As the new NBA season gets underway in the States we devoted our session to the sport of Basketball. Before we got on to the Basketball the kids went through a very varied warm up session led by Alan and Ollie. It started with some gentle jogging around the school hall. This was followed by moving side to side, hopping, some hopscotch and a game of What's the Time Mr Wolff. There was even a drill that sounds like it came from a Rugby practice ground called "1-2-3-scoop" - I am reliably informed this meant taking three steps to the right followed by a scooping motion (much like passing a rugby ball) then repeating it going to the left. Probably just the sort of drill the England team practice on their way to thrashing the All Blacks!
With the warm up done and dusted each kid grabbed a basketball and we got some skills practice underway.

As you can see in the photos above they started with dribbling the ball with each hand and then both hands. The coaches then got to them to focus on accuracy by dribbling the ball along the lines on the hall floor. Ollie then led a traffic light ball dribbling game and the last exercise was to throw the ball in the air, clap your hands as many times as you could before catching the ball again. It was then time for a well earned drink. 

The basketball resumed with some bouncing of the ball both low and high. It is actually very hard to keep the ball under control when bouncing the ball close to the ground. Bouncing high is not much easier either and it is not unusual to lose control. From there the kids moved on to moving the ball around their waists and then around their legs, on the floor.
Alan then led a drill called "Puppy in the Park" where cones were laid out around the hall in a series of gates. The kids then had to dribble the ball around the course without straying on to the road and staying within the gates. They then had a similar routine performing a dribble around a figure of eight.

Before the main refreshment break the kids moved on to practice some shooting, both individually and in pairs. As a pair they would move down the hall passing to each other before shooting. If the initial shooter missed the basket then the partner got the rebound and the next shot. There were then some one on one games with the coaches pairing up players of similar abilities to take on each other with the first to score a basket being the winner. 

We had a mixed bag in terms of sports and activities at Epping Forest Sportability Club this week. After the now usual warm up of jogging followed by Tag Games including What's the Time Mr Wolf, it was on to a cones game. Loads of cones were distributed across the school hall floor, some face up and some face down. The group were split in two with one team trying to get as many turned face down whilst the other team were the opposite in trying to get them all turned face up.

We then moved on to a Golf putting game with the aim of putting through the cones to a hoop at the end. From there the game changed to one where kids working on their own or in a pair took it in turns to putt to try and hit as many cones as possible from the far end of the hall. The ones they hit they collected. The game continued until all cones were hit and then they were counted up. It was a close game but with one team winning in the end by a comfortable margin - Valentina & Hal scored 16 cones, Callum 10, Kerrie 10, James 9 and Zakaa 5.

After the break we moved on to Curling with kids pairing up to try and get as many stones in to the circle at the far end of the hall as possible. As you can see in the photos below Todd and Joseph managed to get all four of their red stones in to the circle which is a fantastic achievement!

The warm up this week was led by Kate with Ollie helping some of the younger kids. As you can see in the photos below we started with some stretching before some jogging around the hall. A couple of Tag games followed - the kid's favourite "Whats the Time Mr Wolf" followed by the classic Tag game of trying to get from one end of the hall to the other without being tagged.
Once all the kids were nicely warmed up it was on to some Cricket themed activities.

We started the main part of the session with some Throwing and Catching in pairs. This then turned in to a game where if you dropped a catch you dropped to one knee. Drop another catch and you were on to both knees. Another dropped catch and it was one arm behind the back as well. One last dropped catch and you were out and your opponent wins the game.
From there they played a different throwing and catching game called Champion. All the kids lined up and Kate took it in turns to throw the ball to each child. If they caught it they moved up the line but if you dropped it then down the line you went. At the end the person at the top of the line is crowned the Champion and in our game, it was won by Charlotte!

After a break for some rehydration the kids moved on to a drill focusing around throwing at wickets. As you can see in the photos below it involved the kids running and picking up a ball off a tee and then throwing at the wicket. There were tees set at different distances to test the aim and throwing ability of the kids.
Following the throwing practice the kids switched to some batting practice with the kids batting balls off of tees.​

After the main break they played a game of Three Tee Cricket which somehow ended up in a 97 point draw between the teams. The session the concluded with another game of Champion which was once again won by Charlotte!
The star of the week went to one of our newer members but unfortunately we are not able to have photographs of them so no picture I am afraid but very well done anyway. 
A special mention also has to go out to Callum and his mum, it was Callum's birthday last week and he brought in some lovely cakes which made the break time so much nicer! Many thanks and a very happy birthday Callum!
We hope to see you all again this coming Saturday for more fun and excitement.

With Ray now off for two months to cycle around Cyprus, for charity, it was down to Alan, Ollie and Kate to run the session in the hall and this week the sport played was Hockey.
After a warm up of stretches it was time to grab a plastic hockey stick each and a tennis ball and start off by dribbling the ball around the hall, with the stick.

The gang then played a traffic lights game to utilise the skills they had practised. This included moving the ball from side to side on a yellow traffic light and moving around the  hall on a green light. 
From there the coaches added cones to the mix asking the kids to dribble through gates - pairs of cones and then around a figure of 8 course. The last activity before a break was to dribble up a slalom course before shooting between a pair of cones