A slightly quieter week this week but we played some great Cricket. With Ollie away and Ray not back from his eye surgery yet it was just Alan and myself (Andy) running the whole session which made it frenetic but fun.
Alan led a great warm up with a couple of new stretches in there. It was then out with the tennis balls for some catching practice in pairs. The kids could either throw direct to each other or do a bounce pass. Alan then put a spot on the floor between each pair with the challenge be to do a bounce pass hitting the spot each time. 

After a quick drinks break Alan set up a fielding drill with the kids taking it in turns to run up, collect the ball, run around the wickets and then place the ball back on the cone on their way back.​ They then moved on to a drill focusing on throwing at the wickets. Once you had your turn you then became wicketkeeper for the next person. The wicketkeeper would roll the ball out to the next fielder so they would have to pick up the moving ball before throwing at the wicket.

The last skills practice before the main break was batting practice with the kids hitting tennis balls off of tees towards the end of the hall.​

We finished off the session with a couple of quick games of Benchball. At the end of the session Ellis and Rhys were named our star performers of the week - well done lads!
We look forward to seeing you all again next week when hopefully we will have Ray and Ollie back too!

After a quiet start we had a record number of attendees at Epping Forest Sportability Club this week. It was also our annual AGM for parents and carers to chat with the committee so, because of that, there are not as many photos this week. Thanks for all the parents and carers that attended the meeting and contributed to a great discussion.
The session started with Coach Alan leading a great warm up in the school hall. The kids then picked up a tennis racket and ball each and started by balancing the ball on the racket. Alan then asked them to throw the ball in the air and try and catch it just using the tennis racket. 
Next up was bouncing the ball between the racket and the floor. They then paired up to throw the ball for their partner to hit back at them. They then switched so that everyone had a chance to throw and everyone had a chance to hit the ball back.

After the break the kids played a game of King of the Court out on the playground. Ollie would throw the tennis ball over the net for the child to hit back, after letting it bounce. The kids had to return the ball over the net and have it land in the court, without being caught, to get through to the next round. Fail to get the ball in to the court and you would join Ollie on the fielding side trying to catch out the other kids.
It is a game of last person standing to be crowned King of the Court. However, in our game it was not a king of the court but rather a queen as Davina came out as the overall winner when she beat Sonny in the final round. Very well done Davina! 

We finished off the session with a few games of Boccia back in the hall with the teams splitting in to two teams at opposite ends of the hall. With so many kids in attendance this week rather than the kids getting two balls each game it was just one. It was a great end to a wonderful session.

It was great to be back after the half term break. We started the session off with a warm up led by Alan which included a few new stretches.
We then picked up a basketball each and started to dribble the ball around the hall. We then practiced with our least favourite (weaker) hand before bouncing the ball with both hands. Then it was bouncing the ball higher  - above waist height but below the chin - and then bouncing low to the ground.

Valentina then led a traffic light game. If she held up a red cone you had to stand still holding your basketball. Green for go to dribble around the hall and yellow was dribbling side to side between hands and then changed to be moving the ball around your waist. 
After that the kids had to dribble the ball around the cones up the hall. When they got to the far end they had to bounce the ball on the spot twice before dribbling the ball back again.

The last basketball activity was some one vs one games. The coaches called out a pair of kids to face off against each other. On the word go they had to run to the far end of the hall to collect the ball from Ollie, who threw it in to play. It was then a race to see who scored first. Big kids using the normal basket and the small kids using the shorter basket. 

After the break the kids took it in turns at Archery. Three arrows each turn and Alexander got the highest score with 27 out of a possible 30 and that included a bullseye!

We finished off with two games of Benchball with the green and blue teams winning one game apiece. Finally we played some Boccia. The blue team won the first game 3-2. The Red team won the second game but the Blues went back in front by winning the third game. The final game went to the Red team 2-0 meaning the series was tied.

We had a lovely session of Hockey and Boccia to see us in to the half term break.
It was great to see a couple of new members too. We hope Maddison and James enjoyed it and want to come back when we return on 4th November.
Ray was away, recovering from an eye operation, so Alan led the warm up before we started off with the Hockey. All the kids grabbed a tennis ball and hockey stick to practise some dribbling. Ollie then led a traffic light game with Red being stop still, amber / yellow being stand still but move the ball from side to side and green being dribble the ball around the hall.

We  then moved on to dribbling around cones and then shooting between cones at the end of the hall. We finished off before the break with the kids shooting at numbered cones at the end of the hall trying to score as many as the could with a direct hit.

After the main break we played some small sided games of Hockey with the group  splitting in to three teams. First off the Green team took on the yellow team and won by 7 goals to 5. Next up was the blue team to take on the greens and the blues won 7 goals to 6. The last game saw the Blue team take on the yellows and triumphed by 5 goals to 4.

We finished off with some games of Boccia with the group splitting in to a blue and red team with the teams at each end of the hall. They were aiming  to get as many of their balls in to the hoop of the same colour. The red team won the first game 10 to 6.
The second game was to see who could get the most balls in to the one hoop in the centre of the hall.  This time the blue team won by 7 to 5, The final game was who could get closest to the white ball in the centre of the hall. The game was very close with the reds being closest for a long time until Zakaa came close for the blues. Davina then got closer still but on the last ball it ended up in a tie.

