Lockdown Life - Natalie Dawson

Hi everyone, by now I think everyone is feeling the same - fed up, bored and unmotivated! And that’s exactly how I felt when the government announced the third national lockdown a few weeks ago. In the first lockdown we had lovely weather and me and my sister would stick a YouTube workout video on and do this in the back garden! However, this time has been a lot tougher. With the snow, ice and Baltic conditions, we haven’t been doing much of this recently, obviously! As most people have been doing, I’ve really been enjoying walking. There is nothing better than some fresh air to clear the mind and it's great exercise too. I find that the fresh air helps me sleep better too. I set myself a goal of going for a walk every single day and I have succeeded in this so far which I am proud of. I think my dog is sick of me now though! I was lucky enough to help volunteer at last month's Manchester Thunder friendlies. It was so good to be back in a netball environment and to see some of my netball family’s faces - albeit behind a face mask and at two metres distance of course! There is nothing quite like watching elite netball up close. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can get back to attending events like this. Watching Manchester Thunder play inspired me to get back out in the garden and make use of my netball post. I went out into the cold prepared with a quite a few layers and my gloves on! I share my netball post with my niece who lives next door to me - we have the Net1 Pink Portable Netball System. We have this post so we can lower the height for her as she’s only seven - it’s got five different height setting so it has been really helpful for her to start at a young age and progress gradually. We even have matching netballs! We finally got to see some netball on Sky Sports too with the Vitality Roses taking on the Superleague All Stars. How amazing was it seeing netball on TV? It really did boost my mood knowing we all had live Netball to look forward to and I’m sure many of you felt the same. My favourite player from the series was Nat Haythornthwaite (and that’s not just because of her name!). I thought she was fast, dynamic but most of all consistent, she clearly has a great rapport with her NSW Swifts and Roses team mate Helen Housby. I’m excited the Vitality Superleague is just around the corner too so we can all have something to look forward to every week. There are quite a few new imports coming into the league this season, plus the addition of a brand new team in Leeds Rhinos, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do. Here’s to hoping we will be back together soon Netball Family. Take care and stay safe. Natalie