Pre-Season Pro

Post 3 in our rules series and this one is going to be the most contested. Pun absolutely intended! 😏

Contact in netball is one of those rules that looks straightforward on paper and feels completely different when you’ve had one too many elbows in your side. So let’s break down what the rulebook actually says.

Interference — any physical contact that unfairly affects an opponent’s play, whether accidental or deliberate. Eg. pushing, grabbing, holding, leaning, knocking, hitting, or placing your hand on a ball that’s already in someone else’s hands. To be penalised, the contact has to result in loss of the ball, interference with a passing or shooting action or a change in body position that puts the player at an unfair disadvantage. Incidental contact that doesn’t cause any of those things? Fair contest. Play on.

Causing contact— if an attacker has jumped and caught the ball, they must be permitted to land where they jumped from or in the trajectory of the pass. Opponents must yield that landing space. (However, you cannot intentionally move into a stationary opponent when jumping and catching the ball!) You can’t position yourself so close to a player that they literally cannot move without touching. Nor can you step into the path of a moving player so quickly that they don’t have time to stop or change direction. The faster they’re moving, the more space and time you have to allow.

As a player, you can absolutely work within these rules and work them well. Strong body positioning, getting to your spot first, holding your ground legally, understanding when incidental contact is just fair contest and not a penalty.

But umpire interpretation will always vary. What gets called at elite level is not always what gets called on a Saturday morning. So knowing how to adjust your game to the umpire you’ve got on any given day matters just as much. 👀

And umpires, consistent application of these rules, especially around incidental contact vs contact to be penalised, is what keeps the game fair and the players trusting your calls. 😉

Did you learn something new in this series? Let us know below! 👇

Gotta love Mum’s full post-match review 🫠😂

Feeling fatigued in the fourth? Your glycolytic system is likely to blame.

Welcome to Episode 3 of 🧬 The Netball Science Series 🧬

Today, we’re talking all things energyyyy.

So at any point in a netty game, our bods are drawing on one of three energy systems to keep us moving.

⚡ ATP-PC system (aka the phosphagen system)
Your most explosive tank. This powers single, all-out efforts like your first sprint out on the centre pass, your biggest jump. Lasts about 10 seconds, then it’s spent. Feels like a burst, instant, powerful, and gone almost as fast as it came.

🔥 Glycolytic system (aka the anaerobic system)
This is netball’s main tank. This tank fuels every sprint, contest and explosive effort longer than 10 seconds, AKA pretty much everything you do on court. It works fast, but it also produces waste faster than your body can clear it. We allllll know that burning feeling in your legs and your lungs screaming, especially late in a game.

🌬️ Aerobic system (aka the oxidative system)
Your slow-burn, long-lasting tank. Powers you through recovery between efforts and lower-intensity moments. Can go for ages, but can’t produce power fast. Feels steady, this is what keeps you upright and moving for four quarters, even if it can’t win you the ball.

No let’s get to the 4th quarter fade… When your glycolytic system is maxed out, it’s not just your legs that suffer.

Your body starts triaging. Clearing that waste and keeping you moving becomes the priority and everything else gets moved down the priority list. That is usually decision-making, reaction time and moving well under pressure. Your body just doesn’t have the resources to spare on those things right now.

This is exactly why you can be winning all game but juuust can’t get over the line in the fourth.

If you’re a player who keeps fading late in games, this needs to be trained specifically, it doesn’t just come from “going for more runs.” That’s why it’s built into our In-Season and Pre-Season player programs.

Comment or DM “LEAP” and we’ll send you the link to our best-selling programs, for unreal netball performance. 🔥

Stay tuned for Episode 4! 👀

As requested, netball defensive rules explained… Part 2!

Are you allowed to put your hands on the ball, push the ball into a player’s hands, or push a player with the ball?

What happens if the defender is there first? If an attacker tries to push a defender?

Can a defender intentionally (or accidentally) knock the goal post while a player is shooting?

We cover all this and more!

Remember: there is always nuance and it will be down to individual umpires interpretation on the day. (These are exaggerated examples of the rules to make them clear and easy to understand!)

This is just to help clarify some questionable behaviours in our game — as to what is legal inside the rules… and what is not 👀

Part 3 coming soon, with all things body defence (holds, screens, zoning, blocks and where to put your hands!)

Did you know all of these? Any surprises?

Let’s talk defensive rules! As a career defender and umpire myself… the misunderstanding of these rules can be such a pain! So let’s clear up what the rules ACTUALLY are. 📖

• The 3ft rule
The 0.9m (3ft) distance is measured on the ground from the NEAREST part of the landing foot of the player with the ball, to the nearest part of the defending player’s grounded foot. This includes if they do a heel pivot… the defender HAS TO ADJUST to be 3 feet from the NEAREST point.

• What about when a goaler steps in?
Following on from the previous rule… We measure our distance from where their foot WAS when it was grounded. If they choose to lift the grounded foot and shorten the distance, defenders DON’T have to move. (Be careful here though! It’s tempting to step in too and shorten, but you HAVE to stay 3 feet from the original point!)

• Can a defender be inside 3ft?
Yes, but only if you’re not attempting to intercept, deflect or defend the ball or the player. You can be closer than 3ft provided there is no interference with the passing or shooting action. The moment you try to defend from inside that distance, it’s obstruction.

• Jumping to defend
A defending player at the correct distance can jump upward or toward the player with the ball and land within 3ft, provided it doesn’t interfere with the passing or shooting action. Once the ball is released, it is fair game for an intercept, but timing is everything if you’re jumping in for those!

• Intimidation
Waving a hand over or toward the face of a player is intimidation regardless of distance. (As well as yelling, sledging, stomping the feet or any behaviour construed as trying to obtain an unfair advantage!) A hand or arm moving toward the ball in a legitimate attempt to intercept is not intimidation, but these aren’t hard of fast rules, so each scenario may be different.

