Thursday, September 03, 2015

Benefits of Netball

        Girls, you should know that netball helps you a lot in maintaining your health. Like seriously. Since netball is a type of sport, it gives a lot of benefits to the players like for example health benefit and social benefit. If you want to live longer, you better stay fit and healthy.

          Netball has one of the fastest-growing participation levels of any sport, and with its fast-paced, intensive style providing a range of health and fitness benefits, it's easy to see why. It's aso one of the most popular team sports.

The pace of a netball game means it's a great calorie burner - you're looking at burning around 450 calories during an average game, which is pretty impressive. Netball is also great for toning your legs - calves, thighs and buttocks all get a workout. Chest passes can also help tone the arms, shoulders, chest and back.

But while speed and agility are prized attributes in a netballer, being able to read the game is what keeps the pace up. Having a netball brain, and having a good understanding of the other players and anticipating what they will do, is highly prized. Netball is a challenge for the brain.

A game of netball is similar to a game of chess in that you have to work out your next move, and what your opponent is going to do. Netball is not just limited to outdoor games in winter. Many clubs offer twilight competitions in summer and, if you want to take your game indoors, competitions run virtually year-round. Indoor netball also offers the opportunity for blokes to play, with mixed nights running at most centres.

Netball has  much to offer - whether you're a defence or attack. 

Netball players

Good netballers need:
  • Core stability and balance helps with almost every aspect of attack and defence. Whether you're a shooter standing on one leg, a defender leaning in to guard the ball, or you just like to be able to leap and change position quickly, balance and core stability help improve your game and help you avoid injury. To improve your balance and stability, do strength exercises for the arms, chest and shoulder while standing on the opposite leg, do a twisting lunge holding a medicine ball or dumbbell, perform exercises on a Swiss ball or stand on a wobble board (or on one leg for 60 seconds, building up to doing it with your eyes closed). Make sure you include holding the plank position for up to 60 seconds at a time in your strength regime.
  • Explosive speed is needed to sprint into position, change direction suddenly and to leap up to intercept a ball. For this you need to include plyometrics in your training - jumping up stairs, leaping sideways or jumping over low hurdles. It's all about improving your power and your leg strength. Fartlek training, where you explosively sprint short distances, is also perfect for netballers. No matter what your position, you need to be able to get to where you're going faster than your opponent.
  • Endurance is essential if you want to maintain your pace for the whole game. Train by building up to running continuously for up to 20 minutes, only slowing down when you need to, then speeding up for a sprint.

For netball, you need to keep your muscles and ligaments strong and flexible, so a cross-training regime that incorporates strength and balance training is essential. While a good coach will do plenty of drills and training to improve your skills in the game, it's what a player does on the other days of the week that really give an added boost. Professional netballers do lots of training off and on the court, including fitness, weights and agility training," says goal attack Susan Pratley.

Netball is tough on the knees, ankles and sometimes the lower back, depending on how you jump and land. So it pays to prepare.