What is a good drill for moving into space?

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

look up drills where there are lead and follow exercises.  thats where you have at least 3 players and where ever one person was the other person then takes up their place.  this teaches them to not take up the same space of another player, but to look to where someone is, and to where they are driving to, and then take up there space, and therefore not crowding the court.

you can also do an exercise where you have the girls line up in a zigzag pattern along the sidelines from goal to goal, (starting about halfway through the first goal 1/3) and then have the first player drive into the center line of the court of the goal third and catch the ball (pasted by you to start with), pivot, and then pass to the next player who does the same until it gets to the end of the court.  once they have passed the ball they return to their original spot.  once they can get the ball up and down the court, they can progress to running to the location on the sideline from the person who they pasted to (ie opposite sideline) and the last person who passes has to run all the way to the other side of the court.  (you can make it a competiion to see if you can get the ball down the court faster than the person who has to run).  if they girls handle this, then try set plays and they will get a real feel on how spreading out and not bunching and running into open space allows for really smooth play.

hope that helps.

tracyCoach, Australia

Games of"keepies off" are great for encouraging the girls to lead, particularly if you don't allow lobs.

Another variation is "Running the "Gauntlet". You have 2 or 3 defenders in each 3rd. Two attackers start an end 3rd, and pass the ball to each other 3 times before moving into the next 3rd. They work their way thru each 3rd, leading forwards for each pass. If they turn the ball over, they start again.

Any other attacking/defending drill, or drill that combines running and passing would also be helpful.

Cheers.

Sheena Coach, New Zealand

Thanks ill try it out and see what happens, they take a while to catch onto things though.