It’s a Saturday morning in the Ann Arbor YMCA gym, and the basketball courts are filled—but not with sweaty guys playing a pickup game. On this day, females from age seven to their seventies are playing in the Y’s first netball tournament. They’ve come from as far as Toronto to compete in a sport that’s popular—and even played professionally—in Europe, South Africa, the West Indies, Australia, and New Zealand.

Netball originated in the United States in the 1890s as a women’s alternative to basketball—but it is just starting to catch on in North America. Played with a ten-foot-high net and no backboard, it’s a fast-paced game with plenty of passing and no dribbling. The ball is a little smaller, softer, and lighter than a basketball. The court is divided into three zones, and each team has seven players who play designated positions within certain zones.

When I come to the Y on a weekday evening to learn to play, Dalia Warner gives me a jersey labeled GD, for goal defense. She’ll be playing goal attack—one of two positions in which players are allowed to shoot baskets. Warner, who is in her thirties, hails from England and has played the game since she was eight. She’s a member of netball teams in Windsor and Detroit as well as Ann Arbor, and an umpire too.

I run, jump, and leap, trying in vain to block passes and Warner’s shots at the basket. Finally I intercept the ball and proudly lob it across the court to another team member. “Good job!” Warner says. “But next time remember you can only pass across one white line, not two.” There are more rules and nuances than are apparent at first glance. In netball a player may not run with the ball or hold it for more than three seconds. Defenders must remain three feet away from any player who has the ball.

Later I’m guarding Janet Lawton, an Ann Arborite in her forties. Lawton played basketball in high school and was looking for a new sport that would be kinder on her knees but still competitive. As we play, a few high school guys watch the action from the running track above. A few minutes later they’re on the floor asking to play.

“This happens a lot,” says Lawton. “It looks easy until they try it.” Lawton says basketball players sometimes have difficulty adapting to the game.

Almost immediately one of the guys gets the umpire’s whistle for contact. But they are undaunted. “This is fun!” one of them says. “It reminds me of Ultimate Frisbee.”

After two years netball is still finding its niche here, says YMCA sports program director Steve Petty. Boys and men are always welcome to play, but mainly it’s a female sport. Several mother-daughter pairs have learned together.

Warner says that because the game is about finesse as much as physical skill, players often keep participating in their senior years. And for netballers of all ages, she says, the sport is often more about camaraderie than competition.

Chris Nelson—who plays on the Ann Arbor team and whose seven-year-old daughter plays in the youth league—agrees: “It’s fun, it’s friendly, and it’s something families can do together.”