Men taking great strides into women's territory

FORGET the usual sexual stereotyping, the next netball team Gill Queripel wants to see in an inter-insular could have some very familiar - but male - faces. Nick Leale and Jamie Roussel are regulars on the basketball courts at Beau Sejour, throughout the winter Kees Jager and TJ Ozanne are respectively stopping shots and scoring goals for Colombians Hockey Club and Guernsey, and Andy Maiden swaps his basketball and volleyball vests for a St Saviour's cricket shirt at KGV when the sun comes out.

They may not know it yet, but someone has plans for them.

'These are the types of player I'd love to get in an island men's squad,' said Queripel, whose mixed netball league continues to thrive, well into its fourth year.

'There are some good little players in the league and I'm sure I could get an island side out of them. Maybe even for a Muratti.

'There are the obvious ones, such as Nick and Jamie, and several others that I've had my eye on. PWC, Deutsche Bank and Reads all have some good men playing.

'Some of the tall men have an obvious height advantage, like Kees and Andy. It's not all about height, though. Speed and movement are more important.'

She said that newcomers to mixed netball often were not prepared for how energetic they needed to be.

'A few of the men have said that they had never realised netball was so fast and so tiring. They keep coming back, though, so they must enjoy it.

'I don't think people realise how fit you have to be to play netball at a high level. They think that it's just a zoned game and when the ball's not in their zone, you don't have to do any running, but it is quitedifferent when they're out there. The training we do with the top girls is all about dynamic movement and plyometrics.'

While women's teams have made a successful step into the men's basketball leagues, as yet there have been no men's teams in the Commodore Netball League. That could change, said Queripel, as men realised that the sport was not just for girls. Some have brought their basketball skills successfully onto the netball court, though Queripel has cottoned on to their more underhand tactics.

'You can tell who's played the game before and who hasn't. There were a few basketball tricks that some of them tried to bring in, like having a flailing arm when they receive the ball, keeping their opponent away. But we quickly got wise to that,' she said.

The summer mixed league has been running for the past four years. It mostly comprises business house teams, though there are some that are made up of friends.

There are 15 sides, split into two groups at the moment. After 12 July, the top four from each will form division one, the remaining seven division two.

On mixed league evenings there will be six matches, three on each court straight after each other.

'The matches are just 10-minute quarters, so it's easier for all those delicate boys.

'We're based at Amherst School because it is the only place that has just netball lines on the tarmac and two courts side by side. The caretakers here are brilliant. We've been here since we moved from the Grammar School when they put up a basketball ring and we lost our space.'

On Thursday evening, the only match to go ahead (England's Euro 2004 match with Portugal caused a few postponements) saw Barings go joint top of group two with a 20-14 defeat of the Post Office.

The bank side had two big advantages - Jager at goal defence and Maiden at goal attack. The former just stood under the post and plucked rebounds out of the air, while at times he formed an impassable block which the Post Office's shooters could not negotiate.

At the other end of the court, Maiden had a stormer. There may not be the back-board he is used to in basketball, but the GA was reliably accurate, using a jump-shot style that is straight from the GBA league.

Roussel never stopped working for the Post Office, however. His movement and ball-handling skills marked him out as a certain selection if Queripel ever gets her way and an island men's squad develops.

Gary de Carteret spent the first half on court also. With wife Lynn and daughters Anais, Kiara and Elka regulars in the league, it was only a matter of time before he joined them: 'It's a case of ?if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?,' he said.

Jager, 6ft 7in and an imposing physique, seemed to have a physical advantage over the women, and most of the men.

'Well, you'd think so, but I still get bumped around a bit,' he said.

'It's a great league. We've been involved for three years and enjoy it loads. It's something a bit different - there's no hockey or football over the summer.'

Queripel remains one of sport's hardest-working administrators. Throughout the summer, she will oversee mixed league matches on Monday and Thursday evenings and women only leagues on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Then there is the small matter of co-ordinating the Nerine club training, and looking after the talented youngsters who are in the hunt for age-group national squad places.

'The summer is a friendly league for the girls: it's all about getting people on court. The sport is thriving here. We have some very talented youngsters coming through.'