I did a session with netball players. I got them to play a proper game of netball, 7 per side. I had someone in the audience watch a particular player and see how many times they touched the ball in 5 minutes.
A couple of girls touched it once or twice.
Then I played 4v4.
And I changed the ball type.
So I used the netball. Then, I used a volleyball and a basketball.
And at the end of it, what happened with the basketball? The beehive re-emerged. They all got sucked to the ball.
And a lot of the theories, oh, “kids don’t understand space, so that’s why they don’t spread out.”
It’s got nothing to do with that.
It’s about me: I know that Noah with this heavy ball can only pass it two yards. So I’m going as close as possible to Noah so he can give it to me. And my teammate, my opponent goes, “I know Noah can’t pass it more than two yards.”
So they come to the ball as well.
