Notational analysis of international netball

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the amount of variability that exists between attacking patterns of play in comparison to the outcome of goal attempts, in elite international netball. The notation was post event, in conjunction with pre-recorded videotapes. Ten international netball matches were used to collect information, regarding eight international teams. The study was conducted using a hand notation system that consisted of a simple table with eight columns to collect various data for each match. A Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis ANOVA test were used to compare successful goals, attacking rebound shots, defensive rebound shots and shots that went off the back of the court. An inter-operator reliability test was undertaken using the kappa statistic, comparing the author’s results against a second observer, which revealed a high strength of agreement. The results of the current investigation showed significant differences (p < 0.05) between the outcome of an international netball shot with respect to each performance indicator that was examined. The area from which a shot was taken, the player that executes the shot and the style of shot used was shown to have a significant effect on the outcome of the shot (p < 0.05). Also the pattern of attack, highlighted by the feed player and position, was concluded to have a significant impact on the outcome of the goal attempt (p< 0.001). Finally the difference between outcome with respect to whether the shot was marked or not was seen as significant (p=0.018).