Netball words · Intermediate

The words that make the commentary make sense. They build on the beginner words.

I · Intermediate · 41 words · Step 2 of 2

Basic setup terms

Court surround

The area 3.05 m wide around the court. Together with the court it is the field of play. A player not touching the ball may go into it only to reposition back on the court, or the player is penalised for leaving the court.

Scoring terms

Interference with shot

A defender may not make the goalpost move to disturb a shot, or deflect the ball on its downward flight to the ring, including touching it up through the net. The sanction is a penalty pass, and if the shot goes in the goal counts.

Positions and zones

Playing position initials

The seven positions are Goal Shooter (GS), Goal Attack (GA), Wing Attack (WA), Centre (C), Wing Defence (WD), Goal Defence (GD) and Goal Keeper (GK). Players wear the initials, 150 mm high, above the waist on the front and back.

Passing and possession

Repossession

A player who has had the ball and released it may not touch it again before it touches another player or rebounds from the goalpost. Without possession a player may bat or bounce the ball to another player, but only once or twice in the ways the rule allows; more is a replayed ball. Both are free passes.

Over a third

A pass must be caught or touched by a player in each third of the court, who is either standing wholly in that third or lands there first. A pass that misses a third gives the opposing team a free pass by the transverse line. A player who lands astride the transverse line may only pass into one of the two thirds concerned.

Landing foot

In a one-foot landing, the foot a player first lands on after catching the ball, or stands on when it is caught. In a two-foot landing, the foot not moved first. It is the foot the footwork rule is judged from.

Untouched centre pass

The centre pass must be touched or caught by a player standing wholly in the centre third or landing there. If it goes untouched into the goal third, or is touched by a player of the passing team who lands astride the transverse line or outside the court, it is a free pass; if it goes untouched over the side line it is out of court.

The ruleHow does the centre pass work in netball?

Breaking

Entering the centre third before the whistle starts play at a centre pass, by any player other than the two Centres. The sanction is a free pass in the centre third by the transverse line.

See also: Centre pass, Centre, Free pass

Contact and defence

Landing place

A player who has jumped must be allowed to land in the same or any other place on court, and an attacker may not deliberately move into a stationary opponent. When opponents jump together, the player who gains the ball has priority and the others must yield the landing place. Moving into a jumper's landing place is a contact infringement.

Inevitable contact

Positioning so closely to an opponent that the opponent cannot move at all without touching. It is a contact infringement.

Fake pass

A passing action by a player holding the ball that does not release it. A player within 0.9 m of the opponent may stretch out the arms to catch, deflect or intercept a pass or a fake pass.

Sanctions and discipline

Sanction and action

What the umpire awards after an infringement. A sanction (free pass or penalty pass) follows an infringement on court. An action (a throw-in) follows one off court. Possession, where the ball was when play stopped, is awarded for simultaneous or mutual infringements.

Game management actions

What umpires use besides a sanction, usually in this order: proactive advice, advancing a sanction by up to half a third or escalating a free pass to a penalty pass, a warning, a suspension and an ordering off. A suspended player is off for two minutes of playing time with no substitute. An ordered-off player takes no further part, and the team may replace the player after four minutes of playing time. A player gets only one warning and one suspension in a match.

Foul play

Anything contrary to the letter and spirit of the rules, in three kinds: unfair play, unsporting behaviour and dangerous play. A player who commits it must be given a game management action in addition to the sanction.

Unfair play

Delaying play, intentional infringing, repeated infringing, disputing a ruling, or intimidation, even when safety is not endangered. It brings an advanced penalty pass.

Intimidation

Behaviour designed to distract an opponent to gain an unfair advantage, including verbal comments. Examples are covering an opponent's eyes, swiping the ball at the face, loud or sudden noises, stomping the ground, waving the arms erratically and sledging, which is deliberately insulting or verbally intimidating an opponent.

Unsporting behaviour

Retaliation, abusive language or gestures, or any action contrary to good sporting behaviour. It brings a penalty pass and a warning or a suspension, and in a serious case an ordering off.

Dangerous play

Any unnecessarily forceful, careless, reckless or dangerous action that could affect another player's safety, including any that causes head or neck contact or contact of the head or neck with the goalpost or the playing enclosure. It brings a penalty pass and a suspension, and an ordering off for intentional or highly reckless acts.

See also: Goal ring, Contact, Penalty pass

Bench behaviour

Team officials and bench players stay at the team bench during play and must not criticise umpires, use offensive language, make excessive noise, encourage foul play or enter the court. Leaving the bench is a free pass; the other offences give a penalty pass, and a person who ignores a warning is removed from the playing enclosure.

