I have thoroughly enjoyed using your site to help me with my coaching plans for my under 9's netball team.
best way to teach defending a lob pass. My girls are very short so opposing teams constantly lob.
I am not sure how to teach my girls how to defend a shooter who catches a pass with the splits and then sets up to shoot. Can anyone assist. Girls are aged 15 & 16yrsthanks
Help... I am new to coaching netball albeit have played for years. My experience in playing comes from being an attacker so trying to work with my defence, is proving tricky. The issue I have is that both my GD and GK face mark. I have tried numerous drills in training however as soon as they get in to a match, they revert back to face marking. When the ball is coming down the court, I encourage them to stay on their toes, side marking and moving in front and round the back however when the GA or the GS moves out, the face marking starts. We have had balls bounce of the backs of heads and all sorts. Does anyone have any tips? Di
I need some clarification please. In the goal circle if GS steps in towards the goal post and lifts her grounded foot, where does the defender defend from if the shooter stepped in before the defender lifted her arms? Is the 3ft from where her grounded foot was or where she stepped in to?
How is the best way to defend a GS who is a foot taller than the GK and can hold faily well (and no exageration I have a very short team so putting a different defender wont change much )
What is the best way for players 11-13 to mitigate the affect of open players using their elbows. It is brought to the umpires attention and they do their best. However, I have in the last few weeks heard 2 different coaches (when I was observing games - hence I could hear the coach) give instructions to her players to "use elbows and intimidate". Seems a growing trend based on what a lot of players are doing on court in a range of teams. Defensively my players are starting to shy away from staying close to their oppn player. When on attack - I tell them to keep moving so the oppn defense can't set up on them and use the elbow. The poor GS particularly is getting really knocked about a lot of time as she is trying to execute a hold sometimes.
The 163cm defender is great against regular height girls her age (ie 13) but I need some help with the tall girls (185 cm +). She jumps really well and is constantly with the player. She reads the play well but it is almost soul destroying to see the opposition lob the ball into the tall girl who stands and waits for the shot.
I am planning a Netball session focused on defending for my BTEC. What questions could i ask them about defending?
what is you favourite warm up before a game for netball? and ideas?thanks
My GD was do face marking in a game and doing a fantastic job at blocking the GA entering the circle and not being able to shake her off, the umpire for the other team repeatedly called her for intimidation.To me it did not appear to be intimidation and the player herself umpires and sees this in many of the high level games. She is not pushing, no arms are used in fact it is the other players pushing into her. Is this intimidation I thought that was a pretty tough call. What constitutes as intimidation?
Hello want to clear someone up. If GS is taking a shot is GK able to stand directly in front of them (less than 3 feet) but with their arms down or is that considered as obstruction?
Morning - Can you please tell me, is there a rule to prevent this? Where a GK or GD is defending a goal, can they hold one another back by their t-shirts thus allowing them a further reach? For instance, the GK grabs the GD's tshirts to that she may lean further over, enabling her hand to go right over the ball, as they are so tall already? Thanks!!
I was playing GS today and marked by a very tall GK. As I was watching the ball come forward, I moved to the top of the D but she didn't stay with me and remained behind me. I couldn't see her and was unsure if I should stay close to her to be aware of where I could move, or to just move where I wanted. My back was turned to her as I was facing where the ball was, should I be side on to see her in my peripheral vision but not stay with her, or should I keep marking her to hold her then come forward when appropriate? I would be grateful for any advice, thank you,
Hello - i am looking for a few GD tips on the best way to defend a shooter that receives the ball a couple of ways as i always struggle to get around them when they do these moves! First way is that the shooter lunges out very wide (practically doing the splits) to receive the ball from the feeder on the circle edge and steps back closer to the net with the foot that is closest. I can defend her getting close to the net, but then she turns to the feeder and jumps and splits - thus always ending up close to the net. The second way is when the shooter stays quite stationery under the net, a couple of foot off the back line and holds her space there. she receives the ball by a large over head pass, so she steps back slightly on one leg to receive the ball from the feeder. what would be the best way to defend all the large overhead long passes to her, or draw her out? any help or some ideas i can try would be great! thank you :-)
I've coached 5 girls from my netta team for 1 year already they are extremely advanced (hardly stepping, intercepting, not bunching and shadow defending) however I have 4 girls in my team that have never played before joining. Any ideas on how to teach the basics but not boar the other girls?
in more ways than one
No more 50/50 toss-ups. When simultaneous infringements occur, possession now goes to the team that last had the ball. Here's what it means for your coaching.
Train your defenders to win clean turnovers, not just disrupt. The difference between good defenders and great ones is taking the ball, not just touching it.
Netball is experiencing unprecedented growth, with record viewership, evolving rules, and professional leagues expanding worldwide. Here's what 2026 brings for our sport.
Coaches from around the world look to Sportplan for coaching confidence.