A Fun Packed Session Last Saturday at EF Sportability

We had a really good turnout last Saturday which made for a fantastic session filled with many different drills and games. The theme was "throwing" which doesn't sound too exciting on the face of it, in fact one or two of our younger members thought it easy and boring to start with. But it soon became apparent it was far from boring.
​The session started as always with a warm up including some stretching and a game of "What's the Time Mr Wolf?! This is to help wake the kids up and get the bodies warmed up for the activities to come. The first throwing activity was working in pairs throwing and catching with each other - not that exciting I agree! This quickly moved on to the pairs separating further apart and doing bounce passes to each other trying to hit a marker disc with their bounce - a bit tougher maybe but still not setting the world alight, so to speak. But then it moved on to targeted throwing by throwing your ball at a smaller ball which was balancing on a cone and trying to knock it off.  It is a lot harder to do than it sounds and soon enough the kids were getting competitive trying to out do each other. 

The group  then moved on to a game which involved numbered cones with the idea being to get the highest score by hitting the highest numbered cones. We then had a game where all the kids formed a circle and the ball was thrown and caught amongst the players
After a drinks break the throwing skills were taken to the next level as the group split in to teams to play some games of Dodgeball.  For those that do not know, Dodgeball is a game where you aim to get your opposing team out by hitting them below the knee with a soft ball that you throw.  The opposing team are trying to do exactly the same to you and your team with the winners being the team to get all the opposing players out. The game is played on a court similar to tennis or badminton but without a net. There are also many different balls in play at the same time so you have to be very alert dodging the balls and not getting hit. During the game if you are able to catch a ball thrown by an opponent before it touches the ground then you can re-instate a team mate who had previously been out.
​So, as it sounds, the games are manic, fast paced with balls flying everywhere (which probably explains why there were no photos of this game). As the game goes on and the number of players left in goes down the games get a bit more tactical. A good aim and throw are therefore vital to getting your opponent out but catching and being agile to avoid being hit yourself are also key.

Our last game of the session was Benchball so another game involving throwing a ball but this time passing the ball between team mates and also involving catching. Aim and control are key to get the ball up the court to your bench at the other end. It was during the game of Bench ball that some of our younger members took themselves off to the ball pool for some hide and seek games and just having fun. Ciara and Zoe (our photographer) accompanied them so unfortunately we don't have photos of the bench ball. We do however a photo of Liam and Joseph enjoying themselves.

Our Star this week was Jessica, pictured here with Anand, former coach Jess and Head Coach Alan

Joseph and Liam having fun in the ball pool

We also had a surprise visitor last Saturday as Jess, one of our former coaches, was back from University in Swansea to surprise her mother on Mother's day. While she was back she popped in to say hello and catch up on the news and see how much the kids had grown!
​It was great seeing her and she also joined in with a game or two.
​At the end of the session the coaches decided that the Star of the Week award should go to Jessica - a very well done! You can see Jessica pictured to the left with Coach Alan, Jess and Anand

​Join us again on Saturday to see what games and activities Alan has planned for us!