This month we asked a few of the teams from our Play Netball leagues why they choose to play in our leagues every week. The majority said they played in our leagues to help develop their netball skill (some also said because our leagues are fun)! As a social league provider who encourages everyone to partake no matter what their netball background is, we were not too surprised by this majority.
Regardless of this, we all love to win, it’s what makes netball such a competitive and enjoyable sport. Even if you play to win, you still need to work on improving your gameplay in order to achieve this. Follow these four simple steps to help achieve your team goals.
Tips on how to develop first, then win:
- Plan: Have your team talk to each other and agree on what you all want to achieve this season and how you’re going to achieve this. Discuss with each other what each individual wants to focus on and improve with, then decide what drills would work best for your team in order to accomplish those goals.
- Stick to your plan: There is no point formulating a plan if no one sticks to it! Even if your team isn’t winning, by focusing on those key skills, your players are getting the chance to develop, which is what this blog post is trying to point out. Additionally, if players start shifting away from your plan and ignore your overall goals, will this help enhance your long-term strategy as a team?
- Do work on your weaknesses: For instance, if your plan is to work on using more accurate passes, but when you’re playing a match some of your players struggle to get in front of their opponent, those accurate passes are not going to be as successful. Make sure you’re looking at all aspects to ensuring success within your plan.
- Practice! This last step is effectively in place in all these steps mentioned but thought it’s best to highlight it again, as practice is the only way your team will develop and become stronger players. Do practice with your team as often as you can. If it’s not possible for your team to meet up more than once a week, turn up to your Play Netball matches a little earlier and practice these drills before each match. This is also a great way to warm up!
The critical part is to stay on course with your skill development plan, even if the results might not be going the way you envisioned. What you do know is that by the end of the season you’ll have a group of players that are better prepared, more well-rounded and have the skills that will give them a better chance of progressing and winning future games.
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