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RECOVERY – THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR NETBALL WEEK?

Netball recovery
Recovery is crucial for netball performance.
Netball recovery

How much netball are you doing each week?

Between domestic training and games, rep training and games, various academies, school sport and extra sessions, we know plenty of players who are completing six or more sessions most weeks.

And that’s before including commitments with other sports, as well as study and work.

It’s a lot!

But how often do you feel like you’re running on empty, and that you’re just not able to give your best because your body’s had enough?

While training hard and often is essential when it comes to netball performance, the days you use for recovery and rest are just as critical as nailing those big court and fitness sessions.

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In fact, at certain times they’re arguably more important. And here’s why.

Improving fitness and performance is all about progressively being able to increase the load as the body adapts. But without adequate recovery you’ll simply never improve, as your body doesn’t have time to repair itself and make those gains.

The first thing that happens when you don’t allow your body time to recover is that any improvements begin to plateau. And secondly you start to get sick or injured, which sets you back further.

So if you really want to become the best netballer you can be, sometimes less is more.

With so many commitments pulling talented players in every direction, it’s often best to focus on the low-hanging fruit – the easiest and most accessible ways to recover, that give you the best bang for your buck.

NETBALL HEALTHY FOOD

QUALITY SLEEP

Ask any elite athlete what they rate as the most important part of their recovery, and if sleep isn’t number one, it’s probably number two.

While we all love our sleep, most of us don’t get enough of it, but given our bodies do their best repair work while we’re sleeping,

You should aim for eight to 10 hours per night. Getting less than eight hours can greatly increase the risk of injury and the likelihood that you get sick.

Getting enough sleep also has proven results when it comes to your reaction times, accuracy and skill development and concentration – all of which play a huge role in a quick skill game like netball.

HYDRATION

It might be boring, but drinking enough water is one of the best ways to ensure your body is able to recover.

The amount you need to drink varies from athlete to athlete, and also changes depending on temperature and the amount of exercise you’re doing, but on a normal day two litres is a good starting point.

When exercising, aim for half a litre to a litre every 30 minutes to an hour.

QUALITY FOOD

It’s always easy to reach for the packaged snacks in the cupboard or fridge.

But fuelling our bodies the right way is definitely an X factor when it comes to being able to back up and complete a lot of sessions each week.

We always advise to aim for a balanced diet that’s sustainable long-term. Eat as many whole, unprocessed foods as you can, and avoid the packaged stuff.

While treats are OK every so often, if you’re wondering why your body’s running out of gas most weeks, chances are you could be doing more for your nutrition.

As a starting point, look at protein-rich foods such as meat, eggs, dairy, beans, lentils and nuts, as well as vitamin-rich foods like fruit and vegetables.

Try it for a few weeks and see how you feel!

EXTRAS

There are many other recovery methods and devices out there, and they all have their place.

You can try massage, mobility, meditation/stress relief, hot/cold showers, compression garments and many more. But make sure these are the ‘extras’ in your recovery routine  – focus on quality sleep, eating well and hydrating first, and the others will take care of themselves.

It’s also important to remember that you can’t train every single day. A good target is to take two days off training per week.

Not every session needs to be a hard one. Sometimes we can really push and other times we need to have a different intensity and focus. A good session is not determined by how much you sweat!

Happy training 🙂

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HOW MUCH GOALING SHOULD YOU DO AT HOME?

NETBALL GOALING PRACTICE

NETBALL GOALING PRACTICE

It’s tough being a goaler sometimes.

You don’t hear defenders being told to practice their rebounding multiple times each week, or midcourters having to do extra sessions to make sure they’re hitting the goal circle.

But when it comes to being a goaler, often it’s an expectation that you’ll be putting up shots at home in your own time.

So how often should you be shooting?

We once read an article on Silver Ferns legend Irene Van Dyk (arguably the best goal shooter of all time) in which she which outlined her shooting program, which included at least 200 shots every day.

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Here’s a player who was the best in the world, and she was putting up 200 shots a day to make sure she remained the best in the world, and kept on improving.

Now, no one is expecting players to be shooting hundreds of goals every single day, but if you’re struggling with accuracy and consistency with your goaling on game day, it might be time to look at how often you practice, and the type of practice you do.

HOW MANY AND HOW OFTEN?

If your favoured positions are goal shooter and/or goal attack, unfortunately they come with some added responsibility that the other positions just don’t have: being that you’re the only players who can actually put the goals on the board.

For you guys, completing an extra couple of goaling sessions throughout the week is the bare minimum you should work into your schedule, if you really want to improve and perform consistently on game day.

Not everyone loves getting outside and putting up shots, but what’s worse: finding 15-20 minutes a couple times a week to do some goaling practice, or feeling crappy for days after a below-average shooting performance?

