Definition; Physical ability enabling a person to rapidly change body position and direction in an efficient/effective manner. I have to move and change direction a lot within netball and so agility is very important. I have good agility. Which is needed within my position as Goal Defence and generally within the game as its a quick, fast paced game and the ball is constantly moving from player to player and I always need to keep my eye on the ball and on the opposing teams Goal Attack (as that’s who I predominantly mark) to move with the game well and intercept passes and make my self open for the ball as often as I can.
Co-ordination: Definition; Being able to perform both accurate and smooth motor tasks involving a series of muscular contractions affecting a range of joints and therefore body positions. Coordination especially hand eye coordination is very important within netball and in my game of netball its important as I have to coordinate where I am to where my team members are to throw the ball to them.
Also when the ball is coming to me, I have to coordinate where my hands go to where the ball is likely to fall, for example if it is a high throw and is in the air when I am are ready to catch it I will need my hands up and my body tall and upright or I will need to jump for the ball so it doesn’t get intercepted. Alternatively if a bounce pass has been played I will need to get my body composition and hands lower, in the correct position and ready to receive the ball. Balance:
Definition; ability to keep centre of body mass above the support base its dependent on the coordination of ears, brain, muscles and skeleton and is also the awareness of space and bodies position within this space. As a goal defence player balance can be very important as I have to mark the person going to shoot as best as possible often this is by standing in front of them and leaning over them with my arms up however it can’t within 3 foot of the person shooting, so I need to balance well and make sure I don’t fall forward as if I do the opposition will be offered a free shot and I would have to stand behind the person taking it.
Also balance is needed generally within the game in any position as footwork is very important when you retrieve the ball you can not move your landing foot unless the ball has been thrown and so you need to pivot with your other foot to change your direction which can be hard and it is easy to loose your balance resulting in a free pass for the other team. Stamina: Definition; The ability to continually exert maximal effort from muscle groups over a long period of time without becoming fatigued.
As a Goal Defence player I am allowed in the centre third, the opposing teams shooting third and the “D” within that third, as this is quite a lot of the court and I am often running up and down the court at a good pace for a long time. It is good to have a lot of stamina as it stops me from getting fatigued easily and helps me perform efficiently for a longer period of time, throughout the game as it consists of 4, 12 minute quarters and is very intense and quick paced.
Suppleness: Definition; is the range of movements possible at a joint it affected by the type of joint and muscle attachment. As a goal defence player I do a lot of movement and change the position in which my body is in all the time it is good to have good suppleness as it enables me to move sufficiently and correctly. I may have to suddenly change direction depending on where the ball is and where the opposing person who I am marking (predominantly the goal attack) is.
I have to use my arms and legs mostly and to be able to quickly change what they are doing and where they are goin is very important and so I am glad I have good suppleness as I can do this with ease and without putting to much effort into it so as it comes naturally I have more chance to read the game and play better. Reaction Time: Definition; is the interval of the time between the presentation of a stimulus and the initiation of the muscular response to the stimulus.
Reaction time is useful to me as I have to be quick to react to where the goal attack on the opposite team is as I am marking her I have to make sure I stick as close to her as possible and react to where she is moving as soon as she starts to move. Also to intercept a pass reaction time is very much needed as it means I can react as soon as the ball is released and get in between the player and the ball. I have good reaction time and often manage to intercept pass’s, which is very useful as a defence player as I have to try and make sure the other team don’t get the ball.
Identification of Strength and Weaknesses As everyone I have certain strengths and weaknesses within the fitness components and also skills as I am better at some things than others here I will talk about what I think I am good at and also not so good at and why I think this is. My Strengths: Speed My speed is quite average generally but when I play in a game of netball it seems to improve quite a bit I think this is because I don’t enjoy running on tracks or a marked “track” whereas I love team games and playing netball.
And with all the adrenaline and quickness of the game it helps me keep up I have good muscle definition within my leg and arm muscles which helps me to have reasonable strength which I feel helps my speed as I can push of when the whistle goes for the centre to pass and am able quickly move into an open position. However I am not very good at keeping my speed for a long periods of time however this doesn’t effect my game to any extreme as each quarter is only 12 minutes and also when a goal is scored I have time to get my breath back and recover.