Magic netballers’ performance under doctoral scrutiny

18 February, 2015

Magic netballers’ performance and recovery under doctoral scrutiny

A University of Waikato doctoral student has been awarded a big scholarship to study with New Zealand’s most successful netball franchise.

Shannon O’Donnell is the recipient of the University of Waikato - Kia Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic doctoral scholarship, which will give her a stipend of $22,000 a year for three years, plus domestic tuition fees, as she studies performance enhancement and recovery in elite netball players.

“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Shannon says. “I did a summer research scholarship looking at sleep patterns, recovery and performance with the Magic, and now I have the chance to dig even deeper into aspects of high performance sport – which is what I want to focus on in the future.”

Shannon, a University of Waikato Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar, is a barefoot water skier and has played rep netball for Waikato and Bay of Plenty. She’s played with and against some of the netballers she’ll be studying.

“A lot of the research into the demands and performance of players is now outdated and doesn’t correspond to what we’re asking of netballers in the professional era, so I’ll be looking to update that and to develop new physical performance tests, specifically designed for netball. I will also be looking at ways to improve recovery following training and competition.”

It will mean Shannon going “on the road” with the Magic, attending all games, home and away, throughout the ANZ Championship season. “I’m still coming to grips with the technology I’ll be using which will allow me to code all games for analysis – looking at combining match statistics with video footage on events such as centre passes, shots and turnovers, and areas on court where gains and losses occur.”

During her summer research scholarship and while studying for her honours degree last year, Shannon was based at the Avantidrome in Cambridge where University of Waikato sports scientists work with a number of New Zealand’s top athletes on performance-related research.

Her doctoral supervisor is Dr Matt Driller, a sports physiologist from Waikato’s Department of Sport and Leisure Studies already works closely with the Magic netballers, having previously worked with Magic coach Julie Fitzgerald at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Dr Driller says Shannon’s research will provide an insight into the game demands of netball at the elite level and provide cutting edge research into ways of improving recovery in some of the world’s best netballers.

Coach Fitzgerald agrees. “It is a very exciting development for the Kia Magic to partner with the University of Waikato and bring Shannon into our team. I think Shannon will bring a level of sports science to the high performance environment of the Magic that will take us to another level both on and off the court. The work she is doing is largely unexplored in New Zealand netball and will assist our players to reach their full potential.”

And Dr Driller hopes that this partnership will be the first of many between the University of Waikato and other sporting organisations.

© Scoop Media