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Maree Bowden started playing netball when she was 5 years old.
After 12 years in New Zealand’s national women’s game, she found her training stale. Enter Reebok CrossFit Canterbury, which recently opened in Canterbury, New Zealand.
“I just wanted to try something different,” Bowden explains. “I came along and fell in love with the concept.”
A different workout each day is what she loves, she says.
“And I love competing against the boys,” Bowden says with a big laugh. “I try to beat them.”
Denise Leggat, manager of Bowden’s netball team, says CrossFit “relates to netball superbly.”
“It’s fast, it’s dynamic,” she says.
A former player, Leggat says she’s noticed a difference in herself when she trains with the team. Her feet are faster, she can change directions quicker and her passes are stronger, she says.
CrossFit has elevated Bowden’s game as well, Leggat says.
“She’s a supremely fit athlete anyway—she always has been. But she’s noticed that she’s just got a different sort of dynamic in her netball training already,” she says. “And she’s definitely finding that she’s stronger and she’s gotten sort of quicker off the mark.”
6min 35sec
Additional reading: If the Shoe Fits by Kevin Daigle, published Feb. 7, 2011.
