Netball Team Members Keep Players Connected Despite Suspension

In wake of the restrictions on movement due to the coronavirus pandemic, members of Israel Netball have been making a collective effort to stay fit from home, a league official told Haaretz.

Like all other sports leagues, the Israel Netball season ended abruptly on March 15, when all activities were suspended. League organizers responded by putting together a program called Challenge the Coronavirus.

“We wanted our girls to feel they are still in the netball family and still connected to us and to each other, and we wanted them to stay fit,” said national team captain and Kfar Etzion player Nomi Komar, who has been increasing the sport’s presence among girls in Israel for several years. “So, we thought of a challenge we can make for them.”

Komar, a player and coach who grew up around netball thanks to her English-born mother Susie Komar, got together with two national squad teammates, Ra’anana’s Keren Gordon and Jerusalem Mercaz’s Ilanit Lieberman (who also coaches Katamon) to build up a daily fitness training schedule for all the groups, from the juniors to the seniors.

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They sent out a video explaining the exercises and the challenge, which consists of players sending a picture to their group, with all the photos then going into one collage that gets sent back to the judges’ panel. “We vote on the daily winner and post it on Instragram, for which they get points,” Komar explained. She added that there are bonus points for getting the entire group together, adding family members to the training session and doing “a cool video clip.”

The winning team will get a prize once the restrictions are over, and unlike in a normal season, no one knows exactly when that will be, which is why it’s all the more important to keep the girls’ spirits up. “We get so much positive feedback from parents,” added Komar. “It makes the girls happy and motivated.”