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At the very least you should be arriving 15 minutes before warm-ups at training and on game day to practice your shooting and get things grooved before taking the court. Outside of this, two sessions is the minimum your should aim to complete during the week, if you really want to improve.

SESSIONS WITH PURPOSE

Any shooting practice is better than no shooting practice, but it’s far more motivating to do your sessions when they’re planned, targeted and specific.

Putting up a hundred or more shots a day is great, but can you produce the same consistency when you’ve done five hard workloads before receiving the ball in the circle?

Giving each session throughout the week a specific purpose is a great way to stay motivated to put in the hard yards, particularly as most of the time you’ll be on your own.

Here’s an example of how you might split up three sessions throughout the week:

SESSION 1 – TECHNIQUE

Purely a shooting session, focusing on the technique of the shot and finding the groove in a variety of different shooting positions.

SESSION 2 – HEART RATE/FATIGUE

A session in which each shot or group of shots is preceded by 10-20 seconds of hard running or movement.

This could be footwork, sprints, goaler moves or any combination of those – the aim being to elevate the heart rate and breathing before you have to stop, steady and try to execute your normal technique when you’re fatigued.

Netball coaching drill starfish goaling

SESSION 3 – PRESSURE

The hardest aspect of shooting to recreate in training/at home is pressure, whether that be defensive pressure from an opponent, or mental pressure within the game itself.

Having a parent or sibling putting hands over the shot is a solid substitute for defensive pressure (particularly if you add some movement/fatigue before putting up the shot), and you can also create a bit of mental pressure by including little scenarios in the session.

Hitting a set number of shots in a row from specific areas or distances is a great way to subtly include pressure – miss a shot, you go back to zero and start from that spot again.

Even better – add a sprint if you miss, so you have to manage both pressure and fatigue within the same drill.

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PLANNING YOUR (SAFE) RETURN TO NETBALL

With Victoria now out of lockdown, most Australian states and cities can now see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to returning to netball and community sport.

But while we’re all filled with excitement at the prospect of finally getting out on court, as a player it’s important to be mindful to approach this period with caution and a well-planned strategy.

With only a few months of 2021 left, clubs and competitions are rushing to squeeze in a raft of training sessions, matches and trials within a very short period of time.

The physical (and mental effects) of being locked down are different for everyone, but it’s safe to say that very few players are conditioned to be returning immediately to their pre-lockdown netball schedule.

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The risk of injury when returning to sport after last year’s initial lockdowns was significant. This time around, after more than 18 months of irregular training and minimal body contact, the risk is at an all-time high.

But we DO want to get back out there, so how can you do it as safely as possible?

SLOW AND STRUCTURED

Jumping straight back into hard conditioning sessions is a recipe for injuries.

Instead, your return should involve a gradual and structured reintroduction to netball, based on your current level of conditioning/deconditioning (how much you were/weren’t able to do during lockdowns).

Increases in the frequency, duration, volume and intensity of your sessions should be slow – some days you might feel like a million bucks, but resist the urge to go too hard, too soon. Stick to your plan.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Understandably, you’ll want to do every session you possibly can once you return, and particularly with trials on the horizon for many clubs.

But make sure you listen to your body, monitor how it responds to the sessions and don’t place pressure on yourself to progress too quickly!

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Ongoing soreness, niggles and difficulty in keeping up are all potential signs that you’re progressing too fast.

You might need to have longer rests between efforts and reduce the intensity and/or number of your sessions, and build up over a number of weeks to allow your body to adapt more slowly.

THREE-STAGE PLAN

Here’s a simple three-stage plan you can use to increase your chances of returning to sport successfully, and decreasing your chances of injury.

STAGE 1

  • Build the foundations
    • Work on progressively building your cardio through netball-specific running drills
    • Reintroduce resistance training to strengthen soft tissues
  • Focus on skill and movement development
    • Basic footwork and movement drills that get your body used to changing direction and pushing off on both legs.
    • Get a ball in your hands and work on some basic ball drills and reintroduce your jump/land and change of direction work in a controlled environment

STAGE 2

  • Start to work with others, progressively increasing the level of competition/contact with a defender/attacker
  • Introduce more dynamic training such as plyometrics and reaction/agility drills. Remember to start easy and slowly increase the intensity over time

STAGE 3

  • Move into matchplay scenarios within a team environment, incorporating your skill work with other factors such as decision making, timing, spacing, executing under pressure etc.
     
  • Initially, limit the court size in small-sided games as this allows you to reacquaint yourself with jumping, stopping, turning, and accelerating skills at lower speeds.
  • Progressively expand participant numbers and court size to increase game speed and intensify movement patterns.

