Sarah Wall says netball deserves a spot on the Olympic program

Geelong AFL player Patrick Dangerfield sparked debate on social media on Saturday when he tweeted "still struggling to comprehend how 3-on-3 basketball gets a gig in the Olympics but netball hasn't..."

3-on-3 basketball made its debut at Tokyo Olympics this week alongside new sports surfing, skateboarding, karate, softball, baseball and sports climbing.

Wall said while Dangerfield had made a lot of new fans from the netball community he also made a valid point.

The founder and CEO of NETFIT Netball said if the International Netball Federation - the sport's governing body - works hard Brisbane 2032 could be the games it becomes an Olympic sport.

"If we focus on facts and the emotion and passion is there to say 'come on lets do it', it could," the former Suncorp Super Netball player said. "We need to be prepared to put in the hard work.

"When you break down the facts we have to start from the ground up, and like anything big it takes time and hard work but we're contenders - we just have to put the work in."

Netball became an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized sport in 1995 and has been a core sport in the Commonwealth Games since 1998.

For netball to be on the program it needs to meet International Federations and National Olympic Committees' specific criteria.

The Camperdown export said it satisfies most of the seven categories, which includes history and tradition, universality, popularity of the sport, image, athletes' health, development of the International Foundation and costs.

There is also a threshold criteria to ensure netball is a "universal" sport where "it must be played by men in 75 countries on at least four continents, and by women in 50 countries on at least three continents".

The INF is already comprised of 70 countries across five continents. Wall said there are three challenges impeding netball's inclusion in the Summer Olympics.

The challenges facing netball is the Summer Olympics is limited to 28 sports, if it can appeal to the top-tier Olympic countries in the USA, China and Russia, and the lack of men playing the sport.

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Wall said if the three Olympics powerhouse teams embraced the sport, which is played by over 20 million people worldwide, in the next decade it would help netball's quest to be included in the program.

"Our aligning growth of is youth netball and has a good TV audience and highlights participation of under 11 and 13s, which is a perfect age for Olympics (in 2032)," she said.

But the barriers are the fact the Summer Olympics are limited to 28 sports visibility in sport how we aren't universal in major countries and we have a lack of men and we have to work on that.

"End of the day it comes down to the international body... and raising the netball profile.

"There is great people on board there and from Netball England, Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand are the big player powers in the sport and they are growing it commercially.

"We are in a good spot just takes a task force to get it over the line."

Wall said netball's inclusion would also help the gender balance of the Games and continue the trend set by the Tokyo games.

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Tokyo 2020 is the first gender-balanced Olympics in history with almost 49 per cent of the athletes participating being women.

The former Melbourne Phoenix, Queensland Firebirds, Melbourne Vixens, NSW Swifts and Giants Netball player said netballers across the country would love to be included in the Australian Olympic Team in the future.

"I'm obsessed with the Olympics, love the sports in it and the sacrifice of the athletes and Australian netball players deserve to have that opportunity to compete in that light," she said.

Wall hopes members of the NETFIT community can feature if the sport is included in 2032 Brisbane games.

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