This week at EFSC, We were getting inspired by the upcoming Wimbledon Tennis championships and played tennis! Coach Alan led todays session helped by Ray  Ollie, Georgia and Sophie. We started with some gentle jogging as a warm up before starting the activities with some throwing and catching practice. Working in pairs throwing and catching a tennis ball to each other it helps develop the members gross motor skills. Concentrating on throwing the ball in a controlled manner  both in terms of aim and ball speed. Similarly, when catching it is important to move to the ball and get your hands in the correct position to catch properly. These are  things we often take for granted but as always practice makes perfect! 

Next up we quickly practised passing the ball to each other using the tennis racquets and so learning to hit the ball in a controlled manner. After this we moved on to hitting the ball back over the net. We set up two tennis courts with Ray in charge of one court and Ollie the other. Members took it  in turns to hit the ball back over the net from a ball thrown to them by Ollie and Ray. Alan, Sophie and Georgia were assisting members with their technique.
After a drinks break we put all these skills to use as we all played 'King/Queen of the Court'. In this game, the aim is to be the latest person still in play and thus becoming the "Queen" or "King" of the court. Ollie was in charge throwing the ball over the net to each member in turn. To stay in play the member had to hit the ball back over the net and get the ball in to the court without being caught. If they succeeded they would go to the back of the line to await another turn. If they were less successful they were out and became a catcher alongside Ollie. This game helped our members develop their ability to control the ball and hit it over the tennis net. At the end it was Theo, one of our youngest and smallest members who was "last person standing" and so crowned King of the Court.

Finally, the 'Star of the Week' this week is our member Jennifer. She received this award from the coaches for demonstrating fanastic throwing, passing and hitting skills throughout todays session!  Very well done!

Again the weather was not great for June so we stayed in the hall and Alan and Ray arranged a variety of indoor athletics activities for the kids to take part in. As you can see in the slide show below the four main activities at the start of the session were hurdles, standing long jump, throwing bean bags at targets and lastly seeing how far you can pass a basketball using a chest push

After a short drinks break these skills were then used in combination to over come an obstacle course that the coaches set up.

Towards the end of the session the kids took part in one last activity - the high jump. At the end of the session the coaches award the Star of the Week award to Nicholas so very well done to him.

It was good to be back after the half term break and we had some better weather so it was great to get out on the field for the whole session. As Euro 2016 has just got under way in France it was only fitting that we played some football, the first time we have dedicated a whole session to the sport in a very long time. After the usual warm up it was straight in to some work on ball control which included moving with the ball, dribbling around cones in a slalom and doing a figure of eight with the ball. They progressed on to some working in pairs passing the ball to each other. Then, after a break, we played a series of matches in the form of 5-a-side games,
It was a great session and the kids were certainly very hot and sweaty by the end of it, I think we did a good job of using up their energy!

​A special mention has to be made to Malachi who came for the very first time this week and showed great enthusiasm from the moment he walked in the door to the end of the session. Quite rightly the coaches awarded him the star of the week award for all his efforts and the skills he showed playing football. Another big thank you goes out to Geraldine, one of the class teachers at Oakview, who came in on her day off to ensure Isaac (one of her pupils) was settling in okay and taking part in the activities. It is always very rewarding to see a new member start to enjoy themselves joining in with the sports being played.