History
Like korfball, netball grew out of an early version of women's basketball, which in turn grew out of a misunderstanding.
Not long after James Naismith invented basketball in 1891, Clara Baer of H. Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans wrote to Naismith asking for a copy of the rules. The reply included a diagram of the court across which Naismith had drawn two lines to indicate which areas players could cover. Baer misinterpreted them as restraining lines designating areas in which those players had to remain throughout the game.
Based on that misinterpretation and her own ideas of what was athletically suitable for women, Baer created a new version of basketball. Under the rules, as published in 1895, the floor was divided into three zones and each player had to remain in a certain zone; stealing the ball, "overguarding" an opponent, and moving with the ball were forbidden; and the player with the ball was allowed to hold it for only three seconds.
This sport was brought to England in 1895 by a Dr. Toles (or Toll, in some reports), who was working with student teachers at Martina Bergman Osterberg's Physical Training College in Dartford.
In 1900, England's Physical Education Association published rules for the sport, which had become known as netball. The All England Women's Netball Association (now the All England Netball Association) was founded in 1926.
Netball arrived in New Zealand in 1906 and seven years later English teachers introduced the sport to Australia, where it became known, ironically, as women's basketball. The All Australian Women's Basket Ball Association (AAWBB) was founded in 1927.
When an Australian team toured England in 1957, the two countries talked about standardizing rules. As a result, the International Federation of Women's Basketball and Netball, now the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA), was founded by representatives of Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies in 1960. The world championship tournament has been held every four years since 1963.
Netball was on the program of the World Games from 1985 through 1993 and it became a Commonwealth Games sport in 1998.
There are now 39 countries affiliated with the IFNA, which estimates that netball has about 7 million players worldwide.
The United States of America Netball Association (USANA) was founded in 1992. There are USANA affiliates in 12 states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia,