Despite the weather being significantly colder this week we still managed to get our on to the playground for a lovely session based around cricket.
Ray led the warm up as usual before we started on the cricket skills practice. The kids paired up for some throwing and catching. They started off with bounce passes then trying to hit a spot on the floor as the passed. We then moved to some games of champion with Cliff running a game for one half of the group while Ray led the other half in a separate game. They then combined in to one big group but with both Ray and Cliff throwing balls for the kids to catch. Congrats to Anand who was at the top of the queue when the game ended and was therefore crowned the Champion! 

After the main break we put all that fielding practice to good use as we played some games of Three Tee Cricket. The group split in to two teams led by Todd and Harry. The batting team take it in turn to hit three tennis balls off of three plastic tees. Once the last ball is hit they then try and get as many runs, between two wickets, as they can before the fielding team can return the three balls back on to the three tees in the original places. The fielding team are not allowed to touch any of the balls until the final ball is hit. 
The first game incredibly ended in a draw at 76 runs each per team. A re-match was called for and this time we put the wickets further apart to make the runs harder to come by. I am not sure if it was quicker fielding or the fact the kids were getting tired but this time Todd's team managed 61 runs but Harry's team ran out winners with a creditable 72 runs. The games were great fun and all the kids did really well.

It was a great session overall and good to be out in the fresh air for the whole session. 
At the end the coaches awarded the star of the week awards to Todd and Kerrie - very well done to you both!
Join us next Saturday for the last session before the half term break.

All things rugby this week at Sportability Club.
Ray led the warm up on the playground before we got started with some passing drills. We started off passing in pairs before moving on to passing over and under (over the head and then between the legs). Then it was on to passing side to side, around the waist.
We then played some games of Rob the Nest before finishing off the first half of the session by passing between pairs as they moved up and down lanes of cones.

After the main break it was back out on to the playground for some more passing drills this time led by Alan. We then finished off by playing some games of Dragons Den on the grass.

After the main break it was back out on to the playground for some more passing drills this time led by Alan. We then finished off by playing some games of Dragons Den on the grass.

It looks like I missed out on a fantastic basketball session on the playground at Oak View School last Saturday.
I am reliably informed by Coach Alan that Ray led the session which included "Drills consisting of dribbling , circle work ,traffic lights , bouncing high and low , shooting at hoops on the playground floor which worked well." 
The matches after break were outside again using hoops on the floor.  With 3 teams playing, when one team was off a passing drill was set up at the side of the playground. 
We had three potential new members attend for the first time which is great - I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you again this coming Saturday. Our Star of the Week winners were Anand and Valentina - congratulations to you both.

We had a fantastic session on Saturday starting out in the sun on the playground at Oak View School playing some tennis games and the finishing up in the school hall playing Benchball.
Ray started the session off with some warm up exercises then every child grabbed a tennis racket and ball. They started off by balancing the ball as they moved around the playground. They then moved on to hitting the ball up and down. 

We finished up with some game of Benchball with the group splitting in to three small teams. In the first round of matches the Yellow team beat the Green team. The  Blues then beat the Yellows followed by the Greens, before the Greens then got revenge on the Yellows.

It was an actioned packed session that was a lot of fun. At the end of the session the coaches awarded the Star of the Week awards to Kealan and Pranav, the latter for some top notch catching in the King of the Court games. Well done lads! ​

Just a quick update this week as I was not around on Saturday to take photos and get details of all the activities BUT Coach Alan reliably informs me that we had a good turnout on what turned out to be a very hot day.
The kids enjoyed playing some football on the play ground with the coaches leading them through dribbling, passing and shooting drills.
After the main break it was back in the hall out of the sun as Ray led a Boccia session playing a variety of game formats.

Our star performers this week were Swaran and Harry, our newest member. Well done lads! See you all again next Saturday for more fun activities.

It was great to see everyone back after the long summer break. The weather was kind to us, almost a little too kind as it was a bit hot.
It was great to welcome a new member, Harry, to the club. We hope he enjoys it and wants to come back each week.
We started off the term with a session mainly around Hockey. We started with a warm up led by Ray then it was in to some skills practice for the Hockey. Everyone grabbed a stick and hockey ball and practiced moving the ball side to side as they moved around the hall. 
Ollie then led a traffic light game before they moved on to some dribbling and shooting practice.
With all the practice under their belts it was on to some small sided games. The group split in to three teams and took it in turns to play each other. The yellow team won a tight first game by a single goal against the blue team. The green team then took on the blue team and they won too. That made the last game between yellow and green teams the decider and it was the green team that won through!

After the main break we switched sports to practice some Archery in the hall.
The kids took it in turns to try and get as high as score as possible in their turn. Our new member Harry did particularly well getting a bullseye at the end of the session!

Our first Star of the Week award winners this term were Hal and Charlotte - congrats to you both!
Our Head Coach Alan also deserves an award as he ran a 10k in Sunday in the blazing heat and managed a great time of 69 minutes. Well done Alan!

Looking forward to more fun and games next week - see you then!