I think I am a relatively sporty person, I use this term only due to the amount of sport I did in Australia. I wouldn’t say I was naturally athletic by any means but, particularly  in Summer, I spent a very large amount of time playing sport or at training. Team sports are sort of a way of life for me so it was always my intention to find a team whilst I was on exchange. However there was a bit of a question mark as to which sport I would play. I have played netball since I was 8 and the last 4 or so Summers of my life have been devoted to playing in 2 (and sometimes 3) cricket teams. Neither cricket nor netball are played in Norway.

I mus admit something though, I knew this was going to be the case with whichever country I went to. So last year I did something that, in my opinion, was relatively intelligent. When we got to trial for school sporting teams I went for basketball rather than netball. I made the team and was able to get some game experience. I’m not going to pretend that we were an amazing team nor that I was an amazing player (we didn’t actually train) but it meant that I was able to say I had played basketball before and that I knew a few of the rules. I only include this part of the story because I think it is important for those considering exchange to spend some time thinking about what they want to do whilst over there and how they might prepare for that.

Anyway, I have been lucky enough to be able to join Skjetten Basketball team. We train twice a week and there is a game every 3 weeks or so. I have been able to play the last two games and yesterday was actually the last game of the season (we keep training though).  Both games were lost by quite a sizable amount but it was still incredibly fun. Its amazing how easy it is to communicate with a person through actions whilst playing: a subtle nod of the head means you want the ball etc. There are parts that aren’t as easy to communicate though. At training we had practiced a very specific offensive set up that we were going to use. Less than two minutes into the game this tactic was scrapped. The coach was yelling something new out from the sideline and I was sort of clueless. Still eventually I figured it out with the help of the other girls.

There is something truly special about being able to meet a really nice group of people and play with them. I now feel incredibly proud when, before we go back onto the court, we chant ‘Skjetten på tre: en, to, tre, Skjetten!’