Netball centre pass set plays: two routines, animated

What the rules give you at a centre pass

Every centre pass starts from the same picture, and the rules draw most of it for you. Under Rule 8 of the World Netball rules, the centre stands with at least one foot wholly inside the centre circle, the opposing centre is in the centre third and free to move, and every other player waits in their own goal third until the whistle. Nobody else may step into the centre third early: that is breaking, and it costs you the ball.

Then the clock starts. The centre has three seconds to release the ball, and the pass must be caught or touched by a player who is standing wholly inside the centre third, or who lands with the first or both feet wholly inside it. A catch with both feet landing astride the transverse line is a free pass to the other side.

Put those together and a centre pass is a race. Four of your players can legally take it (goal attack, wing attack, wing defence and goal defence), each one starts on a transverse line with a defender beside them, and each has about two seconds to get free and land in the right third. A set play decides, before the whistle, who goes first, who goes second and where the space is going to be. Start from the centre pass set-up template to see all fourteen players where the rules put them, or open the netball play designer to draw your own.

Play one: wing attack drives, goal attack takes the second ball

The standard centre pass, and the one every team needs before any other. The wing attack dodges in towards the goal and then drives out wide into the centre third, taking the first pass on the move. The goal attack holds for a beat, then leads to the top of the circle for the second ball, and the goal shooter holds a strong position under the post for the third.

Three things decide whether it works:

• The dodge is short and sharp. One step towards the goal line is enough to turn the wing defence's hips. A dodge that takes three steps uses up the centre's three seconds before the real lead starts.
• The drive goes to space, not to the ball. The wing attack aims wide of the defender, into the open side of the centre third, and the centre passes to where she will be.
• The goal attack waits. If she leads at the same moment as the wing attack, the two of them arrive in the same channel and the centre has no second option. Her lead starts when the ball leaves the centre's hands.

Because the goal attack is allowed in the goal circle and the wing attack is not, the second ball has to go to the goal attack or the goal shooter. Coach the wing attack to look for the circle edge first, not to turn back to the centre.

Play two: the wing defence takes it in the back space

Good defending teams front-mark the centre pass. Their wing defence and goal defence stand between your attackers and the ball, so both front leads are blocked before they start. The answer is behind the centre, not in front of her.

On the whistle the wing attack and goal attack still drive, because they have to drag their markers with them. Your wing defence drives up out of the defending third and takes the centre pass in the back half of the centre third. The centre, who cannot catch her own pass but can take the very next one, turns and leads for it, and now she is facing the goal with the ball and your wing attack can re-lead to the circle edge.

It feels like going backwards. It is not: it turns a contested ball into an uncontested one, and after two passes you are in exactly the place play one would have put you. Run it the moment the opposition starts fronting, not after you have lost three centre passes finding out.

Practising it

Most teams practise centre passes as seven against nobody. Put defenders in early. A centre pass that only works when the wing defence is standing still does not work. The centre pass drill is a good starting point: four attackers, two defenders, and the umpire's whistle every time. Count the three seconds out loud. Add the second play once the first is landing in the centre third on most repetitions.

Two coaching points cover most of the mistakes: land on the first foot inside the centre third, not on the line, and keep your arms in when you are within 0.9 m of a defender. Rule 16 stops a player within that distance using their arms to block an opponent's movement, and it says so for attackers as well as defenders: a wing attack who holds off her marker with an arm on the drive gives away a penalty pass.

Sending it to your players

Both plays above are live. Open either one in the netball play designer, swap the bibs for your own players, and send the link to the squad before training. The netball drill library has the rest of the session around it.