NETSKILLS NETBALL RESOURCES

Passing accuracy for longer passes is essential for all passers of all standards. The attached activities are great activities to help practice long passes.

More activities on this topic can be found in Coaching Manual 1 & 2.

More advice for players can be found in 'The 7 Steps to Netball Success' book by Netskills.

Article written by Gillian Lee summarizing her coach education presentations given in New Zealand, England / Wales and  Australia in 2000.

IT'S NOT THE DRILL IT'S HOW YOU USE IT

by Gillian Lee

Two coaches can run exactly the same training session yet in one of the sessions players learn and achieve the coach’s objectives and in the other the players don’t.
What is it that makes the difference?
I think the teaching of an outside pivot is a classic example. Many young players know what an outside pivot is yet when you  get them to do it during an activity sometimes half of them can’t execute the skill. In a more complicated activity another quarter of them struggle. What is it then that we can do as coaches to help players execute the skills and know  how to apply them in a game situation?
It’s what and how you say things  throughout each activity that really counts.
It’s not the drill, it’s how you use it!
Most of us coaches plan our training sessions by selecting the theme and the activities we want to include and then  think the preparation is complete. Some of us may then look at the key points we  want to emphasize for each skill and activity, but these are all technical  considerations.
We need to go beyond the technical considerations to effectively communicate to and teach our players. Factors we all should be considering when planning each training session are points that will help us explain skills and activities better, help the players understand the skills relevance to the game, keep players excited, motivated and working at a rate that they need to during a  game.

Points to consider are:

• Setting the scene
• Feedback - General
• Feedback - Constructive
• Feedback - Negative
• Setting a  standard
• Asking questions

Do you use consider each of these when going through each activity at training?
In what proportion do you use each of the different types of  feedback?

• Setting the scene, explaining to players where the skills can be used in a game.
• General Feedback  Saying general things like ’good’ and ’well done‘ should be used minimally in favour of constructive specific feedback.
• Constructive  Feedback - Explaining why something was done well or what they can do better next time. This type of feedback is the most effective.
• Negative Feedback shouldn’t be used much at all, but sometimes there is an appropriate situation!
• Setting a  standard - Getting players to work at a high intensity just like they should  be doing in a match.
• Asking questions  - A great way to get players to think for themselves is to ask them questions about the coaching points, match relevance etc.

Quick Assessment of your coaching communication techniques
To find out what you really do say  during a training session, have a friend mark down a point next to the  appropriate heading (see below) each time you say a phrase. Just get them to do it for say 10 minutes of training and you will get a pretty good idea of the types  of things you say.

ASSESSMENT SHEET (sample)