​​Netball First Aid Kit Contents List

Netball, as with all sporting activities, comes with its risk of injury and incident. Sterosport is dedicated to empowering sports teams of all disciplines, genders, ages, and levels to keep their players safe. This includes having the right knowledge, skills, and first aid equipment available in the event of injury or medical emergency. We cover all the essentials that should be part of your netball first aid kit contents.

Netball coaches, players, and even sideline spectators should be aware of the steps they need to take to prevent netball injuries in the first place, and the skills to treat injuries when they occur. We cover the importance of netball first aid kits, netball first aid training, what measures to put in place to prevent common injuries in netball matches and training sessions on our blog.
In this article, we cover the most common risks netball players face during play, and the first aid kit essentials all netball teams should have on hand for a range of injuries. Use our handy downloadable netball first aid kit contents checklist to stay on top of your team’s first aid kit, and make sure you’re prepared for an emergency before all tournaments, friendly games, and training sessions.  

Common Risks When Playing Netball

While netball rules stipulate that contact between players must be avoided under all circumstances, contact between competing players can still occur through poor technique, missteps, poor landings, and accidental collisions. Many injuries are caused simply through direct contact with the ball or floor, too.

The technical and physical skills required of netball players can be hugely demanding, especially in competitive scenarios, and netball injuries are unfortunately frequent. The most common injuries through netball tend to occur in players’ lower legs, ankles, wrists, hands, and fingers. These are mostly caused by awkward landings, slips and falls, collisions between players, or being hit with the ball. 

Overall, the most common netball injuries are: 

• Sprains and strains 
• Bruising
• Fractured bones
• Dislocations

In most cases, a qualified first aider will be trained with enough knowledge to offer effective first aid treatment to players who suffer these common injuries, at the very least mitigating the damage and improving recovery rates in minor to severe injuries before professional medical attention is received.

For most common netball injuries, first aiders will be trained to utilise RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) therapy using essential first aid equipment provided in most good first aid kits, such as elastic adhesive bandages, instant ice packs, or medical free spray. Appropriate netball first aid kit contents will also include dressings and plasters to treat cuts, grazes, or larger wounds caused by falls or collisions during play.

What should be in a netball first aid kit?

Whether you’re a coach, a professional sports medic, a trained physiotherapist, or a qualified first aider, having access to a complete, quality selection of good netball first aid kits contents will be essential to your ability to provide safe, effective first aid care in the event of a medical emergency or injury.

School netball teams, grassroots netball clubs, or elite professional players are all at risk of injury during play. Keep your netball players safe with access to essential first aid supplies in your kit. 
We have developed a premium sports first aid kit that supplies everything you’ll need in one compact bag or rucksack. It’s ideal for netball teams, whether playing at home or away. We discuss the essential parts of the netball first aid kit contents included in this kit, their features, and what to use them for.

• Wound Closures/Sutures

Use wound closure strips to hold cuts and deeper wounds together to promote healing and reduce the chances of scarring.

• Gauze Swabs

Padded gauze swabs to cushion and protect an open wound, and to mop up blood when cleaning and dressing wounds.

• Eye and Wound Wash Pods

20ml sterile eye and wound wash pods with twist-tops to flush out injured eyes or open wounds.

• Bandages (conforming, crepe, and triangular)

Use to support strains and sprains, reduce swellings, protect fractured or broken bones and dislocated joints, or secure dressings in place.

• Hypoallergenic Washproof Plasters 

Cover small cuts, grazes or blisters to prevent contamination and infection. It’s important to use hypoallergenic, sterile plasters to prevent infection or allergic reaction when in contact with broken skin.

• Alcohol-free Cleansing Wipes 

Use to clean wounded areas and reduce the risk of infection and wound contamination.

• Powder-Free Nitrile Gloves

An essential protective measure for the first aider and the casualty. Ensures direct contact between player and first-aider is minimised and protects both from cross-contamination, the transmission of viruses, and the possible infection of the wounds being treated.

• Microporous Tape, Zinc Oxide Tape and Elastic Adhesive Bandages

Used to fix dressings or bandages in place safely or to support a strained or twisted joint. Make sure you choose hypoallergenic tape with a strong adhesive.

• Instant Ice Pack and Freeze Spray

Agitate the pack or spray over an area for cooling effects within seconds to provide cold therapy benefits. Commonly used to reduce swelling in an injured area while reducing pain symptoms for the casualty.

• Tweezers

An essential tool for wound cleaning, enabling accurate, detailed access to the interior of a wound, minimising the need for fingers to treat an injury. IMPORTANT: never put tweezer ends directly into a wound and take extra care not to disturb the wound bed while removing grit or foreign bodies from a wound.

• Scissors

Blunt-ended medical-grade scissors to cut dressings, bandages, and tape with ease. They can also be used for cutting away any clothing or barriers to an injury for easy access and treatment of an injury.

• Clinical Waste Bags

Dispose of all used medical material, including gloves, contaminated equipment, soiled dressings and bandages, and cleansing wipes to maintain optimal hygiene in the treatment area.

• Safety Pins

Use to fix bandages and dressings in place securely or to hold loose clothing out of the way.

• Foil Blanket 

Wrap around a casualty to reduce the risk of exposure and treat shock symptoms. The foil coating helps the patient retain their body temperature during treatment.

• Petroleum Jelly 

Create a protective barrier between chaffing skin or irritated areas such as cuts, scrapes, friction burns, or blisters, or keep healing wounds moist.

Are you a sports physio or medic?

If you’re taking care of high-level netball teams, it’s worth considering a more extensive, specialised sports medical kit. This will ensure you have a broader range of high-quality first aid equipment to treat injuries caused during a netball game or training session.

Our premium, professional-grade sports medical kit has been put together by industry experts, combining the ideal pitchside kit with a physio kit that’s perfect for the treatment room. It includes all of the first aid products in our sports first aid kit, with larger quantities of the essentials and these additional products:

• Antiseptic Cream
• Fabric Strapping
• Hand sanitiser
• A trigger spray bottle
• Additional sizes of wound dressings, EAB bandages and low adherent dressings.

Do you coach a junior netball team?

Junior and school teams are at equal risk of injury and incident during a netball game as adults. Choose our junior sports team first aid kit that’s been put together by experts to cater to all your younger team’s first aid needs. It contains the most important and frequently used items of the ideal netball first aid kit contents, with 70 pieces of equipment in a compact, lightweight, waterproof nylon kit bag.

Netball First Aid Kit Contents Checklist

Download and print out this netball first aid kit contents checklist to ensure your first aid supplies are stocked up and in-date before every match and training session.