Remember, progressing through these stages is dependent on how your body feels and reacts to the load, and will be different for every player. Always ensure you get adequate rest and recovery between sessions – hydrate, sleep and eat well.

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WHY STRENGTH TRAINING FOR YOUNG NETBALLERS IS A GOOD THING

Have you heard the one about strength training stunting kids’ growth?

Over the years we’ve heard every myth in the book when it comes to resistance training for younger players. So let’s set the record straight.

A well-designed, age appropriate strength program will have far greater benefits for a young netballer than holding off on starting strength training until their late teens or early twenties.

In fact, studies show there is no evidence of growth plate issues for young sportspeople who undertake a properly instructed strength program, and that these programs will almost certainly help improve bone density during those key ‘growing’ years, and help prevent future injuries.

Statistically, netballers are far more likely to injure themselves playing the sport itself than they are undertaking resistance training.

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NetballNow.com’s strength and conditioning expert Rob Nardelli, who has worked in high performance netball programs including the Victorian Fury, has trained dozens of aspiring and elite netballers who are rehabilitating injuries, and the overwhelming majority of them were injured on the court, rather than off it.

“As long as players are instructed on correct techniques and only load the muscles to a level that’s appropriate to their age and overall strength, there can be huge benefits for their development and performance,” Nardelli says.

“We design our programs to be largely bodyweight based, with simple exercises that can be performed properly and safely by young players. It’s amazing how much their overall movement improves with some consistent basic resistance training.”

So why the reluctance from some to embrace strength training for kids?

Injury concerns aside, some argue that it’s simply not necessary for young athletes to load their muscles and bones beyond what they would by simply playing the sport.

But what we now know is that starting properly structured and controlled resistance training early in life can lead to increased athletic performance in future years, thanks to stronger bones, increased strength, improved balance and greater flexibility.

That’s not to say that athletes who don’t start strength training until later in life can’t excel, but their chances may be lower.

Netballers who undertake some sort of resistance work generally see improvements in speed, jumping, landing, mobility and stability.

They also start to develop habits, discipline and accountability that will help them later in life, which is just as important as the physical benefits.

Above all, it’s important that players enjoy their program, or they won’t stick at it for very long.

Happy training!

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WHY LONG RUNS FOR NETBALLERS ARE (MOSTLY) A THING OF THE PAST

If you’ve ever been put through a netball pre-season as a player (we can hear your groans now!), chances are you’ve been subjected to your fair share of long running.

That is, continuous runs over multiple kilometres at predominantly the same speed and level of intensity.

But is long running the best type of training as you try to build your fitness to improve your on-court performance?

We asked netball strength and conditioning coach Scott Graham, who is currently working with the Geelong Cougars in the Victorian Netball League and has previously worked with Melbourne Vixens’ underpinning program the Victorian Fury.

Now, the Cougars and Fury players are elite netballers who train multiple days each week both on and off the court.

So, of course, there’s usually an underlying standard of fitness for athletes at that level, built up over many years of playing and training.

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However Graham says that even for junior athletes and netballers at lower levels, the times have changed and training has moved away from good old 3km or 5km runs.

When you consider that studies show that even the most dynamic netball positions (midcourters) have almost three seconds of rest for every one second of work on-court, it makes a lot of sense.

NETBALL = ‘GO, HAVE A REST, GO AGAIN’

For Graham, long runs simply aren’t sport-specific enough.

“Anyone who prescribes long running doesn’t understand the purpose of a high-intensity, intermittent, power-based sport, which is what netball is,” he says.

“Netball is ‘go, have a rest, go again’.”

“If you’re doing continuous activity, you’re not conditioning them for that sport.”

VARY THE INTENSITY

Graham says that while it’s OK for netballers to run non-stop for more than a few minutes at a time, it’s critical that the intensity fluctuates between periods of hard work and periods of recovery, just like in a game of netball.

“You can do continuous conditioning, but the intensity has to fluctuate,” he says.

“Whether it fluctuates within the drill or between the drills, that’s how you’re going to condition your athletes the best for this particular sport.”

For example, a short period of hard running or an intense drill might be followed by a recovery period of slow jogging or complete rest, before the next period of hard work starts.

WHAT ARE GOOD WORK-REST PERIODS?

Graham builds his initial pre-season periods around working the players at a rate that’s slightly above what will be required of them in a game.

In this way, actually playing a game should be a breeze, because the players are already accustomed to having shorter periods of rest than what they’ll get in a game.

“We operate initially in pre-season on a 20-second work, 10-second rest ratio with our running conditioning,” he explains.

“We never do anything higher than that. That’s a 2-1 work rest ratio, so they’re already training above what they typically experience in a game – they’re already training harder than they play.”

“Then later in pre-season we shift to a 15-second work, 15-second rest ratio, so a 1-1 work-rest ratio.

