We turned to the sport of cricket last Saturday at Epping Forest Sportability Club. With the sun out it was lovely to have the whole session out on the playground as our members honed their catching, bowling and batting skills in their bid to become the next Ashes winners!
After a warm up session led by Ray, Ciara and Ollie - which had to include some games of What's the Time Mr Wolf? of course - it was soon in to session proper where we started with some catching practice. Initially, the group split in to pairs to throw and catch to each other with the leaders getting involved and helping the younger members to get their hands in the correct position when catching. From their Ray led a game of Champion where the group line up and Ray throws to members randomly. If you catch a ball thrown at you then you move up the line, if you dont manage to catch it you move back down the line. The person at the head of the line at the end of the game is the winner.

Following a quick break for a drink we then moved on to bowling.  The coaches set up several wickets around the playground and then split the kids in to groups,. This meant that they each got a good practice at bowling at the wickets. It looks easy on the telly but obviously takes a mix of speed, control and aim to be able to hit the wicket and be good enough for a batsmen to be able to hit it. i.e. no daisy cutters or balls at head height!!!​

Next up was some batting practice. As you can see in the photos below it included some of the members using their bowling skills they had practiced to bowl to their friends.​

The kids had earned a break by this time so they stopped for snacks, drink and a chat. When they resumed the smaller ones who wanted to went down to the ball pool with Ciara supervising (well joining in the fun really). The rest used all the skills they had learned and practiced throughout the session in a short game.

It was a great session all around and lovely to be outside enjoying the great weather. At the end of the session Alan conferred with his coaching staff and they awarded the Star of the Week award to Charlotte. So very well done  Charlotte and we loved the hat!
Join Alan and the team again this Saturday for more fun in the sun!

I will be away for the next two Saturday's so there will be no posts or photos for a few weeks but the sessions will carry on as normal with Alan, Ray and Ollie leading the activities. Thanks to all the parents and carers who volunteered to cover the front desk while I am away - very much appreciated. 

Do not forget as well that due to the Oak View School Summer Music Festival there will be no club on July 14th  but please do attend the festival and support the school if you can.

​See you all in a few weeks!

With both the US Open Golf and the FIFA World Cup underway we couldn't decide what sport to play - so we played both!
After the usual warm up we started the main part of the session with some Golf and in particular putting. The coaches had laid out a couple of "holes" consisting of a corridor of cones with a hoop at the end as the hole. They then played a separate game where cones were laid out randomly and the kids went three or four at a time and if their putt hit a cone they collected it and went on to try and hit another cone. Therefore, the aim being to hit and collect as many cones as possible.

During the golf we also had a couple of teachers from Pear Tree Mead school in Harlow visit us - Kim and Heather. This is a school where Alan works at during the week and they had heard all about our club and wanted to pop in to see us in action. They have also been very supportive in helping us by providing the golf balls 

After the main break we switched sports and the younger ones headed to the ball pool, supervised by Ciara and Teagan. The older kids were back out on the playground having a France vs Australia style penalty shoot out.
To finish off with we moved back in to the hall to play some games of Curling and that wrapped up a really great session. See you all again next Saturday for loads more fun!

It was good to be back after the half term break for what turned out to be a session full of racket sports. 
As usual the session started with a number of warm up exercises that you can see in a few photos below. These included some warm up jogs around the hall and some games of What's the time Mr Wolf?"​

Once everyone was limbered up it was time to start the badminton and that started with some basic skills such as hitting the shuttlecock up in the air repeatedly without it dropping to the floor, a bit like keepy-uppy in football. That then moved on to hitting and catching in pairs with one player hitting and the other catching and throwing it back for the player to hit again. They would then switch around so everyone got a chance to practice. After that both players had rackets and they would try and hit to each other in their pairs.
Finally, they progressed to playing in their pairs over the net.​

It was then time for a break for refreshments but before long they were back on court playing some more rallies and switching pairs around. Lesley took a LOT of photos of the Badminton and I have selected some of the best ones here.

Once we were done with Badminton the kids had their main snack / drink break by which time the weather had improved sufficiently to get out on to the playground where the rest of the session was dedicated to Tennis. To start with they grabbed a racket and ball each and practised hitting the ball up and keeping it in the air (keepy-uppy) and then bouncing the ball on the ground with the racket This was quickly followed by a game of King of the Court where the kids aim to be the last person standing. They line up and take it in turns to return a ball back over the net and critically to get it back inside the court without being caught. If they fail to get it back over the net OR it goes out of the court OR they are caught then they are OUT and join the pitcher on the other side of the net to try and catch the others out. To be crowned King or Queen the member must be the last person left.​​