Serial steppers at 14 years old, how do I stop?

Netball CoachCoach

Firstly you need a good umpire to come out to trainings and pick them up every time they step. It may be frustrating, but they will learn. During drills get them to slow down. When they step, tell them and get them to repeat the drill. If goalies step during shooting drills, don't let them shoot until their footwork is good. Try going back to basics with some fitness drills that include stopping and starting.

Netball CoachCoach

try putting a coin in one shoe so that they know which foot can be moved, it will either have a coin or not, also try getting them to jump up and land two footed then it doesn't matter which foot is moved, i agree with Jude an umpire is needed to consistantly pull them up

Netball CoachCoach

try getting your team to jog slowy up and down the court and every ten steps they bend their knees and stomp the groung with both feet hitting the ground together, they will hear and feel if both feet havent hit the groung together.

Netball CoachCoach

I have a great (easy) program for you to use and it will make a huge difference. I coach an Under 13 club team and our league's Under 13 rep team.

When players are stepping I have found it is often because they do not know how to land properly, and find it difficult land and be in control of the ball at the same time, causing them to be off balance and step to regain their balance and control of the ball. Stepping and landing are closely connected.

Before the start of our season I did six weeks of preseason training with my team and focussed largely on landing/footwork. I used a program called 'Down to Earth' which was prepared by the School of Human Movement at the University of Ballarat specifically for safe and effective landing in netball. (Search for this in google and it will come up!)

I did this with my club team, and repeated/omitted/adapted certain parts of the program to suit my team. As they improved, I incorporated more difficulty into the drills. I have also found that getting kids to do things without the ball first has been really effective as they only have to think about one thing at a time.

• A great drill for landing (which my team enjoy)is getting them to jog/sprint from end to end of the netball court (without a ball) and whenever I blow the whistle while they are running they have to land - we specifiy the landing e.g. jump stop, one-two etc. They do tend to over step sometimes, but they have the chance to realise and rectify it.
• For stage two (a couple of weeks down the track) I get them to jog up and back repeatedly while tapping a ball from one hand to the other, and then they have to control the ball and land when the whistle is bown.
• Even further down the track, you can also begin doing this between two people running up and back passing to one another and when the whistle is blown the person with the ball passes a lob/shoulder pass to their partner who has to catch and land safely.
  
  This six week program has really helped my teams, and they hardly ever step now!! It's also good for their ankles/knees etc as it teaches safe landing.