Netball Analysis of a Performer Above My Standard

The performer I have chosen to analyse is a much more experienced player than me. She has captained school teams, and has also played at Island level by being selected as part of the Jersey under 18’s squad. I watched her play in game situation with people of different abilities and also in several practice/isolated situations. Core Skills Passing and Receiving When receiving a pass she has very good control of the ball. Once caught the ball, she brings the ball into her body to protect it. She has good coordination and is able to control the ball with both one and two hands, according to the type of pass and the situation she is in on court.

This is great advantage to her in a number of situations during the game, as a two handed catch is slower, and by performing a one handed catch in a well defended area, the ball can be received, controlled then immediately released. Although she has good general control of the ball, I noticed on a couple of occasions during the game she infringed the repossession rule. She has good awareness of the game, and due to her experience she is able to read different situations and adapt very quickly to the direction, height and pace of a pass.

This often means jumping to receive the ball, and she never waits for the ball to come to her, and judges the timing of the pass ensuring that she is in the air at the correct time, in order to receive the ball whilst still in the air. Due to her experience, she is to successfully implement the full range of passes during the game. She is aware of the suitability of different passes and generally, chooses the correct situations for her choice of pass. Once received the ball, she is very quickly able to read the different cues and decide what would be the most suitable pass to make next.

All her passes have a lot of force, and she is used to receiving strong, hard passes. One of her main weaknesses when passing which I observed when she was playing amongst less able players, she found it very difficult to adapt the strength of her passes to suit the ability of her less able and experienced team-mates, which on several occasions caused them to panic and not catch the ball properly, giving possession of the ball to the opposing team. I observed her performing four main different passes in a practice situation, as well as in a game situation:

Chest pass: – She performs good technique in this pass and releases it at chest level, making it easy for her team mates to receive. Her pass is fast, accurate and controlled, and she directs the pass well using her fingers to follow the pass through. Shoulder Pass: – She often uses this pass and attends to favour it out of all the different passes. She achieves the required distance from the bass and has good accuracy, however sometimes she puts too much power behind the pass, therefore it travels too far. As she performs this pass well, she tends to sometimes use it in situations when a chest pass would be more effective.

Overhead Pass: – She is not particularly confident in performing this pass in a practice situation, and consequently she rarely uses it during a game. She misjudges the distance of the pass, and when releasing the ball she takes it too far behind her head causing it to loop and travel too high, cutting the distance travelled. Bounce Pass: – She plays mainly as WA, and she successfully uses this pass when feeding the ball to the shooter. She positions the ball well, ensuring that it doesn’t bounce too close or too far away from the receiver. Footwork

Her general footwork during a game is very accurate and efficient. As she is an experienced player her footwork movements are very smooth, and she has a good ability to receive the ball whilst on the move, keeping up the pace of the game. Her footwork is generally stable, however I think as she is a very confident player and moves very quickly, she overstretches in landing, therefore her weight is not evenly distributed so she overbalances. This causes her to have to rush her pass n, or take another step, causing her to be penalised for footwork.

She can successfully perform a pivot when required; however she is also able to land on her outside foot, which avoids her having to perform a pivot, therefore not wasting as much time. She has the ability to alter her footwork to suit the situation, and the pace of the game, however favours the use of the ‘one-two landing and rarely uses a two-footed landing. As she has been coached and played with people of a high ability she has developed the skill of performing more advanced echniques such as turning in the air, instead of performing a pivot once landed.

She is very confident performing such manoeuvres as part of a drill, however despite her experience doesn’t use them as often as would be beneficial to her in a game. Shooting She plays mostly in attacking positions, and has experience of playing as GS and GA. Her shooting is consistent particularly for close shots; however she is confident to shoot from a range of positions around the D. She always shoots holding the ball with one hand. This is not the suggested technique for shooting, however it is a technique that she has always used and it works successfully for her.

The one disadvantage with this technique that I noticed is that she cannot always achieve enough force when shooting from the edge of the D so her shot falls short. Although she is confident at shooting, she doesn’t always choose the correct option when in the ‘D’, she either makes unnecessary passes prior to taking a shot, or takes a shot when the better option would be to pass to the other shooter. Her stance when shooting is good and she seems to be in a steady and balanced positioning, enabling her to concentrate fully on her shot.

In game she did implement a step-shot successfully, in order to work around her player, and giving herself a better chance at scoring a goal. Moving Free She has a very good special awareness, and is good at finding a space on the court. She is very aware of the positioning of other players around the court, and she doesn’t crowd around the ball, but instead finds a space on the court where if the ball were passed to her, the centre of the game would be moved. She has fairly good agility and reaction times, however although aware of the game, there were some occasions where she seemed to lack in concentration.

When moving free form an opponent, she uses short bursts of speed, which are very effective in aiding her to move into an undefended area. She uses the dodge and fake techniques at some points during the game, however they do not always succeed. When dodging an opponent her stance is not low enough and she doesn’t seem to be ‘bouncy’. A big weakness in her moving free skills is due to her eagerness causing her to become slightly too aggressive, and she is penalised for obstruction or contact. She is a very confident player and her verbal communication is very clear and effective.

She is quite central to the game, and keeps all the players together. She is not too loud on court, and seems to only call for the ball when she is in a good position to receive it. Her arm signalling for the ball is generally clear, but she sometimes lacks in signalling when she wants the ball to be passed straight in front of her. As she is experienced, she is able to anticipate passes well, so is constantly aware of the position she is going to move to next. Defending Her favoured type of marking is a side stance, as she tended to use this technique in most situations during the game.

She positions herself so she is able to watch the ball, the events of the game and her opponent at the same time, which was successful for her in the majority of circumstances. As she is experienced, she is able to anticipate well where the opposing team is likely to make their next pass, giving her the opportunity to intercept the ball. She gets a fairly good height off the ground and has good timing, however doesn’t extend her arms fully enough t reach for the ball, so she doesn’t always manage to properly control the ball. She is not particularly suited to defence positions in the ‘D’ as she is not very tall.

When static marking in the ‘D’, she doesn’t get a full stretch cross to the ball, so doesn’t successfully block the shot, Her balance was stable in most circumstances, however on some occasions, she toppled forward, causing her to infringe the 3foot regulation. As before when moving free, she gets over determined to mark her opponent once again causing contact giving the opposing team a penalty pass. Although she is not very tall, when defending in the ‘D’, she is able to receive rebound very successfully. She jumps well to reach the ball, and controls the ball as required.