T it le: Defending Principle: Developing Stage 1 Defence - T ight Shadow Defence! Dat e: Venue: Net ball Co urt Durat io n: 1 o ur 30 Minut es No o f Players: Minimum o f 14 playe rs Sessio n Go als: This session looks to devlop and progress your players existing defending skills and links to the key defending priniciples o f denying space and limiting attacking o ptio ns. Players will home in on their stage 1 defending and start to make links to stage 2 and 3. This sessions takes players through a series of fun but challenging and competitive practices to challenge and drive players to further develo p their essential defending skills for the up and coming season. Abilit y / Level: Beginner - Int erdiat e Equipment : Bibs, co nes, whist le and net balls Perso nal Co aching Go als: To effectively get yo ur players to thinking abo ut their o wn defensive skills and develop their stage 1 defence to deny space and limit the attacking options. Tim e Tas k / Activity / Ses s ion Content Coaching Points Warm Up Rat s and Rabbit s Split players into pairs. No ball is needed to s tart with. Both players s tart on the backline of the court. The blue players are the attackers and are the rats. The white players are the defenders and are called the rabbits. On the com m and (whits le blow) ' Rats ', the rats run to the next 1/3 line with the rabbits chas ing them. Both players need to be ready, on their toes and their weight leaning forwards ready to drive to take the ball and beating their opponent. Encourage players to us e their change of pace to beat their opponent. Players need to be ready to react to the ball s traight of the whils t and anticipate the call. Return to the centre line and give the next com m and. Players have 2-3 attem pts at their pos ition then they s witch over. This warm up gam e is fun and fas t pace as is s ure to get your players heart rate rais ing. A good way to m ake this m ore interes ting is to put an object i.e. the ball on the third line to give the players s om ething to aim for. This gam e lends nicely to the defending principles as gets your players thinking about their footwork and beating the attack to the ball to gain pos s es s ion and ultim ately gain t on goal. 1/5
For the LA (less able): Decreas e the dis tance of the drive half way to the third line The attacker s hould face away from the third line to give the defender an edge For the MA (m ore able): Increas e the dis tance for players to drive Players face in the oppos ite direction - adds a turn to link into a real gam e s ituation Players m us t drive out to an angle on oppos ite s ide then cut back in to drive to the line - dem ons trates a change of pace and direction which is needed in order to take an interception and lim it attacking options. Skill Develpment Pract ices Shado w St ance Keep the players in pairs, no ball is needed to s tart with. Label players A (attacker) and B (defender). Player A m oves quickly from left to right, us ing s m all s ide s teps while their partner tries to keep up by s hadowing them. Both players are facing each other to s tart with, then after a few goes the defender (player B) s hould have their back to the attacker. Then after another few goes then s tand on.then s witch roles. Ques tion your players be as king what s tance was m ore effective for the defender - which s tance was m ore s ucces s ful. Then allow players to have a few m ore goes s tanding s ide on as this is the correct and m os t s ucces s ful way to s hadow m ark in s tage 1 defence. This practice is a good tool to get your players thinking for them s elves to unders tandthe m os t effective way to m ark and s hadow their player. This is why the ques tioning is s o im portant ad allowing players to experience the 3 different players m ay m ark and finding out which on is the m os t effective for them s elves. Players need to light on their feet, head up watching the player and the ball in order to delay and lim it the attacking option. Encourage players to be ball s ide and inbetween the ball and the player. Players need to pus hing off their outs ide foot to change direction and keep up with the attacker. You can als o add a s tatic player in front of the two players who could hold 3 coloured cones up random ly and the defender m us t then call the colour out to ens ure the defender is watching the ball and the attacker - us ing thir peripheral vis ion! 2/5