See also: Free pass, Penalty pass, Foul play

Stoppages and substitutions

Substitution and team change

A substitution replaces an on-court player with one from the bench, and a team change swaps two on-court players' positions. Both are allowed during an interval and when play is stopped for injury, illness or blood, and are unlimited provided the players are those named for the match.

Tactical change

A substitution or team change other than for injury, illness or blood, made immediately after a goal on a request from an on-court player to hold time. Team officials stay at the bench, and undue time is penalised as delaying play.

Injury, illness and blood stoppage

Umpires hold time on a verifiable request, for an obvious injury, or when they see active bleeding or blood-stained clothing. The player must leave the court within 30 seconds and be treated off the court, and only a primary care person may enter to assess the player. If no substitute comes, play resumes with the position vacant, and the player may return at the next break. A suspected concussion can be dealt with by the primary care person or independent concussion observer through the reserve umpire.

Late player

A player who is not ready when play starts or restarts, or who enters or leaves wrongly. The player is sent off until the right time to enter and possession goes to the opponents where the ball was.

Failure to take the court

A team with fewer than five players at the start of a period of play. The umpires wait up to 30 seconds. If the team takes the court in time it is penalised for delaying play, and if not the opponents are awarded the match.

Extra time

If the organiser has said so and the scores are tied at full-time, extra time follows after a four-minute interval: two halves of equal length, at most seven minutes each, with a one-minute half-time. If still tied, play continues until one team leads by two goals.

Simultaneous and mutual infringements

When opponents commit an infringement at the same moment, or the umpire cannot tell which team infringed, possession goes to the team that last had it before the infringement, where the ball was. If both umpires whistle for opposing teams, the more serious one stands: foul play, then a major infringement, then a minor one.

Playing terms

Pivot

A movement in which a player with the ball swivels on the heel or ball of the landing foot while that foot stays in contact with the ground.

Feed

A pass into the goal circle to the Goal Shooter or Goal Attack, to set up a shot. The rules do not use the name.

Rebound

The ball coming off the goalpost, or off an unsuccessful shot. A player may catch the ball if it rebounds from the goalpost, and any player may catch, deflect or bat a rebound from an unsuccessful shot even within 0.9 m of an opponent.

Marking

Staying close to an opponent to limit passing and movement. The rules do not use the name; they set the distance a defender must keep from a player holding the ball (0.9 m).

Double marking

Two defenders covering the same attacker. The rules do not use the name, and a defender close to an opponent with the ball must still keep 0.9 m away or not interfere.

Tactical terms

Zone defence

A defence that covers areas of the court rather than specific players, within the areas each position may play. The rules do not use the name.

Man to man defence

A defence in which each defender tracks a specific opponent. The rules do not use the name.

Circle defence

The defending tactics used by the Goal Defence and Goal Keeper in and around the goal circle. The rules do not use the name.

Turnover

Losing possession to the opposing team, for example by an interception, a held ball, or any infringement that gives the other team a free pass, penalty pass or throw-in. The rules do not use the name.

Rules and officiating terms

Advantage

The umpire holds the whistle for an infringement when blowing it would disadvantage the non-infringing team, who must have a clear and real chance to play the ball to a territorial or tactical advantage. The umpire calls advantage and gives the hand signal. It must not be applied to unfair play, unsporting behaviour, dangerous play, head or neck contact, or a suspected serious injury.

Short pass

A pass without enough space on the court for an opposing player to deflect or intercept the ball as it travels from the passer's hands to the receiver's. The sanction is a free pass where the receiver catches or touches the ball.

Match organisation

Captain and toss

Each team names a captain. Before the match the captains toss a coin, and the winner chooses the first centre pass or a goal end, leaving the other choice to the opponent. During an interval the captain or a player concerned may ask an umpire to clarify a rule.

Scorers and timekeepers

Two scorers and two timekeepers sit at the official bench. The scorers record players, goals, unsuccessful shots, team changes and centre passes and call the correct centre pass if asked. The timekeepers time each period and interval, hold and restart time on the umpire's signal, and time suspensions (two minutes) and ordered-off periods (four minutes).

Reserve umpire

The match official seated at the umpires' bench who replaces an umpire who becomes ill or injured. The reserve umpire also supervises suspended and ordered-off players, signals the centre pass direction and checks late players.

Variations for other levels of play

The rules are written for international play. For other matches the controlling authority may vary them, for example by playing halves of up to 20 minutes, shorter quarters or intervals, a two-ply ball, outdoor courts, mixed or single-gender teams, or no reserve umpire.