Review: MJ Movers Netball Club

Put all stereotypes and prejudices away. This is Cardiff’s MJ Movers Netball Club and they mean business.

What? Netball

Where? National Indoor Athletics Centre (NIAC) Cyncoed Campus, Cyncoed Road, Cardiff, CF23 6XD

When? Sundays, 5-6:30pm / 6:30-8pm + Weekly Matches

How? Website, Facebook, Twitter

How much? £18 a month. First couple of sessions FREE!

MJ Movers Netball Club with Julia Longville

The session we attended could not have been a better advert for the club – or the sport. Former Wales international coach Julia Longville was the guest, running the session for 40 girls. The focus was tactical and the dedication and commitment (but most of all joy) on everyone’s face was clear to see.

The club itself has been running for six years and is currently headed by Louisa Daniell who has coached there for four years. With her two trusted assistants they use the facilities at UWIC (one and a half courts, plenty of “MJ Movers” balls and even more netball bibs) to full effect. Julia’s guest appearance is not strange though, they like to bring in guest coaches as often as they can, including a recent appearance from England Head Coach Anna Mayes.

Louisa herself clearly lives and breathes netball. She has played at school, university and county level and frequently attends training courses (recently Wales U15 and British Colleges) and her enthusiasm rubs off on the all the members. “They elected me as a coach and have always supported me, letting me go on courses which will obviously benefit the club. I’m very lucky,” she says as she keenly observes Julia’s session.

Louisa giving some tips

The club is lucky to have established a partnership with UWIC, which is where they train every Sunday, and a recent sponsorship deal with Trident Marketing means new plush kits and stash which Louisa sees as a really good attraction to new members.

And that seems to be the main focus at MJ Movers. The club is always on the lookout for new recruits and a recent social media drive to get their name out is already showing its success. Anyone who wants to try out at MJ Movers gets the first couple of sessions free and it seems the club is really capturing that pro-active effect of 2012.

With 40 competitive and driven girls under one roof you might expect a rather overbearing atmosphere….but that is really not the case. Talk to anyone at the club and they praise the way they were immediately welcomed in. In fact, there were two or three first-timers at our visit, but trying to single them out within the group was no mean feat. Remove all stereotypes you may have, there’s no bitchy atmosphere here.

There are 4 teams at MJ Movers (A, B, C, D) with a range of abilities but the mix is very positive. Every Sunday there are two training sessions but they alternate who trains when, to ensure everyone gets to play a different team every week. There is course your good share of socials and events and the club likes to get away on tour, so it’s also a very sociable club.

So, what about netball? “It’s more popular than people realise,” says Louisa who is a clear advocate. “It’s a fab sport.” Members told us what they like about it and the same words kept springing up: teamwork, fitness and physicality. There’s no Messi or Ronaldo in netball, no one can carry the team. You need seven good players to win a game as everyone fulfils their specific role on the court. Netball can often be blasted for being “boring” with players not being allowed to move with the ball but the responsibility to work with one another means it’s actually quite the opposite. “The beauty is that rule,” says Louisa.

Of course netball didn’t feature at the Olympics but with the super league being televised, the sport is slowly professionalising in people’s eyes and moving away from only being associated with school sport. Welsh netball is pushing up in the world rankings and there are endless waiting lists for teams to get into national leagues.

So…when you think of netball don’t immediately be drawn back to Year 11 PE but look firmly at what you can do today. Netball is a dynamic, physical sport and there seems no place better to enjoy it in Cardiff than MJ Movers if you want to combine that sporting, competitive edge with an enjoyable and friendly atmosphere.

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