Netball is a non contact sport similar to, and derived from, basketball. It is usually known as a girls\' sport. It was originally known in its country of origin, the United States, as \"women\'s basketball\". Invented in 1895, by Clara Gregory Baer, a pioneer in women\'s sport, it is now the pre-eminent women\'s team sport (both as a spectator and participant sport) in Australia and New Zealand and is popular in the West Indies, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom.