MELANIE WHELAN: Vital play in Central Highlands netball expansion

The fact 10 clubs have signed on for a new D-league competition highlights a real commitment to offer opportunity, to give women a go on court.

Netball has been one of Australia's highest female participation sports for generations but footy netball can be a challenging prospect for the less talented, highly enthusiastic or more social netballers wanting a game.

Seven spots on court, with a couple on the bench, can be limiting in drawing in players across a couple of grades to be part of the club.

Unlike other netball competitions across the region, in varying degrees of competitiveness, footy netball can lack the flexibility to adjust to playing demand. If you are not getting a game, or much of a game, it does make you question why bother sticking with netball - at least on a Saturday.

When the CHNL launches today, it will be with the extra division, simply because there has been a lot of women wanting to play footy netball but struggling to find the opportunity to do so.

This is even with Ballarat Football Netball League senior competition extending to E-grade ranks.

Footy netball has the added advantage of being part of something bigger - not just a club, but a community.

For many smaller country towns, the football club has become the heart of the modern community. This is particularly so across the Central Highlands football and netball league bounds.

The footy club place where most congregate each week to socialise, to play exercise, to look out for each other and, in many clubs, the chance for education and advocacy on a raft of social issues that are central to improving inclusion and generally just being better people.

Not to mention the parochial fun.

Sports opportunity - in particular, the right opportunities - can have bigger health and social impacts than we might realise.

There are plenty of ways women can get involved in the modern footy netball club but it is great to have more chance to be part of the action on the netball court.

CHNL's expansion move comes as the latest update from an ongoing Federation University study has shown fewer girls have returned to club sport than boys in the wake of pandemic-interrupted seasons.

Professor Rochelle Eime acknowledged girls might be turning more to the gym or running for exercise. Teenage years are a pivotal age when participation declines.

Netball continues to evolve to be more inclusive, even in adjusting long-standing strict dress codes such as offering shorts and, in both the Ballarat and Central Highlands netball leagues, the chance for seniors to wear long-sleeves in winter.

The sport is more appealing than ever and if females of all ages are asking to play, it is vital to find the right sports opportunities - even more so in sports' continued pandemic recovery.

For 10 CHNL clubs to start offering D-league netball, and the potential for more clubs to follow, this is a great promotion for females to be part of that something bigger.

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