From chasing the Northern Lights to making her netball club’s video go viral, Vicki has been pushing the boundaries since turning 50, all thanks to the power of netball.
Vicki, from West Yorkshire, has seen her life transformed thanks to the kindness and support of her local netball club, Todmorden Tornadoes.
After helping run an out-of-school netball club, Vicki was keen to get involved herself. Luckily, one of her colleagues knew of a local Walking Netball group.
Nervous about walking into the unknown and restarting her netball journey, Vicki plucked up the courage to go on a chilly February evening.
“I took a deep breath and walked through the door,” Vicki began to explain. “My heart was pounding; my palms were sweaty and I had a distinct wobble in my legs. I felt like I was walking through some saloon door out in the Wild West!
“As I walked in all eyes turned to look at me and for a brief moment, I thought I’d done the wrong thing and was about to turn heel, but then the staring eyes became beaming smiles and I was welcomed with open arms.”
After a few difficult years at work, Vicki saw her confidence sap away and began to experience high-functioning social anxiety. This in turn has made it difficult for her to get out and about but since starting netball again, Vicki has started to see some positive changes.
“Netball has helped my social anxiety. I feel a lot of anxiety if I have to socialise with my friends and workmates. I’m paranoid at times that I’m being judged and talked about and it makes me very self-conscious. I also don’t like crowded places, but I never feel like that with my netball teammates. They help me feel comfortable and it gave me the confidence to attend a Manchester Thunder game last season.”
In January 2022, Vicki turned 50. To mark the milestone, she decided to push herself, changing how she would live her life by setting a list of 50 things she would like to do – including making her netball club’s social media video go viral.
“Nothing on there is too tricky to achieve – there’s no bungee jumps or skydiving! Just lots of things I’ve never got around to, like watching ET or the Titanic, indulging myself which I never do, doing a charity event, visiting a new city, chasing the Northern Lights, becoming arty, making a stone sculpture, walking a suspension bridge, paintballing and making a video go viral!”
The video created with her club, Todmorden Tornadoes, exemplifies the fun and light-hearted nature of many Walking Netball sessions that take place up and down the county.
READ more and watch Vicki’s viral video at source: https://www.englandnetball.co.uk/how-walking-netball-helped-vicki/
