Manchester Thunder will stand alongside Schools across the UK and those taking a stance against bullying for anti-bullying week, taking place from the 16th to the 20th of November. Anti-bullying week is a period for clubs like ours to raise money and awareness for the Anti-Bullying Alliance, a coalition of organisations united against bullying. The ABA have encouraged those who are taking part to get creative and dress up as one of your hero’s OR to take part in Odd Socks day.
Relationships between players is what makes a strong and undefeatable team, and that is why netball has a zero-tolerance policy of bullying of any kind.
In Primary and High school education, in the past 12 months 1 out of 5 young children have experienced bullying. And 3 out of 4 had said that a bullying incident has drastically affected their own mental health. With the most common type of bullying being verbal, 62% of those victims to verbal bullying have said that they had experienced this by a classmate and 37% stated that they were bullied by someone they did not know.
Although Netball is pivotal to our team, Manchester Thunder, we hope that Netball positively impact others and can allow victims of bullying to express their attitudes, opinions and frustrations freely without any judgement
Netball is heavily taught throughout primary and high school curriculums; therefore, we believe it is crucial to recognise that bullying doesn’t and shouldn’t have a place in netball. Netball will always be a safe space for youths to develop their craft and to enjoy themselves. Furthermore, we hope netball teaches our young players that we are all equals, and that working together and respecting one another is crucial to playing fantastic netball.
To help combat the social issue of bullying, you can get involved by donating or even raising money for the ABA, Anti Bullying Alliance.