Large squad of 10 or take just 8 to a match?

Paul McKibbinCoach, England

A tricky one indeed. I`ve always taken more and tried to rotate them fairly but made a rotation in Qtr 3 that I think helped to lose us the game. If I had kept to the Qtr 2 formation we may well have won. C`est la vie! However 10 is tough because they may be weaker players who you feel obliged to put on the court.

Either way, tell your players in advance what they can expect and they will be ok with it - if you say `you will get at least one quarter`s play` and they do, you`re covered.

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

i had a team of 10 of U11s a few years back and I played with 9 subbing 2 every quarter and giving 1 player the game of each week.

Simon ThomasonCoach, Australia

I think i depends on a few things, like the age group of the players and the mix of positions.

For example with 10 & Under or younger at our association (and I think the same is true elsewhere) you need to rotate players through all positions during the season.so it makes sense to use 9 players ( 8 x 3/4 court time, 1 x full game) and give 1 player the week off. All assuming you can factor in as even as possible court time over the course of the season using this approach.

When it comes to older players our club tries as much as possible to have the "ideal" mix of players allocated to each team. This is generally considered to be 3 x Defenders, 3 x Shooters, and 4 x Mid-court. This means that at any given time you should have one of each category available on the bench. I then rotate through who only plays half a game to try and be even with that over the season. If you`ve got shooters and defenders who can pinch hit as midcourters, usually WD & WA, then it obviously makes it easier to fully rotate the 1/2 games. But it doesn`t make much sense to play people totally out of position to their and the team`s detrement just to even up court time while having two midcourters (for example) sitting on the bench.

In reality with absences and injuries over the season you often end up with less than 10 anyway so the best-laid plans go out the window.

As with all of these things as long as you try to be as fair.as possible and set expectations early in the season it all works out okay.