WHAT COULD A RUNNING SESSION LOOK LIKE?

The beauty of training at a higher intensity for shorter periods of time is that your running sessions won’t take anywhere near as much time as a traditional long run.

And when you’re trying to stick to a holiday fitness program or pre-season program, you’re far more likely to do it if you consistently if you can do your running in 15-20 minutes, rather than 30-40 minutes of non-stop running without a break.

Using Graham’s initial pre-season breakdown, a potential running session to build the blocks for fitness could be:

  • 5min warmup jog
  • 3mins of: 20secs high intensity running, 10secs rest
  • Rest 1min
  • Repeat 3min set another 3 times, with 1min rest in between

The set requires well under 20 minutes of running, including a five-minute warm-up, and in addition to being more sport-specific and training your body to recover quickly during periods of rest, the sessions – while still tough – are far more palatable than 5km of pounding the pavement.

WHAT ABOUT ON THE COURT?

We use a similar theory when planning our netball fitness drills and ball work – players will work for short periods of time, often with a partner, followed by a similar period of rest.

Working in pairs is handy, as it provides built-in periods of equal rest. Just make sure you’re working at your maximum capacity during the work periods!

Of course, when it comes to netball fitness, any running is better than no running. If you want to take yourself for a 6km run on a Sunday morning, who are we to stop you? And it certainly won’t do you any harm. But as Graham says, when it comes to fitness for netball it’s about training smarter, not just longer and harder.

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“I’VE BEEN TOLD I’M TOO SHORT – SHOULD I TRIAL IN A DIFFERENT POSITION?”

It’s often around this time of year that netball players and parents reach out for advice when their coach or someone within their club tells them they need to trial in a new position.

Usually it’s because someone views them as “too short” for circle defence or the goal circle, so they’re pushed towards the midcourt under the premise that they’ll be written off as a goaler or defender at higher levels.

There are a few problems with that.

For starters, in many cases the coach or club pushing that player into a new position has done very little in terms of developing that player in the new role throughout the year. They simply reach the end of the season and say, “You need to trial for midcourt”, which is doing the player more than a disservice.

Our overarching advice is for players to trial in the positions they’re best at, most experienced in and most comfortable with, rather than second-guessing themselves or allowing themselves to be told that they’ll never progress because they lack height or a particular trait.

For players and clubs considering or advising on positional changes in the lead-up to a trial or a new season, here are a few things we often tell them.

TRIAL IN YOUR ‘HAPPY PLACE’

Trials are about players showcasing to the selectors what they can do best.

By playing out of position, often they’ll be doing the opposite: showing the selectors what they can’t do well right now. While the player knows they lack experience in that position, the selectors often won’t, and can only judge based on what’s presented in front of them.

What else would you expect when a circle defender has never played a minute in wing defence and all of a sudden they’re asked to chase a wing attack around, defend around the circle edge, avoid going offside and try to work in partnership defensively with their teammate in centre?

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Inevitably they’ll look lost, they’ll probably be beaten consistently and will wind up being selected in a lower team than what they might have been if they’d trialled in a position they’re comfortable in.

So our advice to players is always to put down the positions where they’ve played the majority of their best netball, as trials is not the place to try something completely new.

IS HEIGHT EVERYTHING?

Is there really no future for a player in their chosen position because they lack height?

Defensively, a lack of height will present challenges if opponents are a foot or more taller, but if Super Netball has taught us anything, it’s that in the goal circle it doesn’t matter what you lack in height – good players will always find a way to perform in their best position (hello Georgie Horjus and Gabby Sinclair).

Short, zippy goalers often have strengths and attributes that other players don’t, so rather than writing them off, could they instead be the gamechanger that sets your team apart from other teams that have selected based on height?

LET THE SELECTORS DECIDE

Good selectors know talent when they see it, but players need to give them the chance to see that talent.

Selectors will often view a goaler or circle defender and end up selecting them as a midcourter because they see potential for them at that position, which is fine if that selection has been discussed with the player.

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But rarely will you see a midcourter selected as a goaler, simply because it’s very hard to select a goaler without seeing them shoot (or knowing they even play there).

So rather than putting the selectors in a position where they can only guess at a player’s true strengths, players are far better to play where they can shine, allowing the selectors to see them at their best and determine where the best position might be within the club’s program.

AS A CLUB/COACH, PLAN FOR TRANSITIONS

Don’t get to the end of the year and send a player off into the wilderness of the next age group with an instruction that they should move into a new position.

If you think a player’s future lies in another position, it’s incumbent on you to provide them with opportunities to train and play there throughout the year.

Firstly, it will begin to help you answer the question as to whether that player really does have the ability to take on the new position, and secondly it will prepare them for that change before they’re thrown in the deep end against bigger, stronger players.

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