Then it was out with the cones to see how good their ball control was. Firstly, working in pairs, they passed the ball to each other through a small gap created by a couple of cones. This meant accurate passing and controlling the ball when it reached you.
From there the coaches set up a slalom course so that the members could dribble the ball through the cones before shooting at a goal at one end. Callum, being the next Hugo Lloris, was in goal using his special gloves but he was also joined for a while by Umar in his wheelchair.​

After a break for refreshments it was time to put all the skills to good use in a competitive match. So the group was split in to two teams, with one team sporting the new bright yellow bibs as you can see in the photos. It proved to be a great finale to a great session.​

The session this last Saturday was dedicated to the sport of Rugby.
Unfortunately I was away so cannot add much detail to all the photos below but I will try and summarize the session as best I can. We had a good turnout, up slightly from the first two week, which looks to have made for a really good day
As always the session started with a warm up and Ollie led a game of tag
Then it was out with the Rugby balls. First up was throwing in the air and catching to get used to the egg shaped ball. Then it was on to pairs work throwing and catching to your partner.
​

From there it was working on ball control with partners standing back to back and passing the ball around their waists to the partner in a circle. Then it was passing over the head and then between the legs.
After a break it was time for a tag game called Hunter.  We had two games running side by side and in each there is a hunter and the player they are hunting. The "huntee" runs off on the whistle to collect a ball from the hoop at the far end and get back without being captured. The hunter meanwhile has to run a longer route with the sole aim of tagging the player with the ball before they get home. It is fast, furious and fun!​

The day finished with a game of Rugby benchball. This is no different to a normal game of benchball with the added complication of an egg shaped ball rather than a round one. It makes it a whole lot more fun when bouncing in all directions if the ball is dropped during play.

As Saturday morning started off nice and sunny we made the most of the weather to get outside on the playground for a session dominated by Basketball.
The photos below depict a number of skills practices that the coaches went through with the kids. Starting with basic ball control and dribbling, to working in pairs doing bounce passes.  After that the coaches laid out some cones so the kids could start dribbling around them going up and down the playground. Last of all they added some hoops to the course so that the kids stopped at a cone and then had to throw the ball with the aim that it bounced inside the hoop.

Other skills you can see in the photos show one where they threw the ball in the air and clapped as many times as they could before catching the ball. Another shows passing the ball around your waist. That is often accompanied with passing the ball between the legs but there was not a photo of that.

After a break for drinks the weather was starting to cloud over so we moved back inside and made the most of the basketball nets at either end of the hall by playing some one-on-one games. The coaches select two members to play each other trying to match them appropriately based on age, size and ability. Once selected they start at the end where they will end up trying to score. On the word go they both run to the far end and around a cone. At that end the ball is thrown in to play and it then becomes a matter of who scores first back at the end where they started. This means dribbling the ball and shooting when in possession but defending the net when not.​

After a series of one-on-one games the group split in to two teams for a match to finish. This brought together all the skills they had been practicing throughout the morning in to a fun but competitive match. It also has the added component of team work where working together often brings about a better outcome than trying to work alone.

Join us again next Saturday to see what Alan, Ray and Ollie have in store.

The main sport this week was Hockey and as you can see in the photos above and below that meant starting with some stick work and controlling the ball around the cones laid out up and down the hall. That led to a few one-on-one races up and down the course.
From there we moved on to bench hockey where the group split in to two teams and each team sits behind a bench with their sticks poking through the gaps, facing the other team. Each team is aiming to get the ball in to the goal at the end to their right. So in effect the teams are going in opposite directions much like a normal hockey match. It is all about team work, getting the ball from the person defending the team goal along the row to the attacker who can shoot.

After a refreshment break we completed the Hockey with a "normal" match. The teams used the whole hall and the benches became the goals at either end. They put all the skills they had practised to good use and along with some teamwork it made for an energetic match.
The session ended with a game of Benchball, using the benches once more. The game starts with one member of each  team standing on the far bench. The rest then have to pass the ball up the pitch and after at least three passes, without the ball hitting the floor, they can try and pass to the team member on the bench. If it is caught then the person throwing the ball joins them on the bench. If not, then play passes over to the other team. The team who gets all their players on the bench first is the winner.