I assume you know, but maybe not, I play netball semi-frequently with a team from Michelle’s work. Every second Tuesday we wander into the Bellahouston Sports Facility on the south-side and run about for an hour with a ball. It’s great fun, and we’re getting reasonably good as a team. Last game was supposed to be a challenge with some guys from her work who bet us they could beat us at netball, and then again at football. We took on the challenge, and thankfully for us, they had to forfeit due to injuries at the last minute. Girls 1. Boys 0.

Instead a few guys came along and we played in mixed teams. It was a laugh. The game was a lot faster, and the balls were a lot higher and faster, and some of the defence work was a little extreme – but it was a lot of fun. We’re repeating the episode again tonight.

I supplement this training with a game at the local school every Friday night where we have a coach, get some training and a game at the end of our 90 minutes. Because it’s a Friday night the players are not consistent every week, in fact it’s been 4-5 weeks since the last time I went myself. But Sunday afternoon I received a call from the organiser who was calling around trying to find bodies to play a friendly against another team Monday night. I agreed to go along with Madeline, and that’s how we found ourselves deep in the East End of Glasgow at 7pm last night – a motley bunch of women, who didn’t even know each others names, set to play against a League team who have been playing together for about 10 years! It was a bit like being led to a slaughter.

We huddled together, introduced ourselves and then meekly followed the other team in their warm-up ritual. They started running laps, we joined in, slowly falling about in exhaustion well before the 5 minute minimum. We then stretched and got organised sorting out our positions, not by what position we play best, but what position we play the least bad. You’d be surprised but there is a difference.

Anyway. Once Eastbank realised our level, it was fun. Their coach played their substitutes to give them a game noting quite early on that we were not close to the level of her A team. But we gave them a run. A bit of practice and a bit of fun. We looked like a bunch of old wives at the end of each quarter. Lying flat on the ground, breathing heavily while the other team jumped about and practiced their goals. It was a laugh. The girls were all nice, and thankfully for us they had their Christmas party on the night before and so were all still fairly hung-over – I would have hated to have had to play with them when they were at the peak of fitness!

Anyway. I’m home now. I can walk this morning which is more than I had hoped for last night when I dragged myself up the stairs at 9.15pm. The only real damage I seemed to do was in my fingers. I have 5 stubs of wood attached to my hands. Swollen and incredibly sore – that would be from them getting in the way of very fast, very hard balls directed not at me but at my counterpart (whose fingers are probably used to high speed balls being pelted at them after 10 years…). Mine are not.

So, today is going to be a quiet day. I can’t manage much without fingers (this typing is extremely painful, and not a little bit slow) not even a cup of coffee. I’ll just sit back and hope that I can separate them before my next game of netball starts at 5pm this afternoon…. we’ve got to beat those boys once and for all!