A new club which aims to help grow the sport of netball in Portugal has opened in Vilamoura.
The Vilamoura Vipers Netball Club will host its first training sessions on March 6 at 6pm at the Browns Sports Resort in Vilamoura and is looking for players to join its under 18 and under 13 girls’ teams.
Training sessions will be held twice a week on Wednesdays at 6pm and on Saturdays at 9am, with players of any skill level welcome.
The club has been founded by Sheba Karamat, a single mother with four children who moved from the UK to the Algarve in September 2023.
The importance of sports in the development of children, particularly young girls, is something that Sheba values highly, which is why she was disappointed to find little to no team sports available for girls in the Vilamoura area.
After months of taking her two daughters to a netball club in Tavira, Sheba decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own club. She has recruited “two amazing South African coaches” who are bilingual, ensuring that the club is able to welcome both English and Portuguese-speaking athletes.
While the club has lofty goals in mind, the first stage involves putting together its teams. So far, Sheba has seven girls signed up, with another 14 having already expressed interest in joining the Vipers.
“We’re hoping to have around 20-ish players soon,” Sheba told us.
While netball is mostly a female sport, the club founder and president says she is open to welcoming any male players who are interested in giving the sport a go.
Once the teams have been fully formed, the goal is to work towards establishing a regional netball league in the Algarve, creating a national netball federation and ultimately forming a national netball team with an eye on participating in the 2027 World Cup.
Sheba is also planning to organise matches with British netball clubs and help bring the sport into Portuguese schools to attract more children and youngsters.
Citing a study conducted by EY and espnW between 2013 and 2016, which found that 94% of women executives have a background in sport, the Vipers founder stressed how important doing sports can be for developing young women, helping “build their competitive drive”.
The Vipers are also looking for sponsors to help fund the club’s activities, as all costs are being covered entirely by Sheba.
Anyone interested in joining the club or sponsoring can contact Sheba by telephone (+44 7912 220769 | +351 914 459 761) or email (vipersnetball@proton.me). More information is also available on the club’s website www.vipersnetballclub.com
