The Netball Mentor

Is was watching the Adelaide Thunderbirds game and it reminded me of how important “timing” and “good passing” is. It also reminded me that I must remember to teach this to my team.
It doesn’t matter about the age or grade. These two skills are essential for good flow and success at moving the ball down the court.
With little ones it starts with not crowding but to stay in your “space” until it’s your turn and then when the player lands and turns that’s when the next player makes her lead. This will develop correct timing and keep court structure and space on the court for clearer movement.
Now the correct passing - well there is a lot of layers in that statement.
The type of pass
The strength of the pass
The speed of the pass
The placement of the pass
Just to name a few.
We can all benefit from practice all types of passing and using all types of scenarios.
Oh and I think Thunderbirds could be the team to try and beat this year in SSN. Precision netball.

New year and new netball season! How exciting for everyone.

Your clubs will be starting registration and trials for teams and grading. With this in mind I thought a reminder to all of a few things.

1. Players need to practice now with passing and basic skills. Remember it’s been a few months off so you need to remind the brain and body of what to do .
2. Play any position required for trials. Absolutely put your positions down, yet sometimes we need people to try other positions. We cannot select a team of WAs.
2. Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of several teams per age group or division. So we need to work with abilities that are available. (Coaches can teach these required skills).
3. If you are lucky to have enough players for a few grades per division, then the selectors will usually, select in ability or potential order, 3 shooting players, 4 mid court players and 3 defenders.
4. The selectors cannot also select 3 of the same style of player e.g. 3 posting shooters. There needs to be variety of styles and ability.
5. Players show your sportsmanship and willingness to try hard on all occasions. It is another positive in the selectors mind.
6. If you may not get the team you were hoping to get, or the grade, that’s ok. Make sure you turn up, listen, apply and grow as a player and maybe next year your wishes will come.
7. Coaches and selectors, be careful not to get caught watching the flashy or loud players only. Be sure you watch every player on court and can give feedback as to your decisions on their ability. Also don’t get side swiped by other selectors opinions and taking your attention away from the game.

Lastly, putting teams together is tough. Clubs take a long time to find the right combinations and coaches and grades for all teams. Let’s appreciate their efforts.

Happy netball for 2026.

Our netball seasons are all over now as we head into the Christmas season.
It’s these moments that we take the time to be with loved ones and family. We celebrate the growth and the learnings of the year gone by.
For our netball families, we need to take the time to do the same. Celebrate our growth and learnings.
Too often we only talk in “wins and losses” or “championships and grand finals”.
What we forget is you can have lots of “wins” yet not be growing as a person or as a player/coach.
The hardest team to coach is the team who always wins. It’s hard to teach them something or for the players to try new strategies when the mind and competition doesn’t allow the opportunity.
So next time you talk with your netball friends, try to discuss what your growth and learnings were this season.
Or better still, tell your coach! They would love to hear what you got from the season and then you can discuss the next seasons plans.
Happy holidays. 🎄

This is going to be a fantastic game!

TUNE IN SUNDAY 2PM Kayo Sports, Foxtel and Binge.

Sometimes a loss in a game is good thing.

Firstly, the game side of things gives the coach and players a variety of items to work on and improve. Use what they learnt from the loss and decipher why and how they could adjust or change to over come the situation.
This could be mentally, skill wise or strategy.

We need to accept that we don’t always have everything in the netball tool box and that growing and learning is part of sport and life. It’s also part of the fun and the challenge of playing sport.

Then there is the loss and the process to the individual player.
Mentally they need to understand that they cannot always win. Eventually, that is not a benefit on any level. They need to accept loss and make it a positive by breaking down what can be improved or changed. What they need to learn and add to their skill set.

Understanding and respecting a good opponent is very important. A good opponent makes you a better player and coach. They push us to think outside the box, they push us to become more skilled, more disciplined and a stronger team.

Sadly, in our beloved netball world too many blame and belittle others when they don’t win. This doesn’t teach our children anything. It breeds poor sportmanship. Eventually it breeds arrogance in their attitude to the world.

Try to be the coach or player that takes a loss and turns it into the positive it should be. Analyse it and break down the did well and the didn’t do well. Then how to change that moving forward.

And sometimes, it’s just the opposition is a better team. Sometimes you have to lose to get a win.

I find it interesting, that not many players are taught how to use the “fake pass” to engage the opponent into a move and then whilst they are lured out of the way, or up in the air, change the pass to deliver directly to their team mate.
As players get older or higher in grades, the defence play increases and becomes more tactical. This is when the fake is a great skill to have mastered and applied as needed.

BALANCE - it’s one of the major skills that supports everything we do, even not netball related things.
Your players need to understand that balance helps them stand tall and strong, run strong leads, creates better passing and less footwork errors.
Teach your players that when they catch and land, to know their grounded foot and then move the other to get a good solid stance for “balance”.
This way they are taller and in control to see their options on the court better, then they have the full body strength, not just the arm/s to be able to execute the pass.
Balance when we shoot is vital to correct aim and follow through of the shot and then to rebound.
It’s also critical to body on body contest like GS/GK when they are protecting space or closing options. Unbalance players cause more contact and obstruction.

Start then young on how important balance is.

Have a nice day.

It’s time to start thinking about netball again! We have had our holidays and festivities, possibly lost any fitness that we had acquired during the 2024 season too. 😜
The calendar says it’s back to reality now and work, school, uni etc are calling us back into our usual routines and all rest and relaxation is over! 😣
Soon our clubs will be advertising sign on days, then trials and selections for team allocations.
What that means is we need to get ourselves a little fitter and back to using the netball with a friend or against a wall, so when the trials do come we don’t feel so flat and loss of skill set.
It’s so exciting! The thought of a new team and new season and playing our favourite game again. A new coach, possibly learn new skills or strategies and best part of all, make more new friends.
Bring on 2025 Netball Season! 😎

Do you find that everyone is obsessed with being an “elite” netball player and forgetting the tens of thousands of netballers that play for fun and enjoyment of the game and friendships.

Let’s get back to having fun instead of pushing our kids or burning them out. Then the game loses them all together.

Did everyone watch the SSN prelim final on Saturday?

How exciting that was and such a good come back push by Fever. However, the Vixens won with true netball skills and sticking to their game plan.

Now one game left and our favourite game is over for the year.

I wish we had at least 2 more teams in the competition so we got more to watch.

How do you deal with a player who refuses to join the team culture?
We would try encouraging the player to get involved. We would privately reach out to see if there are any issues we can help with, and we would follow up with reinforced positive actions.
So what next? What if the player just won’t try or doesn’t want to fit in with the team.
What would you do?

PERFECT PASSING
Coaches - have you ever noticed that we get our teams to do drills and skill training and then as soon as it goes to a game situation it’s gone?

My example at the moment is passing. Yep just basic passing. We have hundreds of drills for it and we do it constantly, yet in a game it is so important on so many levels. Yet players still get it wrong.

An unforced error when the pass doesn’t work. Such as, the choice of pass, the speed and power in it, the timing, the placement of the pass. Just to name a few.

Some players just have the natural grasp of placement and the passes needs. Also adjusting to the location of the defender, others will need to be taught and reinforced this over and over.

For coaches it is frustrating. We say and do the correct things but players just need to learn it in their own time. The more they play and experience the issues the more they (hopefully) improve.

I actually have poor passing as one of the stats I take. I use that to show the player for growth and education.

If we cannot keep our own possession of the ball, then we don’t have many chances of scoring.