The effect of stature on netball shooting technique, with and without, the presence of a defender: a comparative kinematic study of short and tall netball shooters

Tall players are thought to have an advantage when shooting in netball. The purpose of the study was to analyse the effect of stature on netball shooting kinematics, with and without, the presence of a defender. With institutional ethical approval, 10 female elite netball shooters were recruited as participants. There was a significant difference (t¼73.598, P¼0.004) between the height of the five tallest shooters, (mean 174.8, s¼3.70 m), and the five shortest (mean 164.2, s¼5.45 m). Six successful shots by each participant from a distance of 2 m from the goal post, three with, and three without the presence of a defender, were videoed by a high definition video camera, positioned at right angles to the plane of motion. The defender was positioned 0.9 m from the subject. A kinematic analysis was undertaken and the data were transferred to SPSS 15 for analysis. The shorter shooters were found to release the ball at a greater velocity both with (t¼2.103, P¼0.03), and without (t¼2.097, P¼0.03,) the presence of a defender. There was no difference in height of release between the two groups in the presence of a defender (P40.05), but the shorter participants released the ball at a significantly lower height when undefended, (P50.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the angle of release with, or without, the presence of a defender (P40.05). There was no significant difference in the horizontal linear displacement of the ball during the ‘‘throwing phase’’ between the groups with, or without the presence of defenders (P40.05). There was no significant differences between the groups in terms of knee angle without a defender at any key positions (P40.05), although in the presence of a defender the shorter shooters bent their knees significantly more (P50.05) at the start of the throwing phase. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of elbow or wrist angle at any key position, with or without, the presence of a defender, (P40.05). These results suggest that stature is not a critical factor when selecting elite netball shooters, as successful shorter shooters compensate for their lack of height by changes in kinematics.