Netball Skills Festival Yr 3/4

Event Information

Booking

• This is a Skills Festival level event.
• If an event reaches capacity, schools will be placed on a waiting list and advised accordingly. MSSP will contact schools if places become available in the lead up to the event.

Event Eligibility

• The intent and principles of the festival have been designed to support pupils learning of the different activities and not be restricted by enforcement of the rules. We anticipate that many children may not have attended one of our sports events before and aim for children to learn more about the sports and skills throughout the day.
• Entry to this event will not exclude entries from the Netball Borough Championships or Development Competition event this year.

Team Eligibility

• Age: Year 3/4
• Mixed gender event. There is no requirement to have boys in the squad. A squad can contain a maximum of 3 boys with a maximum of 2 boys on court at any time.
• Squad size: Maximum of 9, minimum of 6 players in a squad.

Kit & Equipment

• All schools must provide their own First Aid kit and first aid qualified member of staff.
• No jewellery, wrist bands/watches or hair adornments may be worn, earrings must be taped or removed.
• Fingernails must be cut short and shoe laces securely tied.
• Set of bibs, with positions initialled front and back.
• Each team must bring their own warm up netball.
• Staff will be asked to keep score during the games.

Rules

• A squad is made up of the following playing positions: Goal Shooter, Goal Attack, Centre, Goal Defence and Goal Keeper.
• Rotations must be made at half time (when applicable) and at the end of each match in preparation for the next game.
• Team Managers must bring two completed copies of their rotation sheet. One must be submitted to the registration desk, and the other must be used by the Team Manager on the day to ensure that players rotate correctly.
• The rotation pattern means that only a maximum of 2 boys are on court during a game. Teams with squads of 7, to avoid 3 boys on court after rotation 6 go back to rotation 1.
• Any team found to have submitted an incorrect rotation sheet, whether accidentally or deliberately, cannot progress to the top half of the draw and may be disqualified from the competition.
• Teams must rotate positions for every new match. Rotation will continue from the morning rounds to the afternoon rounds, semi-finals and final. No variation on the rotation will be permitted. Any team found not to be following the correct rotation will be penalised.
• First Centre Pass or choice of ends will be decided by ‘rock, paper, scissors’.
• Teams will change shooting ends at half time if applicable.
• Each match will start and finish on the umpires whistle, which will be blown immediately after the sounding of a central bell/hooter.
• Players have 4 seconds to pass or shoot.
• Must receive centre pass in centre third.
• Players must stay within their position boundaries.
• In netball children cannot move when they are holding the ball. This is known as the footwork rule.
• A player cannot bounce the ball more than once.
• Players cannot pass or bounce the ball (see rule above) to themselves, it must touch another player or the post before they can catch it again.
• When shooting, if the ball does not make contact with the hoop or another player, the shooter cannot re-catch the ball. This will be considered a replayed ball and the opposition will re-start play with a free pass.
• Ball cannot be thrown over a complete Third without being touched or caught by another player. A free pass is given to the opposition to take where the infringement took place.
• When a child is holding the ball, their defender must make sure they step back at least 1 metre from the player’s landing foot. Once 1m apart the defender may use their arms/hands to block the pass or jump to intercept it.
• The defender cannot touch ‘contact’ the ball or player with their body though and they also cannot mark the player with their arms to stop them moving.
• Free pass – if a rule is broken by a player such as replayed ball, footwork, or being out of their position (such as off court with the ball or over their boundary line on court) a free pass is awarded to the other team. Any player on that team can take the pass.
• Penalty pass – if a rule is broken which involves contact, the player which broke the rule must stand next to the opposition as they take a penalty pass (anyone on the team can take the pass but the rule breaker must remain next to them, quiet and still, and cannot join back into the game until the pass has been made).
• In the event of a draw in the knock out rounds, 1 minute extra time will be played and the first team to score a goal will win. If it is still a tie at the end of the 1 minute, a penalty shoot off will be held: best of 3 then sudden death. Penalty shots will be taken 1.5m away from the post.
• Please be aware that England Netball no longer run their ‘High 5’ Netball Programme, and this has been replaced with ‘Bee Netball’. With Bee Netball, schools are encouraged to follow the ‘Stingers’ match play for years 5 and 6. The game remains similar to ‘High 5’ with five-a-side teams and rotating positions etc.
• The key change with the ‘Stingers’ rules is that children may now defend as they would in standard netball rules. They must maintain a distance of 1m between their own feet and the landing foot of the player in possession of the ball; but they CAN now use their arms/hands to shield/intercept the path of the ball once it is released (they cannot touch the ball while the opposition still has it in their hands though). Previously they could only make one jump to intercept.

Competition Format

• Points awarded are: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss.
• Group placing determined by: points accrued, goal difference, goals scored, head to head result (if 2 teams), sudden death shootout.
• For supporting Bee Netball in your school please visit https://www.englandnetball.co.uk/school-games/

Sport Format

• Bee Netball
• 5-a-side teams rotating positions
• standard netball court
• size 4 netball
• ring of post lowered to 9ft height
  

  

Draw Format

• First stage is round robin groups. Final group standings will be determined from results. Winners of the groups will take top seed of their group, 2nd take 2nd seed of their group, etc.
• All teams will progress to a second stage of competition according to their placement in the first round, with the format to be determined by the number of schools entered.

Awards              

• REFSPECT winners – Certificate
• Participation certificates will be presented to all participants.

Results

• Results and event report will be available on the news webpage within 24 hours of the event ending.

Progression Pathway

• There is no planned pathway from this event and there may not be an overall winner.

Staffing and Spectators

• Spectators will not be permitted entry to the school/private sports facilities.
• Primary schools must inform parents in advance when inviting students to take part.
• All staff attending the event must have enhanced DBS clearance and have been fully vetted by their primary school.
• DBS numbers, full name and school will be required in advance by the host school.

NGB Info

For more information on supporting this sport in your school, please visit: England Netball

MSSP Duty of Care

At Merton School Sport Partnership, the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of every participant is our highest priority. Our Duty of Care framework outlines the measures we take to ensure all events are safe, enjoyable and accessible, covering key areas including safeguarding, health and safety, equality, diversity and inclusion, risk assessments, medical provision, codes of conduct, photography and data protection.

We ask all schools, staff, volunteers and participants to familiarise themselves with these expectations before attending MSSP events.

For full details, please download the MSSP Duty of Care document or visit the relevant section of our website HERE for further guidance, policies and event information.