My Sporting Life – netball ace’s big decision

Hi, my name is Tallulah. I’m 15, almost 16 years old, and I live in a small beach town called Whitianga in New Zealand – I’ve grown up most of my life here. And I love netball. 

I’ve been playing netball since I was about 10 and have really enjoyed it for most of those years. It’s something I’ve been passionate about for a long time.

However, living in a small town where we play the same teams every week and our coaches are volunteers or relatives of one of our teammates didn’t really get me anywhere. 

I felt like there were more opportunities available that weren’t in our small town, so my parents had the idea of sending me to a boarding school in Hamilton.

At first, I didn’t know what to think. The idea of leaving my home and all my friends I’d grown up with was a bit scary. After thinking about it for a really long time I realised that the worst that could happen was that I wouldn’t like it, and I could always come back. 

The Hamilton school has very high sports ratings, and after looking into their netball programme, I could see that they do really well. 

Their netball director even works as an assistant coach with one of the New Zealand teams.

So, I decided I would go and try it out for a year. 

It was a bit of a shock showing up for trials on that first day, very different from anything I had been to before, there were so many people and hardly any that I knew. 

There was also so much more talent. 

I kept thinking to myself: “There is no way I am going to make it into a good team, after seeing everyone play and how good they were,” but I surprised myself by making it into an A-grade team. I was honestly so surprised. 

It was really weird seeing the team list and not knowing any of the other girls in the team. 

Our coaches were two older girls who were in a high team for their year. They were strict on us, which I think was good, but they weren’t really the nicest people. Yeah, you’re surrounded by football all the time, and it’s a girl’s dream come true.

The games were really competitive, and the goal was always to win. This is something I thought I really wanted, but I felt like I didn’t even really know the people I was playing with. 

It just wasn’t fun anymore.

Our season that year went alright, but I was missing my friends and home, so this year I’ve been back in Whitianga, still playing netball. 

It was kind of just the same as when I left, I still love playing, but I think I’ve realised that being in a really disciplined top team isn’t what makes it fun. 

I still definitely like to try and win every game I play, and do really well. But I also like to be able to have fun while doing that.