A Level Physical Coursework B1(Comparison to Elite Performer) [REBOUND]

Introduction to Performer

I am Emily Barron (5ft 5 inch), I have been playing netball since I was in year 3 at Primary School and have played all through my school career up to present day Year 12. Later on in my netball career (2011) I played within the Sutton Schools Netball tournament as GA, here we managed to come second, only losing to Sutton High 14 – 12. Through that tournament I managed to play to a good standard, gaining rebounds, scoring, completing accurate passes regularly and intercepting the ball, however not every game that I competed did I perform to my best standard and throughout the competition I did miss many an opportunity to gain rebounds.

Preparation

When it comes to the preparation of my rebound, unlike Cookey my elbows are not flexed. I seem to have a habit of taking my shot and then my arms adduct and stay by the side of my body, therefore if a rebound does occur, in terms of my elbow joint I am never fully prepared for an explosive contraction to occur in order for me to jump up and extend my elbows in order to reach the ball, therefore this usually results in me not gaining the rebound unlike Cookey, this is due to the fact that I have not been able to extend my arms above my head fast enough and to my maximum stretch before my GD, meaning she gains the rebound before I get it and my team lose possession. My knees are not fully flexed like Cookey’s, therefore although my quadriceps are eccentrically contracting, they are not contracting enough in order for me to get enough power out of them between the change from preparation to execution so that I get the rebound. This then in turn allowed the other team

Sutton High, to get possession of the ball because they were able to jump higher than myself to reach the ball. Just like Cookey my ankles were dorsi flexed. However I think the thing that caused my failure to reach the rebound was in fact the fact that my reaction time was not as quick as it could have been and not as quick as Cookeys is. In terms of my hips in the prepatory phase they are flexed however, my hip flexion was not to the same extent as Cookey’s. Her hips were flexed to an angle of about 120˚ this allowed her more time when it came to extension of her hips and this allowed her to increase her force of contraction against the floor, giving her a higher jump, whereas I would say in this case my hips were only flexed to around 100˚ and therefore I did not have as much time as she did in order to contract my hamstrings, decreasing my force of contraction and therefore I did not get the leg power I needed in order to jump high enough from the floor. This then allowed the other team (Sutton High) to gain the rebound in the 2ndquarter when the score line was 6 – 3, as they also had height to their advantage and then in turn get possession of the ball.

Execution

When it comes to this stage this is where I need to jump up with correct timing so that I reach the optimum height to gain the ball and rebound before my defender. To do this I have to extend my elbows to maximum stretch and extend my knees and hips in order to gain maximum height, almost making myself into a pencil shape in the air. At the elbow my elbow changes to extension, however unlike Cookey I am unable to change from elbow flexion to elbow extension quick enough in order to reach the ball in time before the opposing team. Therefore as a result of this I did not reach the ball before the opposing team and they won the possession within the game against Sutton High in the Sutton Schools Netball Tournament. My knee changes to extension. Just like Cookey I did this change in joint action in order to use my leg power in which to drive my body upwards so that I could get the ball, however unlike Cookey my leg power is not as great as her’s, therefore as I used my leg power within the explosive reaction to jump up, I did not have enough power in my legs to lift me high enough and

Dorsi Flexion

therefore as a result of this was unsuccessful in getting the rebound before the opposing side, within the game against Sutton High School. My ankle changes from dorsi flexion to plantar flexion, through this I was able to push myself off of the ground, however unlike Cookey I was unsuccessful in retrieving the rebound. I feel this is because between the prepatory phase of my ankle joint and the execution stage of my ankle joint, I anticipated that the ball was going to drop sooner than it did and therefore my ankles where already slightly plantar flexed (in preparation to jump up) instead of going from completely dorsi flexed to completely plantar flexed, therefore due to this the power that I generated from the push off of the ground, and the change of my ankle joint was not great enough in order to allow me to gain the rebound. My hip changed from flexion to extension, this is because through this explosive change in joint action I am able to lift my body up as far as possible in order to reach the ball, therefore the greater the angle of hip flexion the greater the explosive reaction will be and therefore the more power will be produced in order to drive me up. My hip flexion however is not as great as and therefore the power supplied is not as great and as a result I am not driven up as far as Cookey is able to drive upwards, due to this I was then in the game against Sutton High School, unable to reach the rebound in the 3rd quarter when the score was 10 – 8 to Sutton High, as I had not cleared the ground enough.

Follow Through/ Landing

When Cookey lands, she lands in plantar flexion, however when I land I do not manage to do this, in fact I land in dorsi flexion, this not only causes great shock to my joints especially my knees and ankles but it also slows down my reaction in order to be ready to mark the GD or GK who won the rebound instead, therefore most times when I lose a rebound I not only lose a rebound but I also fail to mark the player quick enough also, resulting in a loss of another opportunity to shoot or intercept and also the ball is no longer in my teams possession. In terms of elbow joints, unlike Cookey I do not move them into flexion fast enough, my biceps do not contract fast enough, therefore resulting in a slower rate of transition meaning I have less control of the ball when I do gain a rebound, and this can lead to me dropping the ball, as it did in the game against Sutton High in the 2nd quarter, where after that the GD got the ball and the other team now had possession. When it comes to my knee joint as I land, unlike Cookey I once again do not flex my knee’s fast enough, so instead of landing in flexion, I do in fact land and my joints then absorb some of the shock before my quadriceps have fully contracted and relieved me from some of the shock. This results in me having a slower reaction to my next move, unlike Cookey who is fully prepared for her next move. My hips, like Cookey are also flexed, eccentrically contracting my gluteals, however my technique differs to hers as I bend my hips a lot more than she does, I need to do this in order to stay balanced and be able to push off the floor with enough power to jump up for my next movement, if it be shooting or marking.

Result

As a result of all the difference in technique compared to the technical model of Cookey’s rebound, I was unsuccessful in a lot of rebounds that I tried to obtain during the match against Sutton High. The first was when the score was 3-4 to Sutton High, I had just shot and the ball had hit the back of the post and bounced back out again I ran in for the rebound and jumped however I was unsuccessful in gaining the rebound as my execution stage was not how it should have been, this meant that the other team had a chance to gain the possession of the ball and left my team having to try and regain possession. This happened again when the score line was 10-8, however this time after losing the rebound the ball was then swiftly moved up to the other end of the court and the score was then changed to 11-8. Even though this game, in terms of my rebound skills, was not the best I had ever played, in terms of the whole competition we did manage to come second overall so therefore it was not all bad in the end, as my shooting skills and other skills managed to go quite well.

Elbow Flexion