Basketball was the main sport of the session this week at Epping Forest Sportability Club.
Due to school fetes and pantos turnout was low but that didn't stop us from having a fun and varied session. Ollie and Alan started with warm ups including some ball control with the basketballs and also a game of Mr Wolf. Once they were ready to go it was straight in to some ball dribbling practice using the lines on the school hall as a guide.
From there we had a few quick Traffic Light games where a red light means Stop with the ball, amber (yellow) means bounce the ball from side to side on the spot and green means full on dribbling with the ball around the hall. 

Next up we had a shooting drill making use of the baskets at either end of the hall. The kids lined up to shoot and once they had taken their turn they collected their ball and joined the end of the queue for the basket at the other end of the hall. This then formed a kind of circle allowing the kids to practice their dribbling and shooting without having to wait too long for the next turn.

Before they stopped for a drinks break the kids had just enough time to play some one on one games. When Ollie shouted Go two kids would race up the hall away from the basket. They had to go around the cones as they went and on getting to the far end Ollie would throw the ball in. It was then a battle to see who would be the first to score. So a mix of attack and defence depending on who had the ball at the time.
After the drinks break we put all the practice to good use by playing some matches - blues versus reds. As you can see in the photos below it was energetic and lively and great fun.

We then switched sports to Boccia with the Blues led by Kate up against the Reds led by Ollie. Due to some fantastic shots by Liam and Joseph the Reds won quite comfortably.

We then stopped for the main break. After, as Liam and Kerrie had to go off to see a panto (oh yes they did!) which left us with just a few people left, we wrapped up the session with some games of Indoor Curling.

The main sport we played this week at Epping Forest Sportability Club was Badminton but the kids loved the Archery so much they asked to play it again!
The session started, as always, with some warm up routines consisting of some jogging around the hall then playing some tag games such as What's the Time Mr Wolf?
It was then on to the badminton starting with hitting the shuttlecock up in the air and doing Keepy-Uppy's, like in football.​

The group then moved on to playing across the nets. They paired up trying to get some good rally's going. They then switched around playing partners if they wished.

After the break the kids really wanted to play some more Archery - as they enjoyed it so much last week. How could we say no? So out with the bows and arrows and the targets and more fun was had by all.

Alan and Ollie kicked off the session this week with a warm up including some jogging around the hall, hopping, moving side to side and finally some tag games of What's the Time Mr Wolf.
It was then straight on to some Archery. Kate, Ollie and Alan reminded / instructed the kids how to hold the bow and load the plastic arrows and off they went taking it in turns to try and get as high a score as they can. There was some impressive performances and some bullseyes scored as well.

The kids loved the archery so much that they wanted to carry on after a drinks break. According to Head Coach Al they showed a fantastic ability to hit the target consistently and there were many notable performances. Valentina's stance when holding the bow and aiming her arrows was perfect. Kealan fired off arrows with great consistency, hitting the target regularly but special mention must go to Callum who was first to get a Bullseye but also ended up with the highest individual score of 70! Well done!

After the main break the younger ones got the chance to go to the ball pool, as we had Teagan helping out as well as Kate. The older kids took part in some games of Boccia in the hall followed by some Curling games.

We had a really good turnout for our first session back after the Half Term break and Alan, Ollie and Kate led a session loosely based around Handball.
As always the session started with a warm up to get everyone going. This consisted of some jogging around the hall then a game where they have to run and touch all the lines on the court. They then played tag games including What's the Time Mr Wolf?
Once everyone was warmed up the group paired up across the hall from each other and were throwing and catching between each other. They started with a bounce pass to each other catching and throwing back. Then a target was added in the middle to try and hit. Finally, a ball on a cone was added in the middle for the kids to aim at, trying to hit it off. This was obviously to try and improve the aim when throwing the ball.

​The coaches then came up with a great game whereby the group were split in to two groups. They then took it in turns to walk along a bench balancing. When they reached the end they had to throw their ball towards some numbered cones. The aim being to hit the cones with the highest value. This tested their balancing and throwing skills.

After the main break all the skills the kids had been practising were put to good use in some games of Handball and Dodgeball. Handball being much like football but with the hands (obviously) and this means passing the ball up the court between team mates before shooting for goal. This relies on accurate throwing and clean catching.
Dodgeball on the other hand is all about not getting hit by a soft ball thrown by one of the opposing team from their half of the court.  There are many balls in play so the action is fast and furious and you need to have eyes in the back of your head not to get hit!. On the offence side you need to be able to throw fast and accurately to try and hit an opposition member and it is all the better if you catch them off guard.​