Woolworths futureFERNS Year 7 & 8 provides young Netball stars with the opportunity to convert their fundamental movement skills to foundation Netball skills and refine their understanding of the game principles. The development of and success in any sport requires a solid core of foundation skills. The focus for this age group is the transition from the ‘learn’ to the ‘participation’ stage. This level needs to cater for a wide range of skill levels and aspirations, as players develop at differing rates, whilst also having different aspirations from performance to social.
Enjoyment and fun are still key drivers for participation but, at the same time, performance, challenge and improvement are often key motivators. To ensure children have the opportunity to apply their skills and stay motivated, competitive events are recommended but the emphasis is still on improving skill and tactical development.
At this point, the pathway may begin to split to recognise a development/talent pathway and a social pathway. It is critical that Netball continues to cater for all players and must acknowledge that players will move from one pathway to another. As a result, two competition pathways are proposed:
(1) A development/traditional pathway – 7-a-side standard Netball format
(2) Introduction of recreational Netball – targeted at social participation or at those new to Netball (currently in development).
Diversification of sporting opportunities is still encouraged and enables each child to develop a broad range of sport skills. It may be tempting to specialise at this age but this should be avoided as this can be detrimental as we now understand that it is more important for young people to master basic movement skills as well as sport-specific skills, as these underpin physical literacy. Premature specialisation promotes one-sided development and increases the likelihood of injury and burn-out.
This resource has been produced to assist the development of Year 7 & 8 Woolworths futureFERNS players. It focuses on developing the basic Netball skills, including the specialist skills of shooting, defence of shot and rebounding, which are the foundation stones of a great Netball player. The programme is sequential, developing a series of skills and tactics, each one building on the other. The activities included help to improve the appropriate fundamental skills and tactics for this stage of development.
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