Giving Feedback in Netball Coaching
How to give feedback when coaching netball: observing and analysing a skill, prioritising faults, being specific and immediate, cue words, and listening.
Watch the skill against a clear picture of how it should look, from more than one angle, and work out what's wrong and why. Then fix the most important fault first, straight after the attempt, with something short and specific — a cue word, a demonstration or guiding the player into position. Correct the whole group if half are making the same mistake; otherwise, correct individuals.
Good technical knowledge doesn't automatically make good coaching. World Netball's coaching manual describes a coach's tasks as observation, analysis and correction — and how the correction is delivered matters as much as what it says.
Observe, analyse, correct
When what a player does doesn't match what's needed, the manual says the coach must know three things: what went wrong, why it went wrong, and how to correct it. That starts with being able to picture the ideal model, watching the actual performance, and analysing the difference.
Two points from the manual on watching:
- Change your viewing angle. Stand in front of the players, to the side and behind them, and keep moving. You'll see different things from each position.
- Never assume the player knows. What the coach sees isn't necessarily what the player sees — or feels. The manual describes the coach as seeing whether a movement is correct and the player as feeling it; it's when a movement both looks and feels right that coach and player are working well together.
Feedback principles
World Netball's manual lists five principles:
| Principle | What it means |
|---|---|
| Priority of faults | Which faults matter most, and why? Fix those first. |
| Specificity | Make it about the exact technique point or situation — which means understanding the skill fully yourself. |
| Immediacy | Give it shortly after the skill is performed, not at the end of the activity. |
| Cue words | Keep it concise — a word like "lift" or "fingers" for shooters. Don't give the player the whole book. Make sure the cue makes sense to that player. |
| Group or individual | If half the group is doing the same thing wrong, correct the whole group. If it's one or two players, correct them individually. |
Too much feedback confuses players — the manual's phrase is "paralysis by analysis" — so keep it relevant and to the point.
Ways to give feedback
People learn in different ways, so use more than one method:
- Verbal — telling them;
- Visual — demonstrating;
- Tactile — guiding the player into the correct position, so they feel it. Doing it reinforces the point.
Mixing methods adds variety and stops you becoming the coach who talks too much. Before giving feedback, think about what kind of demonstration is needed, what kind of instruction, and how often to give it.
When a player keeps making the same mistake
Look for the underlying cause rather than repeating the same instruction. The manual's example is catching: if a player keeps dropping the ball, don't just say "pull it in" or "two hands" — watch what the fingers and arms are doing and where the eyes are looking. The player may be looking for the next pass before the ball is in their hands. See how to catch.
Communicating clearly — and listening
The manual notes that communication is often too much, too little or too late. Make it work by keeping the message short and specific, using simple language rather than unfamiliar technical terms, and clarifying or repeating it a different way — a demonstration, say — if it hasn't landed. Watch your volume and tone, and vary your pace.
Listening is half of it. The manual's advice on active listening: make eye contact; let the player talk without butting in; nod and use short responses to show you're following; ask questions to check your understanding; and talk only when it's needed. As it puts it, coaches can't be listening if they're doing all the talking.
Sources
All information on this page is given to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing (October 2026), after referring to the official sources below.
- World Netball: Foundation Coaching Manual — "The Role of the Coach", "Communication", "Catching", "Skill Analysis" and "Instruction & Feedback".
Coaching points
- Pick the one fault that matters most and fix that first.
- Have a cue word ready for each skill you're teaching — "lift" and "fingers" for shooters, for example.
- Move around while you watch: in front, to the side and behind show different things.
- Check the message landed by asking the player to say it back in their own words.
Common mistakes
- Giving a long list of corrections at once — "paralysis by analysis".
- Waiting until the end of an activity to correct something you saw at the start.
- Saying "two hands" again and again without finding out why the ball is being dropped.
- Doing all the talking and none of the listening.