“I thought it was a joke when I was told about a Netball Club in Paris”

By Andrea Finlay, Sciences Po Paris, France

Netball Paris Training Sessions

In September 2023, I moved to Paris on my own as part of my study abroad year and I was of the stubborn opinion that I would not meet friends like the ones I had back at home. Even less, did I think that I would make enriching friendships through a netball club in the centre of Paris.

Netball as a sport has been typically reserved to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. On top of that, I have only ever experienced netball as a women-only sport. So, the thought of a mixed gender netball club in the 13^th arrondissement was far out of my imagination. On the off chance, I googled “netball in paris” expecting to find no results. However, I was proven wrong. Netball Paris’s social media accounts appeared, and I was immediately sold. A social yet competitive netball club in the city with members from all corners of the world. I signed up and attended my first training session in early September, five days after I moved to France.

Pardon the cliché, Netball Paris gave me a community of incredible people from all over the world who share the same passion for the sport that I do. The club is run by President, Nancy Bentley and consists of over 100 people. The majority of which are Australian and British expats living in Paris and continuing their love for their game in a foreign city. The team trains twice a week, Thursdays 8pm-10pm and Sundays 9am-12pm, coached by Natalie Foster and Bethany Lord.

Warming Up

Not only has netball Paris provided me with friends for life and helped me settle into a foreign city, but it has, most importantly, shown me a different perspective of netball that is a world away from the traditional stereotypes of the sport. Never in a million years did I think that my year abroad would lead me to compete in a mixed-gender netball tournament against 13 other European teams, held in the outskirts of Berlin with 8 individuals who I didn’t know existed less than a year ago. I would never have known that netball Berlin have their own DJs that perform at their training sessions, I wouldn’t have considered that Hamburg had three netball teams (and not a single German citizen on them) and finally, I never contemplated that I would join a competitive and social netball club in the centre of Paris that has made the city feel like a home away from home.