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What are the best drills to use for a session on man marking? and in what order so that the session progresses?
Netball CoachCoach
ANSWERS
Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia
it depend on the age of your players on how far you take your defence and where you start. up the age of 12years, kids peripheral vision is very much reduced so a lot of the drills for man marking defence is dependant on good peripheral vision so that the defender can watch the player that is behind them and the ball that is in front of them. because of this and the fact that the younger the player the slower their footwork, and the body on body contact needed to a good defender, i tend to start with face to face defence, so that they can see their player and develop their footwork. this however makes it difficult to see the ball coming. but it is a good start point for younger players to learn fast footwork to stay with a player. for older players you start with both players facing the same way and the defender in front and the attacker behind moving from side to side and the defender has to keep up with their changes of direction. when ready include the pass and the defender has to try and keep with them by using their peripheral vision. once a basic pass is introduced then add in a forward drive as well with the defender having to see the direction of the attack then look for the ball to see where the pass is.
there is also behind defence which is mainly used in the circle to keep the shooters at the edges of the circle. you can have a cone on the base line and the attacker has to try and get it and the defender has to try and stop them by only using correct defence techniques. this is where correct body posture is important. arms beside and ready to intercept a pass but not stretched out to cause obstruction. knees slightly bent, but not bending into the legs of the attacker, eyes up looking for the pass, chest up and not leaning into the attacking player, player light on their feet so on the balls of their feet ready to move in any direction to stop their opponents movement towards the goal.
this is a starting point. there are some really good drills in here for the progression depending on the age groups of your players. just need to find one that is relevant for age and ability.
