Last Wednesday I played netball with Sir Chris Hoy. Yes, that Chris Hoy, the track cyclist, the eleven-time world champion, six-time Olympic champion and a winner of a total of seven Olympic Games medals, six gold and one silver. That’s three gold medals in Bejing and two gold medals in London 2012.
Wow.
Now I am not a sporting legend. I know, I know, but you can’t do everything. So what on earth was I doing playing netball with Chris Hoy? And what, for the uninitiated, is netball anyway?
Netball, for those who don’t know, is rather like basketball, but perhaps even more fun. It’s mainly, but not exclusively, played by girls and, although it’s hugely popular in schools, suffers a bit from not being an Olympic sport. And, about four years ago, Back To Netball was set up to offer netball sessions to everyone, sporty and non-sporty alike.
Jessica, my incredibly sporty daughter, bullied me into going on the grounds that a) It was in the sports centre up the road b) I didn’t have to sign up to X number of sessions and b)I’d enjoy it when I got there. And, of course, she was right. If you put Back To Netball into Google you’ll probably find a session near you.
Anyway, the Back To Netball bods applied for Lottery funding. Sheonah, the coach, asked us all a favour last Monday night. Could we possibly come along on Wednesday morning as the BBC were filming the session and she wanted enough bodies to make it look good. OK. Jessica took the day off work and I forsook Literature for a while.
And we went and we played and the producer asked us to smile and talk and keep on talking – and then Sir Chris Hoy walked into the room with two gold medals from London 2012 round his neck. Shine a light. He’s gorjus!!! We’d won the lottery funding and it’ll be broadcast on the BBC lottery programme on the 8th of December. He stayed for two hours (gasp) and played netball (double gasp). Jessica got to partner him and I was his opposite number. Sir Chris posted this picture on his Twitter feed, asking for captions. As you see, he was getting to grips with the game and I.... Well, I was just getting to grips!
How amazing...and what fun! Now something is explained: when I rang you earlier foday and you said you were off out to play netball this evening, I in my innocence thought you were just participating in some healthy, sporty keep-fit regime. But now I wonder what more there is to it...
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