How to Improve Shooting Accuracy in Netball

Good shooting technique is the foundation, but turning it into reliable match accuracy takes deliberate, structured practice. This page is about how to practise; for the action itself, start with how to shoot.

Practise little and often

World Netball's coaching material is clear that accurate shooters aren't made in team training alone: becoming accurate takes many extra hours beyond normal sessions, and shooters should aim to practise every day. Short, frequent sessions with full concentration are worth more than an occasional long one — and a post at home or the club makes daily practice realistic (see practising netball at home).

Every rep should have a purpose. Repetition without attention to technique just reinforces existing habits, good or bad, so work with one cue in mind at a time — the grip, the knee bend, the follow-through.

Two practice layouts

These two progressions come from World Netball's shooting coaching card. Both start close to the post and build distance as the shots go in.

Two progressions from World Netball's shooting coaching card.

Five lines fanning out from the post, six shots on each. Start at the post and take a step back after each successful shot. Or take a short, medium and long shot on each line, moving to the next line only once those go in.
Four semi-circles, each a little further from the post than the last, with six shots on each.

A: lines. Mark out five lines fanning out from the post, with six shots on each. Start at the post and take a step back after each successful shot. A harder version: take a short, a medium and a long shot on each line, and only move to the next line once those go in.

B: semi-circles. Mark out four semi-circles around the post, each a little further out than the last, and take six shots on each.

Both layouts make you shoot from angles you'd normally avoid — which is exactly the point. For a structured version that adds rebounding after every miss, see the shooting ladder drill.

Practise what happens in matches

Stationary shots from your favourite spot build the action, but few match shots look like that. World Netball's card lists the situations shooters should practise, including:

shots from your least favourite position, not just your favourite;
shots after a step back, a step to the side or a step in;
shots straight after a rebound or a split-leg landing;
shots after moving, and when falling out of court;
penalty shots;
shots when tired — at the end of a session, not only at the start.

Mixing these in closes the gap between practice and matches. See how to land and how to pivot for getting balanced quickly after the catch.

Track your numbers

Shooting percentage is goals scored divided by attempts. If you score 21 from 30 attempts, that's 21 ÷ 30 = 70%. World Netball's coaching manual lists shooting percentages for both the Goal Shooter and Goal Attack among the statistics coaches can keep, along with plotting where shots are taken from.

A simple sheet is enough:

Spot	Attempts	Goals	%
Close, under the post	30	27	90%
Mid-range, left	30	19	63%
Long, edge of circle	30	14	47%

Two things make the numbers useful:

Look at trends over weeks, not sessions. An unusually good or bad day isn't a reliable signal; a few weeks of records are.
Record by spot, not just overall. An overall figure can hide one weak area — the table shows where to focus the next block of practice.

The manual also makes the point that statistics are there to back up what a coach sees, not replace it — use them alongside watching the shooter, not instead.

Add pressure in stages

World Netball's manual recommends learning a pattern without defence first, then introducing defenders to apply pressure once players are comfortable — the pressure shows up any weaknesses. For shooting, that can look like this:

Unopposed, focusing purely on technique.
Against the clock, to simulate match tempo — remember there are only three seconds to shoot once you hold the ball (see held ball).
With a passive defender standing 0.9m away, so the shooter gets used to a hand over the ball without a real contest.
Fully live, with a defender leaning or jumping to contest the shot (see how to defend a shooter).

If the action falls apart at one stage, drop back a step for a while rather than pushing on.

Composure and routine

Missing two in a row can affect confidence more than technique. A consistent pre-shot routine — the same balance check, the same look at your aim point, the same rhythm — helps separate the action from the pressure of the scoreboard. Keep it short enough to run within three seconds, and use it on every shot in training as well as matches, so it's automatic when it counts.

Where to go next

Pair accuracy work with rebounding practice, so a missed shot under pressure still has a second chance built in — just as it does in a match. For two shooters working together, see the circle rotation shooting drill.

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 Card 7 — Shooting — daily practice, the lines and semi-circles progressions, and the list of match situations to practise.
World Netball: Foundation Coaching Manual — the "Shooting", "Statistics" and "Strategies" sections, for practice volume, shooting percentages and plotting shots, and adding defence once players are comfortable.
World Netball: Rules of Netball — for the three-second limit and 0.9m distance, as explained on our linked rules pages.