Netball and basketball are two sports that have a huge amount in common, and whilst they have completely different rulesets, there are also a lot of skills that translate from the basketball court to the netball court and vice versa.
However, the biggest single rule that makes netball events faster, more tactical and team-focused is actually the result of a misprint that was misinterpreted by the woman who invented the sport in the ultimate case of sports serendipity.
The story of netball begins with James Naismith, a Canadian physical education teacher who invented the game of basketball largely by accident in 1891.
Tasked with creating an athletic distraction for the winter, Mr Naismith wanted to create a game that was safer, reduced physical contact and involved passing and shooting a ball into a box, but when his assistant brought peach baskets, the game’s signature hoops began to take shape.
The game quickly drew interest from other schools and colleges with Senda Berenson at Smith College in Springfield, Massachusetts creating an adaptation of the game which divided the court into thirds, much like netball, established the three-second rule and set limits on dribbling.
Otherwise, it closely resembled nine-on-nine basketball from that era, with guarding, limited dribbling and shooting allowed anywhere as long as you stayed in your zone.
The biggest change came when Clara Baer of Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans asked for a copy of Mr Naismith’s rules.
When looking at diagrams Mr Naismith had provided, the misprinted drawing gave her the impression that rather than being recommendations for tactics and patrol movements, they were restrictive zones players could not leave.
She designed her adaptation of Basket Ball with that in mind, banning dribbling, guarding and establishing clear offensive and defensive rules, creating the template for what would become netball, but at the time known as basquette.