Rotating nine players in an under fifteens team?

kayleneParent, Australia

Hey William.  Rotation seems to be a tricky word in netball coaching.  Although not a qualified coach myself I have sought answers on similiar questions and observed many games of netball in this age group with various coaches.  It seems to me from the current feedback that I have been receiving that it is good to select 3 girls for each third of the court for each week.  Apparently many girls and particularly those in your age group find it difficult changing ends during a game.  So an example would be player a b c d e & f can all play well in goals and in goal defence and then you have g h & i that only play centre court.  So this week player a b c play the goal throwing end and perhaps a & b play first half as GA & GS and then a & c play second half as GS & GA d e & f rotate between GD & GK and g h & i playC WA & WD either in same position all game or maybe swap WA & C then next week a b & c play in the defence end and d e & f the goal end and g h & i again play WA C & WD but whoever played WA or C last week plays WD this week.  Rotate by quarters or halfs watever suits your coaching style and of course if also looking for even court time could move your girls playing goal attacks and defences into wa & wd positions if necessary. It is tricky and at the end of the day you are there to develop the girls skills and to also coach the team to success.  Good Luck.

Melinda GardinerCoach, Australia

Hi William,

I have ten players on the team  I coach - they are 11 yr old girls and this is my fifth year of coaching them. I roster one player off each week so that there are always nine at the game. This gives one player a full game and the other 8 players three quarters of a game each - the girls understand how it works and see how it is fair to everyone. I have coached two other teams prior to this one and have found that most teams of 9 usually have 3-4 definite defnce players, 3-4 definite attack players and then 1-2 players that can play almost anywhere. This means that one can take  one defnce and one attack player off each quarter without upsetting the dynamic of the team.

Hope this helps.

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

i have had similar problems over the years with kids not wanting to play defence.  beats me why, its an awesome position when you get good at it, but it does suck while learning as you are always getting pulled up for contact and not 3 feet.  but youre the coach so what you say goes.  youre not there to be liked, and you cant please everyone.  but here is something to think about.  the best shooters, are the ones that can defend their player right up to the moment they get the ball.  and thats when they turn into the shooter.  so it is actually to any shooters advantage to learn to defend in order to be in a better position to shoot.

as for rotation, it depends on the policys of your club and what your objective is.  i have coached teams that have 10 in them, and i do what kaylene suggested.  i have 3 people picked for shootering, 4 for centers, and 3 for defence.  if you want to be competive then you keep the girls in the same group each week.  they may not like it, but their competive streak gets the better of them.  give them some one on one time so they feel special to give them individual pointers on how to defend effectively.  but i do ask the team what they want out of their year playing, and if they say be competitive, let them know that that means that what you say goes.  no arguement.  if they want to rotote through all the positions, then the sacrafice generally is being competitive.

good luck.

Netball CoachCoach

im a coach of an under 15's team with 9...

find your basic team...

who can they rotate with, defence? shooting?wings? mine are both defenders so it works out....

sometime even my c and wa rotate
my gs and ga are always the same
my GK GD is always the same...

i like to change my centre court players...give them a break

you gotta make each and everyone earn their spot...and to do that they need to put in the hard work.. if you're Gs isn't up to standard don't be scared of having her off for a half

Also be straight with them....if they don't play where you tell them to, they get half a game off