their goals. Even with the set plays, it was difficult to get the ball past them, and at half-time Harrington was winning by eight goals. Prani was itching to get on court.
‘Prani, do you remember the set plays?’ asked Janet.
‘Yes,’ said Prani, her big eyes looking up at Janet.
‘Okay. Into Goal Shooter, please,’ said Janet.
Prani took the Goal Shooter bibs in delight. She’d had enough of sitting on the bench. She couldn’t wait to get out on court, even if she did have to do the set plays.
For the first centre pass, Prani watched helplessly as the Harrington team took the ball straight down court and scored a quick goal. The Marrang defenders, Sienna and Lily, couldn’t stop the hard passes getting through. Maddy took the ball and stood ready in the centre circle. Prani smiled as she saw Maddy’s right foot pointing towards Maia in Wing Attack. Prani recognised the secret sign and knew where she needed to go!
Unfortunately, her defender was sticking close and as Maia received the centre pass, Prani just couldn’t get to where she was supposed to be for the set play. In frustration, she pushed through her opponent, knocking her off her feet.
Brrrp!
‘Contact. Penalty pass,’ said the umpire.
‘I’m sorry, are you okay?’ Prani asked the Harrington Goal Keeper. Her face reddened when she saw that the girl had grazed her knee. I’ve never knocked anyone over before. I have to be more careful!
‘I’m all right,’ said the Goal Keeper, and she took the ball and threw it down the court to her teammate in Wing Defence.
The Harrington team quickly converted the free pass into a goal.
The next passage of play from the Harrington centre pass was hotly contested and by the time it was Marrang’s centre pass, Prani had forgotten about the set plays. Fortunately, Maddy raised her eyebrows at her as she walked back to the centre circle with the ball. Prani recognised their secret sign and looked to see which way Maddy’s foot was pointing. The pass was going to Isabella in Goal Attack.
That means I have to take a pass from the side of the goal circle where the Goal Attack stands at the transverse line.
Isabella received the centre pass and Maddy ran down the court to take a catch from Isabella, who was throwing the ball back to her. Prani turned, ready for the ball, but her opponent immediately moved between her and Maddy. Prani went to move to the top of the circle so that she could dodge her defender but stopped when she remembered that Janet wanted her to stick with the set play. She stayed where she was and started to lunge forward, towards Maddy, but then pulled back because she didn’t want to knock her opponent over again.
No! What am I supposed to do?
‘Jump, Prani!’ called Maddy. In desperation, Maddy lobbed a high pass to Prani.
But Prani was frozen. She found that she couldn’t respond naturally to the game when she had to think about what she could and couldn’t do. Her feet didn’t even leave the ground as she put her arm up for the ball, and the Harrington Goal Keeper easily tapped it away to the Goal Defence. Prani was left to watch forlornly as Harrington sent the ball down court and scored another goal.
Why do we have to do these set plays? It doesn’t make sense to always have to use them. They just make playing netball harder and not as much fun.
When Prani came off at the end of the game, she wasn’t even puffed. She had barely moved at all and even though she had been playing Goal Shooter, she hadn’t managed to score a single goal. She seemed to have lost her ability to go with the flow of the game.
‘Good, Prani, nice work,’ said Janet.
Prani didn’t look up. Her shoulders were slumped as she walked over to the bench.
But it wasn’t good, and it wasn’t fun.
Prani was worried the other girls would be frustrated with her for not getting any goals. But nobody was happy with how they played against Harrington. Because they’d drawn the first game and lost the second, whether or not they could make the final now rode on the outcome of the third game. Prani was relieved when they all agreed not to talk about it and instead went to grab food from the Lion’s Club barbecue, to cheer themselves up.
One by one they lined up to get hamburgers with the lot, until it was Eve’s turn.
‘Corn on the cob for me, thanks,’ she said.
‘Eve’s vegetarian,’ Kasey explained to the rest of the Gems.
Then she turned to the man who was serving them. ‘I’ll have corn too, please.’
‘Are you vegetarian as well?’ asked Maddy.
‘No, I just love corn,’ said Kasey, grinning.
Once everyone had their burger or their cob of corn, the girls sat on the ground to munch on their lunch. They leant back against the wall of the brick stadium, grateful for the shade. It was starting to get really hot outside.
Once they’d finished eating, Isabella piped up. ‘So what are we going to do while we’re waiting for the last game of the day?’
