Group Netball Shooting Drills - 3 Awesome Drills To Try

Berri Neil talks us through 3 of her favourite group netball drills for shooters to practice holding, rolling and circle entry.

All drills need four people – let us know if you try these drills by tagging @elitenetballacademy on social media.

Netball Shooting Drill One:

The Hold

This shooting drill will:

Strengthen your hold
Help you pick up the back defender
Help you get used to facing a 2 on 1
Create space in the circle
Be a good option for the feeder

For this netball shooting drill, you’ll need four players. Split the circle in half and place a defender in either half. Have a feeder at the top of the circle and an attacker (shooter) between the two defenders.

Get the two defenders to simultaneously drive slowly on a straight line forwards and backwards towards the feeder making sure the defenders never get parallel to one another and one is always slightly more in front of the other. As the defenders move, the shooter should constantly adjust their body angle and hold to pick up the back defender as they swap over.

When the feeder sees a clear line to the attacker, the feeder can send the ball into the backspace.

If there is a post, the shooter can turn and shoot.

Netball Shooting Drill two:

Rolls

This drill will:

Improve your rolls
Improve the timing of your rolls
Improve your footwork

For this netball shooting drill, you’ll need four players. Two feeders standing opposite one another with the space of one netball third between them.

An attacker (shooter) and defender are in the middle. The aim is for the attacker to practise rolling into the backspace.

The attacker starts facing a feeder, in front of their defender, and practises rolling into the backspace. The feeder places the ball into the backspace. Repeat until comfortable and make sure you practise rolling on both sides.

Ask the defender to work at 50% to begin with. Up the intensity as the attacker (shooter) gets better at the drill.

Timing is important. You don’t want the attacker to roll too far away from their defender giving them space to intercept the ball. Instead, the attacker should focus on feeling their defender the whole way around the roll so they can play off into the backspace once the ball has been released.

Netball Shooting Drill three:

Circle Entry

This shooting drill will:

Practice front cuts
Practice back cuts
Improve movement in the circle
Build connections with feeders
Help you get used to facing a 2 on 1

The final netball shooting drill looks at circle entry. For this drill, you’ll need four players. One feeder on the circle edge, an attacker (shooter) with the ball on the other side of the circle and two defenders in the circle.

The attacker (shooter) with the ball, swings the ball across the circle and practises either a front-cut or a back-cut to receive the next pass in shooting range. The type of cut you practise depends on where the defenders are in the circle and how close to the post you want to be.

The attacker (shooter) can take the holds and rolls from the previous drills to add more variety to this drill. They can also receive as many passes from the feeder as they need to get closer to the post but the idea is to do it with only one pass if you can. Use split landings to get closer to the post and also test yourself by shooting from range.