New Zealand Sports

Last Saturday night I went to my first rugby game. I didn't sit next to anyone who understands the game so I used my limited knowledge of the sport to understand the game. It wasn't an All Blacks game (they aren't in season right now) but it was still a good game. I have learned that a lot of cities have their own rugby teams (Hamilton's team is the Chiefs) and at the end of the cities' seasons they pick the best players to make up the All Blacks team.

This is what they call a scrum
(I hate this word because the first word that pops into my head when I hear scrum is scrotum)

The scrum is a big part of the game, but I can't remember why...

This is my favorite part. When the ball goes out of bounds (I am just making this up, but it sounds pretty good to me) they have to throw the ball back in; but they can't throw it to a teammate, they have to throw it really high in the air. In order to get the ball, they grab one of their players and hold them high in the air so that they can get possession first.

In rugby, you can kick the ball whenever you want; you don't have to wait for someone to score a goal. They played two forty minute halves with a ten minute half time and the clock never stops running so you know the game is going to last an hour and a half and the last five minutes of the game is going to be five minutes and not a half hour. I like that part. I think football could change its rules to match that. Another thing that I like about Rugby is that the WHOLE team is incredibly fit. (The men in New Zealand wear short shorts, they have NO shame, and you can tell who plays rugby because their quads are AMAZING; I have learned that some short shorts are okay, like on rugby players because I really enjoy their tan thighs, which usually aren't hairy, they're very muscly, and you get the point...) In football you have incredibly fit receivers because they do a lot of running, but in order to play defense in football you just have to be incredibly large (notice I didn't say large with muscles, I just said large) and so you don't really have to be fit to be on a football team. (That was a major generalization and Justin will probably attack me for that one)

It's a different game and I think if someone explained things to me as the game went on, I would have enjoyed it a little more. I prefer football but I think that's because I understand the game. It is fun to look for the plays and strategies and to watch the long passes in football. In rugby, I just see really strong men grabbing and touching each other more than they do in wrestling (hard to believe, I know) ending up in a doggy pile in which the ball disappears until you see it suddenly pooped out and shot across the field. It's more of a male bonding game than football...

Monday night I got to go see a couple of the PE staff play Netball. I have asked people before how to play netball and I have had the same responses, "It's like basketball without a backboard and without dribbling." Oh right. No problem. Let's just say...FALSE

I showed up and Emma (a staff member who's injured and can't play) gave me a thirty second run down of the game. It went something like this, "Each player has their own position and that position allows them in certain areas of the court. For instance some people can play in the first third and the second third, some people can play in every third except the goalie circle, some people can only play in one third. You can't dribble, you have to pass. Every time a shot is made, the ball starts in the middle again." Easy peasy, right? Again...FALSE

After this little rundown I thought "No problem. I will just go sit down on this bench and watch it all go." Thirty seconds into the game and I have heard three whistle blows. Within the first five minutes I swear I heard twenty to thirty whistle blows. I could not figure out what was going on. They don't stop the clock with every whistle blow (thank goodness) and I don't understand the arm motions so I couldn't figure it out. After the first quarter, I noticed Keryn, another staff member, had shown up to watch the game. "Keryn. You gotta help me. I don't understand what's going on. Why do they blow the whistle so much?"

Turns out Netball is a non-contact sport and every time contact is made they either lose possession of the ball, get a free pass, or get a free shot. That was one minor detail Emma forgot to share in her thirty second run down of the game.

When I got home, I explained my confusions to Robyn, my host mum, and she said "Yeah, netball is a sissy sport. They aren't allowed to touch each other." Again, an interesting game. I think netball to basketball would be an awesome transfer of skills because you have extremely accurate shooting (you don't use a backboard), your passing skills are really good (because you can't dribble) and when you go to play basketball you won't travel because you can't run with the ball in netball either. But basketball to netball would be hard because you would forget that you can't dribble and probably make lots of contact and miss every shot because in basketball you're taught to use the backboard.

On Tuesday I get to teach my Year 9 class touch skills. Touch is like rugby but you don't tackle, you touch. And some of the rules on different. So I get to do lots of studying up tomorrow so that I can figure out how to play. Let's just say that I will be relying 100% on my students for demonstrations...