Netball Rules for Beginners
The core netball rules a beginner actually needs to know first: footwork, passing, contact, obstruction and scoring, in plain English.
The essentials are: no running with the ball, land and then don't drag your landing foot, pass within three seconds, stay 0.9m from whoever has the ball, and only shoot from your attacking goal circle.
Netball has a full official rulebook, but a beginner doesn't need all of it on day one. These are the rules that come up in almost every phase of play.
No running with the ball
Once you catch the ball, you can't run, walk or dribble with it. You can only move it on by passing or shooting. This is the single biggest adjustment for anyone coming from basketball or football.
Footwork
When you catch the ball, the first foot to touch the ground is your landing foot. You can pivot on it, and step with your other foot as much as you like. You can even lift the landing foot — but you must pass or shoot before it touches the ground again, and you can never drag it. Read the full footwork rule for how this works if you land on one foot versus two feet at once, and what happens if you break it.
Pass within three seconds
You can only hold the ball for three seconds before you must pass or shoot it. This keeps the game moving and stops a player just holding onto possession.
Stay 0.9m away when defending
If you're defending a player with the ball, you must be at least 0.9m away, measured from their landing foot. From there you can put your arms up to contest the pass or shot — that's good defending. Try to defend from closer than 0.9m and it's obstruction. Physical interference — pushing, leaning on, or impeding an opponent's movement — is contact, which is illegal at any distance.
Positions restrict where you can go
Every player has a position, and every position is only allowed in certain thirds of the court and, for two positions, the goal circles. Straying into an area your position isn't allowed into is offside. See the 7 netball positions explained for exactly where each position can and can't go.
Only GS and GA can shoot
Goals can only be scored by the Goal Shooter or Goal Attack, and only from inside their own attacking goal circle.
Play restarts with a centre pass
After every goal, and at the start of each quarter, play restarts with a centre pass — a pass taken by the Centre from the centre circle, alternating which team takes it.
What happens if you break a rule?
Most infringements are called by the umpire and restarted with a free pass taken from where the infringement happened. Contact and obstruction are penalised with a penalty pass, where the player who infringed has to stand out of play until the ball is released. You don't need to memorise every restart to start playing — the umpire will call it — but recognising why something was called helps you avoid it next time.
Next steps
Once these feel familiar, go deeper on the specific rules above, or read about the position you're playing to understand exactly where you're allowed to go.
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: Rules of Netball, 2024 edition — Rules 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17, as explained on our linked rules pages.
Common mistakes
- Running or walking with the ball — netball has no dribbling and no running with the ball in hand.
- Dragging or re-grounding your landing foot after catching the ball.
- Standing too close to the player with the ball — you need to be at least 0.9m away.
- Trying to shoot, or even entering, a goal circle your position isn't allowed into.