Possession drill · 11 seconds
The Pool Table
A possession drill worked in a rectangle about ten metres by seven. Six players stand on it and never move: four on the corners and one on the middle of each long side, which is where the name comes from, because that is a pool table. There are no cones. The six players standing there are the rectangle. One worker goes in the middle with the ball and two defenders go in with her, and her job for the whole go is simply to keep it. Netball gives her no way to run out of trouble. There is no dribble, and the ball has to leave her hands inside three seconds, so the only answer is to give it to one of the six and move. The two defenders follow the ball, which is precisely what opens the space behind them, and the outside player puts it straight back into that space. Then she does it again off somebody else. A worker who favours one corner gets shut down in about four passes, so the drill is only worth doing at pace and across the whole box: six touches, one off each of the six, and nobody standing admiring it. After a while the three in the middle swap out with three of the six and it starts again.
Instructions
- Six stand in a rectangle, four corners and the middle of each long side, like the pockets on a pool table. They are the walls and they do not move
- One worker goes in the middle with the ball, two defenders go in with her
- She keeps it. That is the whole objective, and the two defenders are trying to take it
- Use any of the six. Out to one of them, and straight back in
- Pass and move. You cannot run with it, so the pass is what buys her the space, not her feet
- Use the whole area. Working one corner gets you shut down in about four passes
- Keep it quick. Three seconds to release, same as a game
- Swap all three over after a while: the two defenders and the worker come out, three of the six go in
Progressions
- Swap all three in the middle with three of the six, so everybody works and everybody defends.
Building netball lineups in seconds
Set your team sheet, plan the rotations, and share it with the squad before you leave the car park.
