Netball Injury Prevention

With the recent season interruptions, it’s timely to talk about Netball injury prevention, as a way to avoid further interruptions to your Netball fun.

 

In the last 12 months in Brisbane there have been many interruptions to our Netball seasons, especially outdoor comps, due to Covid lockdowns, wet weather, and even floods. Additionally, social netball seasons are fairly short, and people don’t usually do much training for them. So it’s important when you do get on the court, to try to ensure your enjoyment isn’t cut short by injury.

This article by Felicity Lebbon, and this one by Morley Physiotherapy, highlight some of the important areas of preventing Netball injuries, including warm-up; cool-down & recovery; suitable footwear; hydration & nutrition; landing technique; catching technique. They also discuss the importance of resting minor injuries (rather than playing on) in order to avoid major ones. It’s recommended that you peruse these two articles, as they contain important tools for minimizing your injury risk.

There’s another important factor that’s especially relevant to social level Netball…. that is playing within your limitations. At social level, the best players are often not the fastest on court or the highest jumpers. They take their time, with a calm, deliberate approach to the game, clean up opposition mistakes, and minimize their own. You have 3 seconds to get rid of the ball, but that’s a surprisingly long time. Take your time, look where you’re passing, and keep your movements steady and economical. By avoiding extravagant leaps or impossibly fast passes, you not only cut down your mistakes, but minimize your injury risk, and give yourself the best chances of playing the whole season.

Remember, you aren’t playing for the world cup, and chances are you have things to do the next day. We want you back again week after week, and hopefully again next season, to enjoy the game.