REME Mixed Netball Team

Scribe: Cpl Chez Cherryholme, 6 Bn REME

On Tuesday the 18th October 2022, the Corps entered a team in the Army Inter Corps Mixed Netball event held at Aldershot Garrison Sport Centre. “Mixed Netball” you might be thinking, yes this is not a misprint, Netball is now being played by men across the Army and wider sporting community all around the world.

I got into Netball during a recent posting to Brunei where I was attached to 2RGR, my Wife started playing for the local expat team “Belait Flyers” coached by a female AGC SSgt also posted to Brunei. As she started taking along her Husband (an exSoldier himself) I was begrudgingly dragged along to even up the teams. I had the same mindset that Netball was a female sport, but after my first session I was hooked. it is physically and mentally a challenging game, having to learn rules and roles of the different positions was the first obstacle but after a few sessions of game play this starts to come naturally.

When my posting was sadly coming to an end in Brunei I noticed in the Craftsman magazine a picture for trials for the “Army Men’s Netball Team” when I emailed WO2 Armitage to express my interest, he told me about the REME Mixed Team and invited me to the next Corps training session. The session was delivered by Capt Jenny Thomas REME and from this, the Corps squad which consisted of seven female and four male players was selected to play in the Inter Corps competition.

Although having never played together as a mixed team, and with only one training session together, we started the tournament in blistering fashion with two hard fought wins against the AAC and Royal Signals; playing some brilliant Netball in both attack and defence. The lunch break seemed to have a negative affect on the team as on our return to the court we suffered three narrow defeats in a row to the RLC, AMS and Royal Artillery. This meant we did not progress from our group, but spirits remained high as with more time on the court together I am sure we will be contenders for next year’s title.

I strongly encourage anyone who has never tried Netball to give it a go; it is such a fun sport, and is physically demanding. It is one of a few sports that allow mixed genders to play together, which makes it even better. I subsequential attended the Army men’s team trials and was fortunate enough to make the squad, we train and have a competitive match two days a month at Aldershot, with the Army Coach Lt Col L Ellis REME.

The Corps team are always looking for new talent and they encourage any new male or female players to attend the training sessions that are held at Lyneham normally once a month, the Admin Instruction for this can normally be found on the REME Defence Connect page or by reaching out to WO2 Glen Armitage on Glen.Armitage627@mod.gov.uk

Don’t be scared by the stigma attached to Netball, give it a try I am glad I did as represent the Army at any sport, is a great achievement. The squad for the mixed tournament was as follows.

Lt Col Ellis, Capt Thomas, SSgt Langdon, Sgt Squire, Cpl Cherryholme, LCpl Brown, Cfn Brooker, Cfn Wright, Cfn Hempell, Cfn Johnson, Cfn Hamuza.

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