In trying to come up with an idea around what to write my blog on this month, I went trawling through my OneDrive and found a folder from 2016, when I was playing in the Vitality Netball Superleague in the UK for the Yorkshire Jets. One piece I had saved was a ‘Meet the player’ article and the final question and subsequent answer made me laugh.
Where would you like to be in five years?
“Retired and living on a beach somewhere… I only started my first full-time job last year (wishful thinking)!”
Now if the metadata in the file is to be believed, this article was from around June 2016. Fast forward to present day and that puts me approximately one month past my then planned retirement. I am definitely much closer to a beach than I was then, however, I am certainly not retired yet!
This article then reminded of a bone that I must pick with someone now quite close to West Coast Fever as it has been something that I have been sitting on for a while. I cannot remember the specific details of this story; however, trust me when I say the main details of the story are as follows…
I was watching back what I think was one of my very first games in my first season for West Coast Fever from the broadcast footage (I never do this anymore and stopped that habit almost immediately!) and the commentators started a discussion about my move to WCF. The main thing that I always remember from this chat was a comment made, something to the effect of “…well she’s 28 now so already getting on in her netball career and so she will really need to make her mark pretty quickly.” It makes me laugh to reflect on it now given the journey that I have been on and am still on with WCF, however, I was pretty peeved in the moment, I remember thinking, “I am 28 you cheeky whatsit, it is not like I am drawing down my pension”.
However, there is obviously some sort of perception issue from both within (my own prediction being evidence) and outside of sport that if the first number of your age has a 3 in it, you really ought to have already switched to the osteoporosis milk (yes it is a thing) and think about taking up a low impact activity like swimming (for the record, I hate swimming!).
To provide you with some more ‘evidence’, speaking with a team mate recently, following the announcement that the 2027 Netball World Cup would be in Sydney, I remarked how excited she must be at the prospect of being able to play in a home World Cup. She laughed at me and said absolutely not, she would be 33 by then and well retired, to which I replied well I am 33 now and pretty bloody keen on going to the Commonwealth Games next year, by which point I will be 34 (gasp!). We both exchanged an awkward look and wry smiles…
After a quick count and some trusty Wikipedia stalking there are about a baker’s dozen of athletes 30+ playing in SSN, more than a handful of which I would choose first over and over when putting together a dream team. I am not sure whether around 10% of your overall cohort should be considered good or bad, but I know it is certainly going to increase. However, we are not placing limits on our capacities to compete based on our ages or placing Zimmer frames on the paths in front of us (yet!). I get pretty touchy about the subject of age in sport but I feel strongly that you should only ever accept comments relating to your athleticism that are based around performance indicators and your behaviour on court or in training.
Frank x
Instagram & Twitter: @StcyJyneFrancis
