How do you design a conditioning program

Eleanor DurrPlayer, England

Hi Mpho,

If you are designing a conditioning programme you should look to do a fitness test, jump tests, speed tests and capacity tests - however, this will depend on the age of your athletes - for younger athletes, I would only advise the fitness test, jump test and speed test. 

Here are a few examples of tests you can do:
- Fitness test - there are a number of tests you could choose from, these include the 30:15, bleep test or death test - all of which are relevant to netball. Personally, I would advise the 30:15 test. 

- Jump tests - You can test your player's double leg jump (broad jump) and their single leg tests - for example taking off from their right leg and landing on their right leg and vice versa for left. You can also measure taking off from their right leg and landing on their left and vice versa. These tests are good to not only see your players leg power but also their control. If the player doesn't securely land their jump it would be considered a no jump - you have 3 opportunities and you take their best result. 

- Speed tests - If you have access to speed gates, perfect - if not you could use a stopwatch, however, this would be less accurate. With speed tests, you can measure your player's straight sprint speed - over approximately 20m for example. You can also measure their speed with a change of direction - get them to sprint out 5m turn and sprint back.

- Capacity testing - You can do calf and hamstring testing - both important for netball. For calf testing get your athletes to place their foot on a step for example with their heel off the edge. They will then have to do as many calf raises as they can before exhaustion. Ensure they are going fully down and fully up to be counted as a rep. For hamstring testing get your players to lay on the floor and place their heel on a box. They will lift their hips and lower them back to the floor - they will continue to do this until exhaustion. 

These are the main areas in netball that are important to test. You will do these tests both pre and post your conditioning programme and should see improvements.

You will find a lot of agility and strength drills in our DIY Drills. These are great as these drills require minimal equipment or assistance so you can assign these to your players to also complete at home. 

In regard to drills to improve fitness, you can make almost any drill a fitness drill but increasing the intensity and duration. For example Super Star is a simple movement drill focusing on players angles and footwork, yet this drill can be sped up to increase the intensity and make your players work harder. 

Hope this helps.