My goal shooters have lost their mojo after our rand final.

Jess SamuelsCoach, New Zealand

Hi Christine,

At that age netball play starts to take on more of an adult game feel. Girls start to switch on to the game defensively and that could be why the shooters are now missing and shooting from far away. You need to teach the shooters and midi`s how to move in the circle and to look at how the midis are set up on court and the different passing and movement options they have round the court. I found simple drills like setting cones up at points in the circle, the shooters run to the cone and then turn and cut back in leaving the defender on their back, and recieving a pass close in to the goal had helped girls this age to understand that you need to drive to points in the cirle to lose the D to get into a comfortable shooting range.

Hope that helps

Allie CollyerCoach, Australia

When you are training and playing half court, try there having to be a certain number of passes before they can shoot.

my shooters (adults) both shoot long and mostly are accurate but have had a couple of off games. I felt we needed to practice getting closer to the ring so made them pass 5 times before shooting, then 3 etc. it made a very big difference to our game today. It was good to have the C and WA practice moving around the circle and also having the quick pass in and out for the goalers to get closer.

Good luck :)

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

yeah teach them a lot more movement around the circle, and that their C and WA are there to support them, and passing out and driving across the circle is a way to get closer to the goal. my shooters (also an U12 team) are just starting to work things out together. they had a bad habit that as soon as one of them had the ball they would pretty much stop and just stand there. now we have them blocking the defence player (kind of...lol) offering better passes, and not stop moving until the ball is in the goal. it is also about trusting the other players to be there for you. we did a whole lesson on trust and to just pass where you expect the person to be regardless if they were there or not. that lesson has changed out game heaps.

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

we just played half court and they had to just pass to where they person was expected to be, and generally always was anyway, but they use to hesitate so the opportunity was lost. it was a case of just push yourself to trust the other person. my players biggest issue was that i had a set of twins as my shooters, so they inheritantly knew where the other was going to be. when i broke that up this year, and moved a twin to WA and brought in a new GA and moved the GA to GS, the GS had to learn to trust in the new GA and this was an issue she struggled with in her reps team too. so just keep pushing her to just pass the ball to where she wants her GA to be, (and vice verse) and discovered that she actually was there majority of the time, was a game changer. so it wasnt a drill, it was just getting her to not think about the pass, but to just trust that her player would be there to support her.

Kim HaytonCoach, England

This looks like it would be a great drill to use with my U16s. The shooters can shoot but often the WA and C really struggle to find them in the circle. They get very frustrated and even though the ball eventually gets in, the shooters feel under pressure which affects their shooting so look to pass when they don`t need to. Our defensive stats were 3rd in the league but unfortunately 2nd from bottom for shooting stats which then had a massive impact on overall placing. Thanks for the tips.