Channel Shado w Runs Place cones down oppos ite each other to ens ure only a s hort dis tance for the attacker to drive s ide to s ide - gives the defender les s dis tance to cover Attacker m us t s tart pas s ive Players s tay in pairs and is an extens ion of the warm up practice. Players run in pairs along the length of the court. The defender runs alongs ide the attacker, trying to keep the attacker on the outs ide edges of the channel by turning their body as the attacker jogs / changes direction. Do this four tim es and then s wap roles. This practice follows on really well from the warm up practice as is an extens ion of the forward drive s hadowing. Players need to be on their toes and us ing their outs ide foot to change direction. Place cones oppos ite each other to m ap out a llonger dis tance for the attacker to m ove - defender has a longer ds tance to cover therefore needs to react and be on the ball Allow the attack to s tart m aing attacking drives forwards - defender m us t change their body pos tion to frce the attacker to te direction they want them to go and not give the attacker the upper hand Add a s tatic feeder/player in front of the 2 players either with a ball for players to try and delay the play or coloured cones for the defender to call out to ens ure they are watching both the player and the bll. The defender s hould be forcing the attacker onto the outs ide as this helps prevent them from cutting in and creating a dangerous attacking opportunity. Players need to be adjus ting their body to s heild and force their opponent to the outs kirts of the court. hils t keeping thier eye on the ball and their player. This will lim it the attacking options and hopefully force errors fo the attack. Only us e half the court ins tead of the full court Attacker is pas s ive then builds up to full s trength gradually Add feeders to the ins ide of the court and they can feed the ball to the attacker at anytim e and the defender m us t anticipate the feed and m ake s ure they are on ball s ide, between the ball and the player and m ake s ure they can s ee the player and the ball at all tim es 3/5
Fo llo w yo ur player Players continue to work in pairs (one defender, one attacker). The court is divided into 3 channels along the length of the court. The ball is placed in the center court channel. Players m us t jog, s print and dodge their way through each outs ide channel - with the defender trying to s tay between the attacker and the s tatic ball in the center of the court. Defender s hadows the attacker, keeping her on the outs ide of the channel. Start s lowly and build up pace gradually. On the coach' s whis tle players m us t s top where they are and the defender s hould take up a s tatic pos ition, Repeat a few tim es and then s witch over roles. This practice links nicely together with all previous practices as they all focus on delaying play and lim iting the attacking options, but this one gets your players thinking about how they would o thes e during an actual gam e and why it is im portant to force their players to the outs ide of the court and be ball s ide. Players need to ens uring they put them s elves between the player ad te bll at all tim es if they want to delay play and lim it the attacking options. Encourage players to think about the area they want to protect and where they want to force their attacker to go - outs ide of the court to hopefully force the ball out of court. Players need to s top the attacking player from driving into the circle and s top them from getting an attem pt on goal. Us e two thirds of the court only - to keep attention of the defender for a s horter periodof tim e and allows m ore recovery tim e Attacker s tarts pas s ive then builds up to full s trength when defender feels com fortable Attacker s tarts at full s trength s traight away Add extra s tatic feeders in the centre of the court to keep the defender on thier toes and anticipating the ball 4/5
Modif ied Game Running t he Gaunt let Split players into groups of 8 us ing the whole netball court. 2 defenders s tand in each s ection of the court. 2 attackers work their way down the court pas s ing the ball between them. They m us t m ake a given num ber of pas s es in each third before progres s ing to the next third. Defenders m us t s tay within their own third. Then the 2 attackers becom e defnders and the 2 defenders becom e attackers. This practice gives the players the opportunity to s tart to link the s tages of defence together i.e. s hadowing their player to apply pres s ure through the 1 m etre m ark to block the player from driving forwards towards goal. Encourage your players to keep talking to ens ure they cover the s pace and work together to force an error, deny he s pace and lim it the attacking options. Encourage defenders from the other areas to talk as well to create a link all the way down the court. Add an extra defender to overload the defence m akes it harder for the attack and gives the defence a chance to gel. Start without a ball s o defence are jus t trying to force the attackers to the des ired areas without worrying about the ball for the tim e being - add the ball when players feel confident. Add an extra attacker - by overloading the attack it increas es the intens ity for the defence Add an extra ball Ot her Co mment s: Evaluat io n: 5/5