‘Shop, of course!’ said Sienna, as they all got up. She led the way towards the merchandise stand, weaving in and out of groups of netballers.
Luckily there was no queue, so the Gems were free to look at all the sports clothes, which lay in neat piles along three tables. Sienna spied a bright yellow cap with the Diamonds logo on it.
‘I like these,’ she said. She deliberately turned the cap backwards as she put it on her head, then faced the others. ‘What do you think?’
‘Great – if you want to look like a rapper!’ said Lily.
‘Ooh, cute socks,’ said Kasey, checking out one of the tables. ‘They even have a tiny netball on them!’
Prani pointed to the T-shirts displayed in rows of blue, white, and red. Each had a slogan printed on the chest area that read ‘Live it. Love it. Play it.’ Underneath the words was an image of a small netball.
‘Wow, I love these shirts,’ said Prani. ‘Have a look.’
‘Wouldn’t it be great if we all got one?’ said Maddy. ‘We could wear them to training every week!’
Prani nodded and began to smile. She had an idea.
I know I let everyone down, by being late on Friday afternoon and forgetting the set plays. Maybe this will show how much it means to me to be one of the Gems!
‘Mum told me that I could suggest a present to do with netball for my birthday. What if I didn’t get a big present for myself, but a little present for each of us?’ asked Prani. ‘Maybe my present can be T-shirts for the team! Those blue ones are even the same royal blue as our Marrang uniforms!’ She looked eagerly at her friends. ‘What do you think?’
‘Yay!’ called the girls. ‘Team shirts!’
All the Gems were definitely on board with that idea!
Prani raced off with Maddy to find her mum to ask what she thought. While they waited, the rest of the team busily searched for the correct-sized blue T-shirts.
But after what seemed like ages of searching, Maddy and Prani still couldn’t find Prani’s mum. She wasn’t outside the stadium – they searched everywhere there. And she wasn’t inside the stadium, either. She wasn’t anywhere they could see.
Maddy and Prani ended up standing out side the stadium entrance, taking one last look around. Their eyes tracked over the people wandering past them.
What if I can’t find mum by the time we have to meet Janet for the warm-up drills before the third game? It can’t be long, now. We’ve been at lunch for a while already. Oh no, I’m going to have to tell the team that my plan isn’t happening after all. They’re going to be so disappointed …
Prani chewed her bottom lip and looked at Maddy with a worried expression.
‘Mads,’ she said, ‘what am I going to do? I thought if I got the whole team the shirts they’d forgive me for being late, and for forgetting the set plays. Now they’re going to be even more upset at me, for breaking my promise.’
But Maddy wasn’t listening. She shouted out and pointed at something behind Prani. ‘Found her!’
Prani felt a rush of relief. She turned around, ready to launch into an explanation about making her birthday present a present for the team, but her mum was not alone. She was being followed by the rest of the team.
She stopped in front of her daughter. ‘I heard you were searching for me.’
‘Yes! We’ve been looking for you for ages! You see, I wondered if, instead of picking a birthday present for myself, we could get presents for the whole team and –’
Her mum interrupted. ‘Yes, I heard that you wanted me to buy the whole team shirts.’
Prani frowned. ‘It’s not like that …’
This isn’t going the way I hoped at all!
Before Prani had a chance to try and fix things, Maddy grabbed her arm and shook it.
‘Prani, look!’
Prani’s eyes widened in shock. One by one the girls stepped around Prani’s mum.
‘Whoa! You’re all wearing the T-shirts!’
Lily handed a blue T-shirt to both Maddy and Prani.
‘I found the girls holding a lot of T-shirts,’ said Prani’s mum. ‘They explained your plan and I thought it was a lovely idea. I’m so proud that you wanted to share your birthday present with your friends. Also, they were giving me hopeful puppy eyes.’ She shrugged and smiled. ‘So how could I resist?
Prani smiled, feeling as if she had finally done something right. ‘Thanks, Mum, you’re the best!’ she said, as she pulled on her new T-shirt and did a twirl.
Thrilled with their new tops, the girls ran into the bathroom inside the stadium. They used the mirrors to see how they looked.
‘Totes gorgeous!’ declared Sienna.
