The contemporary development of netball in Singapore

• Main Author: Divyashree Balakrishnan
• Other Authors: Nicholas Giles Aplin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66533
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In Singapore, netball was presented with the status of “merit” sport only in 2002. However, it was as early as 1962, when the body organizing the sport was officially recognized as an association. Despite its long maturation process and fruitful development as a major female team sport, few academic works have critically examined the place of netball in the development of sport in Singapore in the contemporary field. Leadership in organization has been credited as a critical component for the commendable sports program we observe today, yet the women athletes and coaches inevitably make a significant contribution to the growing success of the sport. This study examined the contemporary development of netball in Singapore, focusing on the present-time progress and successes, without disregarding the residual factors over the 40-year history. The sporting ideals and aspirations of coaches and athletes, along with their philosophy, have guided netball to reach prominent heights. Highly reliant on the analysis of existing research, the researcher identified 4 individuals representing Netball Singapore, 2 female coaches and 2 female athletes through criterion sampling to gain newly generated information. Although there are forms of scarcity in research, these women will serve as key representations in the netball fraternity as diverse as possible. This study suggests that the successes and growth achieved by Netball Singapore as an association has been met through the contribution of athletes and coaches likewise, through sporting ideals and aspirations, to benefit the sport in one way or another. Keywords: Netball, Development, Coaches, Athletes, Aspirations