How to improve agility in netball
Speed and agility training can be great fun. It’s a good opportunity to work on your foot speed, quickness and change of direction.
Why is speed and agility important in netball?
Agility is massively important in netball. Netball players are constantly accelerating and decelerating at speed. Sudden direction changes and quick actions can cause injuries to the body if we are not prepared for the load. However, athletes who train for agility find stability even while changing direction.
Possessing speed on the court is also a huge strength. Even if you’re already pretty speedy, there are lots of things you can do to keep improving.
In attack and defence, speed and agility is a key skill.
In attack, you need speed to change direction and agility to get away from your defender to receive the ball and stay in possession. You also need the speed of passing to get the ball flowing through the court.
In defence, speed of movement is crucial to stay with your attacker and have the speed to move off and go for the interception.
How do you practice speed and agility in netball?
To practice speed and agility in netball you don’t need a lot of equipment! You can practice at home in a relatively small space.
Here’s one idea for a drill to do at home (use jumpers instead of cones if you need to!)
Nailed that?
try our drill variation exclusively available for Members.
How to improve agility in netball?
Doing short, 10-minute sessions, or adding speed drills into your warm-up is a great way to keep practising your foot patterns at high intensity throughout the season.
To help you improve your agility in netball we’ve added over 15 speed and agility drills to our Member’s Area. Try them now.
Find the drills in Player Developer > Speed and Agility.
Speed and agility netball drills with ball
Our favourite speed and agility netball drills with a ball are called Circle Drills.
For this drill you’ll need:
- 12 – 15 cones
- 1 x ball
- 2 x players
How to do this speed and agility netball drill with a ball:
Place 12-15 cones in a large circle
The feeder stands at one side with the ball
Player on the opposite side
Player sidesteps their feet around the bottom of the circle while keeping their eyes on the feeder with the ball
The feeder drops the ball to the left or right side at shoulder height
The player has to react and try to get to the ball in one bounce by going around the cones.
The best bit about this speed and agility netball drill is the progression of the drill. The progression video is exclusively available in our Member’s Area. Join now.
Individual netball agility drills
Individual netball agility drills can be fun. Challenge yourself by seeing how many reps of a certain drill you can do in 30 seconds, as you get stronger and fitter – are you able to complete more reps?
Acceleration and deceleration can cause injuries to the body if we are not prepared for the load. Practising speed and agility drills at home in between training sessions and matches will help prepare your body for the movement patterns in a game.
Our favourite individual netball agility drill requires 5 cones and some space to run in.
For the full video and 2 x variations of this drill check out our Member’s Area.
How to improve agility in netball, About the Author:
Nat Panagarry
Nat is a Superleague captain and has, to date, won the Grand Final twice with her team.
Nat is also a Performance Coach Consultant at Elite Netball Academy and works with our players in weekly academy classes and at camps to improve performance on and off the court.