What else would you like to see us cover? Let us know in the comments! 👇

Welcome to Part 2 of 🧬 The Netball Science Series 🧬

Today we’re talking POWER. Everyone wants to be faster and more explosive on the netball court, but almost nobody actually knows what it is.

Power = Force x Velocity.

Force is how hard you can push. Velocity is how fast you can move. Multiply them together and boom, that’s power. 🤓

You can have all the force in the world and still have zero power on court. 🫣

Think of it like writing with your opposite hand. You can still write your name. But it’s slow, awkward and takes way more effort than it should because you haven’t trained the efficiency there.

Netball’s the same. If you’re getting beaten to the ball, out-jumped in contests, or your player’s covering every lead you make, it’s an often an efficiency problem.

Think about a car. It’s got velocity, foot flat on the accelerator. It’s got force, a full engine under the hood. But if the tyres are flat, none of that power gets to the road.

The power equation doesn’t work if there’s a leak somewhere in the system.

Those leaks might look like:
• Landing flat and heavy, costing you that split second before you push again. (Your player redirected their force quickly, so they’re already moving while you’re resetting.)
• Arms flailing instead of driving. (Their arms work with their legs, so they’re half a step quicker.)
• 3 shuffle steps when one sharp pivot would do it. (They plant and go, already gone by the time you’ve changed direction.)
• A loose, disconnected core, force going everywhere except where you need it. (They stay tight, so all their force goes where it’s meant to.)

None of these are strength problems. They’re technique leaks that stop your power from showing up on court. 😮‍💨

So no, more plyo and sprints isn’t automatically the answer. It’s nailing the BASE movements before we load them up (eg. Perfecting the landing before we add the jump.)

This is exactly what’s baked into our player programs. Heading into pre-season or finals? Make this your non-negotiable so you’re not the one left a step behind.

Comment “LEAP” and we’ll send you the link!

Stay tuned for PART

This isn’t for the mums waiting for the perfect time, more space, or less chaos.

This isn’t for the ones saying ‘I’ll start when things settle down.’

(My kids are 2 and 5… And I have not had a single day since giving birth that feels like it’s all “calmed down” 😅)

This is for the mums doing it IN THE MIDDLE of it all.✨

The ones training with toddlers running around. The ones squeezing sessions into nap times, lounge rooms, while your whole house is being turned upside down. The ones who are doing a workout at the end of their bed, at 8pm with only the light of a streetlight, because that was the only pocket of time they could carve out today. (My current reality!) The ones who don’t need perfect conditions, just to actively choose to show up.

The empowered mums who know their comeback to netball starts with a strong foundation. 💪
Who prioritise their strength, their body, and their energy because they know it impacts everything.
The mums who want to step back on court feeling strong, confident, and ready.
The mums showing their kids what discipline, consistency, and self-respect actually looks like.

Yes, everything looks different now. It’s definitely not easy. And yes, our default setting is often EXHAUSTED. 🥱

But, that doesn’t mean we need to lower our standards. We still get to set the same standard as we did pre-kids of: “Can we show up for ourselves?” (Even if it looks different.)

And when we set that standard of YES… Everything changes. 🥹

We designed our Postpartum program for mums who wanted to get back to netball because what I wanted didn’t exist.

It’s a program that you can do in small pockets of time, from home, you don’t even need gym set-up. We know there is no such thing as ‘perfect conditions’ any more but we created this for the mums who want to come back to netball stronger, fitter and are committed to showing up.

So if you’re ready to return to netball feeling powerful, not patched together… DM us or comment LEAP and we’ll send you the link 👑

Playing again gives me time that I’m not ‘mum,’ I’m just me. I’m back playing the game I love with the girls. Trust me, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself. 🥰

— Em

We bang on about how flipping important Strength and Conditioning is for netball… so we thought we’d prove it. 😏 

Welcome to Part 1 of 🧬 The Netball Science Series 🧬

Today we’re talking all things Motor Recruitment, soooo, imma start with your warm ups.

Straight line jogging. High knees, butt kicks, hamstring scoops, lunges, leg swings. A bit of short sprint work. Passing with a partner. Then straight into four corners while the goalers put up shots.

Everyone has their jumpers off, so it’s a good warm up yeah? 🤷‍♀️

Ahhh, slight problem… It’s not very ‘netball,’ so it’s going to be leaving SO MUCH performance on the table.

There’s no lateral movement. No change of direction. No landing mechanics. No real acceleration or deceleration. Nothing above a moderate intensity. And nothing that asks the body to react the way it has to react in an actual game.

When your brain wants a muscle to work, it doesn’t fire every motor unit at once. It recruits them in order, smallest and slowest first. This is called the size principle.

Your low-threshold, slow-twitch fibres switch on for anything easy like walking, jogging, light passing. But your high-threshold, fast-twitch fibres (the ones who’re in charge of all the sprinting, jumping, and explosive change of direction) only get recruited when the nervous system receives a demand big enough to justify switching them on. That means high force, high speed, or a sharp reactive stimulus.

If your warm-up never produces that, those motor units never fire. Your players’ literal fastest, most powerful fibres are sitting there switched off, because nothing in the last fifteen minutes told the brain it needed them. 🫣

That’s why your team looks flat for the first quarter. That’s why it takes them ten minutes to “find their legs.”

It’s not a fitness problem… it’s literally just the wrong type of warm up.

This is exactly what we’ve built into Netball Explosive: a specific speed, power and agility framework designed to get your team’s nervous system firing before the first whistle. Comment “EXPLODE” and we’ll send it through.

Anything you want us to c

Bad day to forget a hair tie 🙃