Jerome Gillbard lost 50kg to play netball - and now he’s a star

[Skylights]

BLOKES playing netball — even Australian netball superstar Nat Medhurst admits she can barely believe it.

“But they are incredible athletes and you’d like to think our sport accommodates everyone,” Medhurst said before tonight’s opening rounds of the men’s WA Netball League competition at the State Netball Centre.

“It’s another step forward for our game and if we’re going to harp on about other things women don’t get, then we also need to make sure that we’re inclusive of other genders.”

Jerome Gillbard, 24, plays for Australia and is a star of the new WA competition. The game means so much to him that he lost 50kg to play it at a high level.

The one-time 150kg teenager is an official training partner with Medhurst’s West Coast Fever women’s team in the national competition. He started playing aged seven in Narembeen, but stopped at age 12 because boys were not allowed to play the game with girls.

He believes the men’s league will grow and urged critics to look past the usual thinking about males playing the game.

“I was a big lad through high school ... I was never happy with the size I was, but the truth of it is that I probably never had the real motivation to change until I found netball,” Gillbard said.

“I still love my footy, but netball is a different sport which offers something different to people who are traditionally maybe not as good as others in those male-dominated sports. For the traditionalists, all I can say is get down there and watch a game or two and if after that they still don’t enjoy it, we’re probably not going to change their mind.

“I really would encourage, before people make an opinion, to at least experience the sport ... that’s encouraging your brother, your husband or son just to have a crack and give it a go.”

Four teams will compete in the first WANL season’s nine home-and-away rounds and two weeks of finals, including the grand final at the State Netball Centre on September 7.