The girls were all pleased. The tops were just the right length to allow a peek of skirt to show at the bottom. They were perfect as training tops over their uniform. They left them on as they raced back to the spot where they were meeting Janet, so that they’d be there in time for their drills. The sun was beating down now, but the courts inside were being used for games. The only place to do warm-up drills was outside.
The girls had lathered on sunscreen, and Sienna applied stripes of blue, pink and white zinc to their faces.
‘A bit of war paint is just what we need!’ she declared. ‘And some war cries!’
Maddy and Prani grinned at each other’s painted faces and joined the others whooping and yelling each time they threw the ball.
This is fun! I bet it would psyche out the other team.
‘Okay, girls!’ called Janet. ‘Now, I have a new drill that will help in two ways. It will help you to practise finding the right person to pass the ball to, in all the busyness of a game. It will also help you to play as a team and be aware of what your teammates are doing.’
She paused to let them absorb her words. ‘To start off, I want you all running in a wide circle.’
The girls started jogging in a wide loop and then, when they had their circle set, gradually went faster and faster, completely in step with each other.
‘Fabulous!’ said Janet. ‘You may need to slow down now because I’m going to add the ball in. Keep moving as you catch and throw, but no stepping!’
Janet threw the ball to Maddy, who immediately flicked it to Isabella without breaking stride. But Isabella hesitated so she could get her footing, and Maia, who was behind her, almost ran into her.
‘Whoa!’
She pulled up just in time and the rest of the girls banked up behind her. Isabella threw the ball to Kasey and moved forward again. After a few dropped balls and a little bit of stumbling, the Gems all managed to achieve a steady pace of slow jogging while throwing the ball back and forth across the circle.
Janet stopped them for a moment. ‘Okay, now you can only throw to one other person. Prani to Lily, Lily to Maddy, Maddy to Maia, Maia to Eve, Eve to Isabella, Isabella to Sienna, Sienna to Kasey and Kasey to Prani.’
Prani grinned. It will be easy to spot Lily with her blonde curls.
Slowly they began to circle around again, this time throwing the ball only to the person they had been allocated. But it was much harder than they expected. They had to jog in time with the others, catch the ball as it flew across the circle, find who to throw to in the blur of passing girls, and then throw it – all without stepping!
Each of the Gems was completely absorbed in the drill, and Prani found herself smiling with the pleasure of the rhythmic motion – step, step, step, step, step, catch, ste
p, throw, step, step, step …
‘That was a fantastic effort,’ said Janet, gathering in the breathless girls. ‘Let’s leave it there. I don’t want you too hot and exhausted before the game. That drill helps you to focus on what you’re doing and who you’re throwing to. It’s a perfect warm-up for using set plays in the game.’
Set plays? The smile immediately dropped from Prani’s face. Oh no. Not again.
They walked into the stadium and found court three. The Marrang Gems were playing against Paynetown for the last game of the day.
‘Lil and I saw them play earlier,’ said Sienna. ‘We can definitely beat them.’
Prani looked at the opposition players in purple and yellow dresses. They were a little shorter than the Marrang players, but seemed confident. They high-fived their coach as they ran onto the court.
Prani accepted the Wing Defence bib from Janet but for the first time did not feel the thrill of excitement before taking the court.
As Prani passed Maddy to stand next to the Paynetown Goal Attack, Maddy patted her on the back. Maddy was playing Goal Defence and Eve had dropped back to the goal circle as Goal Keeper. Prani leant forward next to the Paynetown Wing Attack, who bounced and jumped on the spot, ready for the first whistle. When Prani saw that Kasey in Centre had her right foot forward and that it was pointing to Isabella in Wing Attack, she stood up straight, frowning, with her hands on her hips.
No point in going out for the centre pass. That will go to Isabella.
Sure enough, Kasey’s pass went to Isabella, who sent it down to Lily in Goal Shooter. Lily promptly passed it to Maia as Goal Attack. Unfortunately, Maia’s shot at goal was off, and the ball went up and over the goal ring and out of court. The Paynetown Goal Keeper took no time retrieving the ball and sending it back down the court to the Wing Defence. The Wing Defence looked to pass to the Wing Attack, but Prani had her pinned near the sideline. The Wing Defence passed it to the Centre instead, out of reach of Kasey’s outstretched arm. The Paynetown Centre then threw to the Goal Shooter. Under pressure from Eve, the Goal Shooter couldn’t catch the ball and it dribbled out of court.