We made the most of the glorious weather to get out on to the playground for most of the session. We were without Ollie this week as he was away so Ray had to lead the warm up on his own. It was soon on to the main sport of Football and the kids teamed up to pass a ball to each other. From there we made it a little harder asking them to pass between two cones. To get the passing accurate they were encouraged to trap the ball first before passing.

As the kids got more confident with their passing they moved further apart but still trying to get the passing between the cones. From there we moved on to dribbling around cones with the ball. After that the  kids formed a big circle and passed the ball around the outside of the circle to each other. Lastly, they then dribbled the ball to someone on the other side of the circle before passing to them and taking their place, in the circle. The person receiving the ball would then take their turn to dribble and pass to a person on the far side of the circle.

After a drinks break it was on to some shooting practice. The group split in to three teams and took it in turns to dribble the ball around the cones before shooting for the goal.
After the main break we then put all that good practice to good use as we played some small sided games. The three teams took it in turns to play each other and there were some good skills on show. Kerrie scored a blindingly good goal at the start of one of the matches. Whereas someone else did likewise but only in to their own goal! ( I wont name and names!)

We finished off the session with a few quick games of Boccia, to slow things down and to get in from the hot sun (who would have thought we would be saying that a couple of weeks ago!). Ray led the games using hoops as targets. In the first game you will see there were nine hoops to get your ball in to but as each game went on the number of hoops decreased until the last game just had one hoop as the target.​

This week's session included some Parachute Games, a bit of High Jump and Tennis.
We were missing a few of the usual suspects, probably due to the dreaded Covid, but it was great to see Hetvi back after quite a while and also great to welcome another new member - Jack.
After a warm up led by Ray, Ollie then called the shots in a traffic light game including running and jumping on the spot. The team then got out the big multi-coloured parachute and Ray came up with all sorts of great games. One of the new games was trying to get a ball to hit the bullseye in the middle of the parachute - not easy with over a dozen people pulling it up and down!

After the parachute games concluded it was out with the crash mat for some High Jump practice. As you can see from the photos, the level of the rope to jump over was not massive but it was all about co-ordination - making sure the run up was good, taking off at the right point and landing safely.

After the High Jump practice was over and the kids had had a quick drink it was time to get outside in the sunshine for some Tennis. Alan, Ray and Ollie led the kids through some skills practice such as balancing a tennis ball on the racket, bouncing the ball up on the racket and then bouncing the ball between racket and the ground.​ They then played some games of Build a Burger. This is where they balance tennis balls sandwiched between tennis rackets. It starts with one ball between two players rackets and they make their way up and down the playground trying not to drop the ball. Then another player joins in adding another layer of tennis ball and racket so two balls layered between three rackets. So it progresses and it gets harder to control as you add more layers.

We then played one of our favourite games - King of the Court. This is where a coach, in this case Ollie, throws a ball over the net for the kids to hit. They must get it back over the net and into the court to stay in the game. If successful they join the back of the queue for the next round. If they fail to get it back over the net OR fail to get it in the court OR get caught out then they join Ollie on the other side of the net as a fielder trying to catch the others out. The last person standing is then crowned King or Queen of the court.

This week at EF Sportability Cricket was the main sport with throwing, catching, batting and fielding all being practiced.
After a warm up we started off the cricket with the kids working in pairs. They started by throwing and catching the ball between them using both hands to catch the ball. From there we put a round mat in between each pair so that they could throw the ball to bounce it on the spot before their partner caught it. This helped focus their throwing to try and be as accurate as possible. If  they mastered hitting the spot they would gradually move further away (taking a step back) to make it a little harder. We then progressed to a game of champion. This is where the kids form a line and face one of the coaches (Ray). Ray would then call out a person at a time and throw the tennis ball to them. If they caught the ball they would move one place up the line. If they didnt catch it then it was down to the bottom of the line. When time was up the person at the top of the line was the champion.

After a drinks break we moved on to bowling underarm towards stumps at the end of the hall. Each player would take a turn then become wicketkeeper for the next person so the group rotated. 
Next was a similar exercise but rather than bowling at the stumps the wicket keeper would roll the ball out and the next kid up would collect (field) the ball before throwing it at the stumps - as if they were fielding and trying to run out a batter in a cricket game.
The last bit of practice before the break was some batting practice, hitting the tennis balls off a plastic tee and using plastic bats.

After the main break the kids played a version of the Three Tee Cricket game. In this version each player hits three balls off a tee one at a time. Each time they try and get as many runs as possible before the fielding side return the ball to a tee of their own and shout out STOP! The players took it one at a time to hit their three balls and all the runs were totted up for their side. The teams then switched around so that the fielding team batted and vice-versa.

Basketball was our main sport once again at Epping Forest Sportability Club this week. We had a great turnout once more and after the usual warm ups, including a traffic light game once more, it was straight in to the skills practice. To start with each child had a basketball and practiced bouncing and dribbling with their ball. After a while they switched to using their other hand then both hands. From there it was bouncing along the lines on the school hall floor then including throwing the ball in the air and clapping before catching once more, as they dribbled. Last of all they practiced bouncing the ball as high as they could, whilst maintaining control, and then as low as they could.

After a quick drinks break it was on to shooting practice. The smaller kids practiced  with the small net whilst the older kids lined up to use the nets at either end of the hall. They would take their shot then pass the ball to the next in line before joining the back of the queue for shooting at the net at the other end of the hall.

Once the practice was complete it was on to some 1-vs-1 games with the coaches picking out two children of similar size and ability to compete with each other. They had to run to the far end of the hall where Ollie would throw the ball in. Then it was the first to take the ball down the hall and score in the net.

After the main break the group split in to three teams to play some games lasting about 5 minutes each. They put all they had practiced in to the action and we had some great, close games. The little ones were able to shoot in to the smaller basked, and Ellis scored a few, whilst the rest used the normal baskets.

We finished off the session by taking the pace down a bit with some Curling games. The kids took it in turns to have a go - working in pairs or groups of three. They were aiming for the circle marked on the far end of the hall, much like the curling in the winter olympics.