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I’m
13 and I’ve been playing netball since I was seven. For me, the best part is
when you’re just about to play a match, you get this feeling that’s so
exciting.

Whenever you win a match, the feeling of happiness just rushes
through you. And maybe you made that one fast manoeuvre to get the goal, or put
your team in the lead. It makes you feel on top of the world.

I
think it’s nice for girls to play sports because we like to be healthy and have
a healthy body and life. When you do sports, you don’t worry so much about what
you eat because you burn it off.

You know you’re burning more than if you were
just sitting in front of the TV!

I
went to netball camp in Sediba Kwele in May. We went for four days and got back
on Mother’s Day. The camp was cool because I was in the eldest group and had
the responsibility of looking after the new netball players, and we got
privileges! After each exhausting netball fixture we felt so tired, but in a
good way . Mainly because we knew there was food coming.

This
year, we got a young coach and she didn’t just teach us how to catch a ball,
but how to enjoy netball and do cool moves just like the professionals.

She
made us feel just like a famous team. She taught us to give code names for
moves so that our opponents don’t know what we’re saying during matches. My
favourite codename is Pop, which is, well, I can’t tell you actually. hee hee

Above
all, the best thing about netball is probably going through the ups and downs
with your team. Whether you win or lose, the team is still there for you. Even
if it’s your fault, or your best friend’s fault, you’re all in it together so
it doesn’t matter who makes mistakes.

I’d
like to try soccer and volleyball also because they’re such active sports. You
don’t have to be on a court to do it – you can be on the beach or at your
house. But what’s nice about netball is it’s smaller than a soccer field so we
don’t have to run as far.