Netball coaching
How to plan a netball coaching session
If you are planning a netball session for a new season or even a tournament, the following strategies/activities will be helpful in doing so.
A coach must ask him/herself the following:
1. What age of players are you going to work with.
From personal experience, I can tell the following story. For the past three years, I had the same netball team, they were 11 years old when I took over as their coach. They could throw a ball and catch it, they knew where to stand on the court etc. Thus, we worked so hard, that for 2 years in a row, we went to the provincial championship where we came 1st the one year and 2nd the next year. That group of girls could play netball!!! This year, I started all over with 10 year old girls. Being used to these 13 year old girls, I expected my new team to know where they must be on the court, that they had to throw the ball and be able to catch it. I was totally wrong, these learners cannot catch a ball yet, they can hardly throw the ball, they have NO clue where they are allowed to play on court. These are all things that I have to show and teach them. Being so used to a routine of coaching bigger kids, I totally forgot that they, too, had to start with the basics. They age of the players you are going to work with is so important, that you have to know if you must first teach the basics, or you can carry on from what they already know.
2. What am I going to teach.
What do you, as a coach want to teach your players?? Younger players will have to be taught the basics of netball, but the older they get, you can start working on different techniques.
3. Why is it important?
Why is any coaching in sport important?? Do you want players on the court that have no idea what they are doing? Do you want to help learners improve their talents? Remember that each player in a team, was chosen for a reason. Whether it was for their footwork skills or ball skills. It gives you as a coach the opportunity to use and improve all players skills. Especially those who have never played any sport in their life.
4. When will I teach?
Depending on your school and on the sports you have, each sport will get a season or term to participate in. In my school it is during the 2nd term, which means I have 10 weeks to practice and play matches with the 10 year old girls.
5. How will I teach it?
I think the question here, is actually if you really want to be a coach! Are you there, just because you were told to be there or are you there because you want to be there?!
Are you going to motivate or shout at the players the whole season through??
Is sports just about winning, it bringing the best out in your players.
As a coach, before every season, you can start the season with several objectives. These are a few to keep in mind:
- To improve the basic skills of each players.
- To improve on errors players make.
- To improve the fitness of the whole team.
- To motivate your learners and improve their standard.
HINTS for coaches
- Coaches must assess realistic objectives.
- Players does not necessarily learn by only listening to their coach or by watching activities. Players learn mostly by being on the court and doing the exercises shown to them.
- Motivate your players everyday, every practise session and every match.
- Be on time for practise sessions, if you show no interest in teaching them, they are going to show no interest in learning.
- Remember that your players will learn new things in their own time and at their own speed, don't compare players.
- Tell your learners what they do wrong in a manner that they know they've done wrong, but also in a manner which they will want to improve, rather than just giving up.
- Don't make all session the same practice skills, either make it more difficult or show them new exercises.
- Expose your players to more advanced netball by taking them to club netball matches etc.
In the next few lessons we will look at different netball positions and the skills required for each position
