It’s fabulous, it’s fast - and it’s coming in just 25 days!
It’s FAST5 netball time again and we could not be more excited. This year the FAST5 Netball World Series is hotter, more intense and more thrilling than ever as it makes its return to Ōtautahi, Christchurch in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
So of course we’re here with some stats to get you in the mood for netball, but not as you know it.
Teams from the world’s six best netball nations – Australia, England, Jamacia, Malawi, South Africa and of course New Zealand – will compete, including men’s sides from NZ, Australia and South Africa.
As the name suggests, teams only consist of five players (sorry, wings!) on a standard sized court.
There are two-point shots from the outer circle of the goal. There are also three-point shots from anywhere in the goal third for the long-bomb specialists.
All quarters are six minutes long and each team has one power-play quarter where all points scored are doubled.
Last year, 1075 points were scored, which equates to 59.7 points scored per game. This equals 3.3 points per minute!
Australia are the reigning women’s FAST5 champions, beating South Africa in the final 34-20 in 2022. The New Zealand Men took out the inaugural men’s competition, beating the Aussies 29-25.
FAST5 netball has been around since 2009 (when it was called FastNet) and New Zealand were the inaugural winners of the competition!
The Kiwis have won an impressive seven times, with England winning twice and Australia once.
Right, now we have the rules out of the way, what can we look forward to in 2023 from all the FAST5 teams!
Some EPIC power plays – in 2022 the FAST5 Ferns scored an incredible 100 points within their power plays, the most of any country.
If you’re watching the games for the three-point shots (the thrill!) then history tells you you’re best to watch Jamaica – they attempted a whopping 38 three-pointers, with six being successful. New Zealand were second with 25 attempted with seven successful – so perhaps a NZL vs JAM is the game to bookmark for high excitement!
South Africa boasted the player with the most minutes on the court last year – Jeante Strydom with an incredible 125. Will we see the same again?
As far as a key match-up goes, keep an eye on England shooter Paige Reed up against New Zealand’s Michaela Sokolich-Beatson – this one is sure to produce fireworks!
Australia put up the most goals – 200 – and scored 145 of their attempts. Will they do the same this year?
On the other side of the coin, England were the most penalised team (145), closely followed by New Zealand (141). The most well-behaved team? Australia, with only 82!
In the final between Australia and South Africa, at 3-quarter time, Australia led 24-20. Ten unanswered points from Australia in the fourth quarter enabled them to run out winners 34-20. The fourth quarter of South Africa was the only quarter of the tournament when a team didn’t score a point.