The 91-year-old Netballer: “The Benefits Ripple Far Beyond The Physical…”

Playing walking netball for the Corsham Peacocks doesn’t just give Joyce Funnell physical exercise; at 91 and living on her own, it brings structure and momentum: familiar and new faces, team meals, theatre trips, travel to tournaments, and a messaging group – “We’ve all been chatting about the Winter Olympics on WhatsApp.” The benefits ripple far beyond the physical, and into mental and cognitive health.

But Funnell understood the power of team sport before some of us were even born. Between 1959 and 1975 she followed her husband’s RAF postings to Germany, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, organising the wives’ netball teams and arranging matches against local schools and other RAF stations. “Because we were away from home it was a sense of community, we looked out for each other,” she says.

Funnell had also joined the RAF herself as a policewoman, but her career was curtailed by the marriage bar. “I enjoyed my time there, but at that point, if you got married, ladies weren’t allowed to stay in the RAF. The rule changed about five years later as they needed recruitment.”

As International Women’s Day on Sunday invites reflection on how far women’s sport has travelled, Funnell’s life traces much of that journey. When she began playing at grammar school in around 1948, girls were not encouraged to be sporty. “Sport was never put to me when I was out and about,” she says.

Her summer schedule now reads less like retirement and more like elite conditioning. “I play netball twice a week and bowls three times a week so that takes up most of my time.” A weekly walk with a friend fits neatly between. The contrasting biomechanics matters too. “Bowls is a slower pace but when you play a game of bowls you walk up and down the rink 21 times and the exercise is that you are bending down to pick your woods up and you’re playing your woods. You are using different muscles to what you would when playing netball.”

On court Funnell wears the goal shooter bib, and, at 5ft 4in, occupies space with intent. “Some of them would say I’m a bit aggressive! I’m enthusiastic, I like to get into the right positions. It keeps all my muscles going and keeps me mobile.”

Funnell is part of a cohort of over-75s doing 150-plus minutes of exercise per week according to a 2024 Sport England Active Lives survey. It showed that activity rates among the over-55s are the highest since records began, and in the 75-and-over age group, levels have increased by 9.4% over eight years.

Sport England says that community sport and physical activity generates £122.9bn in “social value” each year. Its chief executive, Simon Hayes, says: “Our insight shows that older adults experience up to 50% more wellbeing value from being active than the general population.”

‘It’s just as much about friendship, laughter and feeling a sense of belonging as it is about keeping fit’

Funnell’s wellbeing value from sport is evident. She was welcomed immediately into walking netball.

“Mentality-wise I’m mixing with people and they’re a lovely lot of ladies,” she says. “Although I’m older than them they make me welcome and because I live on my own, getting out and about meeting people and having conversations with people, I think it’s very good for my mental state of mind…

CONTINUE READING at source: https://observer.co.uk/news/sport/article/joyce-funnell-the-91-year-old-walking-netballer

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