Netball Australia has announced it will partner with netball fitness organisation NETFIT Netball to deliver live and free online netball workouts and programs to netballers.
The initiative follows the federal government’s announcement that all non-essential indoor meetings of more than 100 people would be banned while the ban on outdoor meetings would stand at 500.
The collaboration will see the netball community get free access to live online work-outs delivered by elite netballers, as well as health, fitness, nutrition and wellbeing sessions until the end of April.
Netball Australia CEO Marne Fechner said netball is excited to partner with NETFIT to bring netball activity to the Australian community in unprecedented circumstances.
“The wellbeing of netballers across Australia is paramount and, after a meeting with all netball’s state and territory member organisations, there was a consensus that measures needed to be put in place to ensure the health and safety of Australian netballers, and the wider community.”
“As we see more netball competitions postpone activity due to COVID-19, it’s important we take a proactive approach to keeping our netball communities around Australia active and engaged with the sport.”
“We have admired the work that Sarah and the NETFIT Netball team has been doing, she is a great role model for our sport and we’re delighted to be partnering with NETFIT to ensure netballers of all ages can access online netball workouts and training sessions to participate from wherever they’re able to.”
NETFIT Netball was founded by former Australian netball star Sarah Wall and provides an online netball program that includes fitness videos, plans and coaching drills designed to encourage and inspire netballers of all ages.
Wall said they wanted to create a solution for the community to remain safe, healthy, active and still feel connected during this time.
“The beauty of these workouts and classes are that you can run through our full range of services throughout the day or pick what suits you best. NETFIT's goal is to create a vibrant and safe fitness, wellbeing and lifestyle activation to netballer’s around the world.”
“We’re thrilled that Netball Australia has supported this vision to ensure that Australia’s number one participation sport for women and girls remains at the forefront of innovation in sport especially during these times that we're currently experiencing.”
Sport Australia’s General Manager Sport Business Andrew Larratt supported the initiative.
“In these unprecedented times, when we are discussing things like social distancing and self-isolation, it’s still incredibly important to find ways to remain active for your physical and mental health,” Larratt said.
“Sport Australia encourages everyone to find at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day, but right now people may be looking for alternative ways to do that. Netball Australia’s partnership with NETFIT is a good innovative example that can engage with active communities in their own homes and I’d encourage other sports to explore ways to help people stay active.”
The free NETFIT activity will be available online from Monday 23 March for six weeks. For more information and to sign up, please go to www.netfitnetball.com.au.
Earlier today, Netball Australia and the Member Organisation CEO’s agreed to defer all community netball, with specific dates to be determined by each state organisation.
