Free netball play designer

A real court, all of it

Playmaker draws the whole netball court: 30.5 m long and 15.25 m wide, split into three equal thirds by the two transverse lines, with the 0.9 m centre circle in the middle and a 4.9 m goal circle at each end. The post stands on the middle of each goal line and the ring hangs just inside it, because that is where World Netball puts them. Every one of those numbers comes from the rule book, not from an estimate, so a lead drawn to the edge of the circle is drawn to the edge of the circle.

Most play designers draw half a pitch, and for most sports that is the right call. It is the wrong one for netball. Every position is defined by the thirds it may enter — the goal shooter never leaves the attacking third, the wing defence never sets foot in either goal circle — and the centre pass, the set play every team runs after every goal, starts with players waiting on both transverse lines and the centre in the middle of the court. Half a court would cut the centre circle in two and push the defenders off the picture before the whistle. So the whole court is drawn, attacking goal at the top and the goal you defend at the bottom, on a phone as well as a laptop.

Seven players, numbered in team-sheet order

Netball bibs carry letters, and Playmaker's players carry numbers. Rather than pretend otherwise, every netball template lists your seven in the order a team sheet does, so the numbers always mean the same thing: 1 goal shooter, 2 goal attack, 3 wing attack, 4 centre, 5 wing defence, 6 goal defence, 7 goal keeper. The opposition are drawn as squares, so it is clear at a glance who is marking whom. Tap a player to change a number if your squad uses its own.

What you can draw

• A set-up. Start from one of seven templates — the centre pass set-up, a split lead, an overload on one side, defending the opposition's centre pass, an attacking backline throw-in, a sideline throw-in in the attacking third and a defensive backline throw-in — or place all fourteen players yourself.
• The leads. Drag a player and the path becomes a timed run, so the goal attack's front cut and the wing attack's drive arrive at the transverse line in the order you want them to.
• Passes. Tap the receiver and the ball goes to where they are at that moment in the play, which is what makes a second-phase ball into the circle look right instead of going to where somebody used to stand.
• The shot. Mark the scorer and the ball animates to the ring. In netball only the goal shooter and goal attack can score, from inside the goal circle, so that is where a play should finish.

The centre pass, in one picture

A centre pass is a few seconds of movement by fourteen players at once, and it is hard to explain with a whiteboard pen. The template puts every player where the rules put them at the whistle: our centre in the circle with the ball, the opposing centre free in the centre third, and everyone else waiting in a goal third. Draw the leads off that, play it back, and your wing attack can see exactly when to go and where the space is — and your defenders can see the same play from the other side.

Netball is played in clubs and schools across Australia, New Zealand, England and the rest of the Commonwealth, and plenty of its coaches have been drawing it on a basketball diagram or a blank rectangle. This is a court that is actually a netball court.

The same goes for throw-ins. A backline throw-in under your own post and one under the opposition's post are different plays with different players involved, and on a full court both of them are drawn where they happen, with the goal circle, the ring and the 0.9 m the defender has to give the thrower all in the same picture.

Centre passes and back-lines on one sheet

The free match-day sheet prints your centre pass plays, both ways, your back-line and side-line throw-ins and your penalty set-ups on one page for the bench. Tag your plays and they land under the right heading on their own, and a QR code on the sheet plays them moving on a phone at the break.