THERE was plenty of exciting netball on the weekend to kick off the Netball Super League (NSL) season on the weekend, with plenty of players impressing on the opening day.

One of those was Loughborough’s Mary Cholhok, who starred in her side’s first up win over Team Bath.

After a season of over 600 goals last season, Cholhok has not taken a backwards step over the offseason and played as strongly as ever. The Ugandan shooting star shot 50 goals against Bath, which was the highest number of goals anyone shot over the opening day. She was also very accurate, not missing a shot all game.

This Player Focus takes a deep dive into her technique and what makes her so good as a shooter. There are many different elements to the way Cholhok plays that makes her such a good shooter and one that is tough to defend against.

Cholhok often likes to receive passes into the circle from out behind the defender, and is strong enough to receive the ball without the threat of being intercepted. She does not always play from behind though, as she is strong enough to hold front position, but is quick and agile enough to roll off her opponent and create that space to receive the pass.

Cholhok is a very mobile shooter with a great vertical jump, and she is able to use all of that as well as her height to her advantage in being able to receive more passes in the circle without the fear that she will be intercepted.

Another element to her game is her lay ups, which she is well known for. Not many shooters can pull them off but she does, and the fact that she is able to pull them off allows Loughborough to add another element into their game plan that is hard for opposition defenders to counter.