6 things every junior netball coaches needs to know

Whether you're just starting out or you’ve been on the court for years, every community coach shares the same goal—helping players fall in love with the game (hopefully). You’d never want to be someones last coach. 

That’s why we’ve created Netball MatchPlay Cards: the ultimate coaching tool designed to engage players through team and player challenges while saving you planning time.

Packed with game-based challenges and coaching insights, each deck (45 cards!) helps you bring more play, more purpose, and more progress to your sessions—no clipboard required. Oh and did we mention their credit card plastic because we know the life of a sports coach. 

When we started building Netball MatchPlay Cards we wrote down 6 coaching principles for community coaches to help us shape their design: 

• Coach for 12 Years, Not Just 12 Months

Great coaches don’t just coach for today—they coach for the future. If you work with young players for 3 hours a week, over a year that’s only 104 hours. But in reality, you’re preparing them for the 161 hours they’ll spend playing, learning, and growing away from you. Players will always remember how you treated them and they’ll defiantly tell others about you!

Netball MatchPlay Cards help you create learning moments that stick, building confident, creative players who can make decisions under pressure. Hand a team challenge to each team or add a player challenge and invite the player to pick. 

• Let the Game Do the Talking

Here’s something every coach learns eventually and wished everyone learnt it sooner: talking more doesn’t mean players are learning more and when players are challenged in real-time, the learning goes deeper because they learn by doing and not being told.

The game should do the talking that’s made easy with Netball MatchPlay Cards, you’ll find every deck packed with in-game challenges that drive communication, decision making, and problem solving. Less talk, more game - you’d want to be a player in these sessions. 

• Repeating a Session? Totally Fine!

Yes, you read that right. Repeating the same session twice is not only okay—it’s powerful. Players don’t master the game the first time they try it. Repeating a game or challenge allows for reflection, confidence, and better decision-making.

Using the same selection of Netball MatchPlay Cards across multiple weeks to helps you to built for variety and consistency, giving you dozens of ways to build repetition with a twist. Plan sessions in seconds!

• Want Players to Talk More? Talk Less.

If your players aren’t talking, collaborating, or communicating on court, it might be time to step back and let the game guide them. Netball MatchPlay Cards spark conversations between players through shared challenges that demand teamwork and strategy.

Give your players something worth talking about—and watch them take ownership of their learning. Add a team challenge to both teams to promote problem solving or pick out a player challenge related to player communication.

• More Games, Less Standing in Lines (its not a bus stop)

Players don’t come to training to wait in line like they are at the bus stop. They come to play. That’s why Netball MatchPlay Cards are built around games-based coaching that keeps everyone active, thinking, and involved. Say goodbye to lines, laps and lectures. 

Play multiple small sided games at the same time by adding different Netball MatchPlay Cards to keep players focused with in-game challenges. Plan sessions in seconds with Netball MatchPlay Cards. 

• Give Players Choice and Challenge

The best sessions are the ones where players feel part of it. With team and player challenge cards, Netball MatchPlay Cards give players a voice in their learning. Let them pick a Netball MatchPlay Card from the deck, there’s 45 to pick from! Give them a problem to solve. Let them lead a team talk.

When players feel like they belong, they play with more passion, purpose, and pride.

Shop for Netball MatchPlay Cards here.