We had a good turnout this week and it was all about the sport of Rugby. Ray was back and he led the warm up although Alan did throw in a couple of new exercises at the end.
We started on Rugby with some skills practice and that meant working in pairs.
They started by passing to each other, then standing back to back they passed around the waist, then between the legs and lastly over their heads ending up doing over and under. When passing to each other in pairs they also included throwing the ball in the air and clapping before catching the ball again.
They then stepped things up a bit by passing on the run.

After a quick drinks break they all formed a big circle and begain passing across and then around the circle. This culminated with a game whereby everyone took a turn to run around the circle while the rest passed the ball, around the circle. The aim being to see if they could pass the ball quick enough to beat the runner back.
We then finished off the Rugby with some games of Rob the Nest which is always great fun, even if there was some high jinx and possibly some cheating on display!

After the main break we switched to playing Benchball and started off by throwing and catching in three small circles. The group then went on to play some games with the group splitting in to three small teams who each played each other.

Despite it being cold on Saturday it was an actioned packed session that hopefully kept us all warm with all the running around. At the end of the session the Star of the Week awards were presented to Charlotte and Swaran for their great efforts throughout. Well done to you both!

We hope to see you all again next Saturday to see what Alan and his team of coaches have in store for us,

A slightly quieter week this week but we played some great Cricket. With Ollie away and Ray not back from his eye surgery yet it was just Alan and myself (Andy) running the whole session which made it frenetic but fun.
Alan led a great warm up with a couple of new stretches in there. It was then out with the tennis balls for some catching practice in pairs. The kids could either throw direct to each other or do a bounce pass. Alan then put a spot on the floor between each pair with the challenge be to do a bounce pass hitting the spot each time. 

After a quick drinks break Alan set up a fielding drill with the kids taking it in turns to run up, collect the ball, run around the wickets and then place the ball back on the cone on their way back.​ They then moved on to a drill focusing on throwing at the wickets. Once you had your turn you then became wicketkeeper for the next person. The wicketkeeper would roll the ball out to the next fielder so they would have to pick up the moving ball before throwing at the wicket.

The last skills practice before the main break was batting practice with the kids hitting tennis balls off of tees towards the end of the hall.​

We finished off the session with a couple of quick games of Benchball. At the end of the session Ellis and Rhys were named our star performers of the week - well done lads!
We look forward to seeing you all again next week when hopefully we will have Ray and Ollie back too!

After a quiet start we had a record number of attendees at Epping Forest Sportability Club this week. It was also our annual AGM for parents and carers to chat with the committee so, because of that, there are not as many photos this week. Thanks for all the parents and carers that attended the meeting and contributed to a great discussion.
The session started with Coach Alan leading a great warm up in the school hall. The kids then picked up a tennis racket and ball each and started by balancing the ball on the racket. Alan then asked them to throw the ball in the air and try and catch it just using the tennis racket. 
Next up was bouncing the ball between the racket and the floor. They then paired up to throw the ball for their partner to hit back at them. They then switched so that everyone had a chance to throw and everyone had a chance to hit the ball back.

After the break the kids played a game of King of the Court out on the playground. Ollie would throw the tennis ball over the net for the child to hit back, after letting it bounce. The kids had to return the ball over the net and have it land in the court, without being caught, to get through to the next round. Fail to get the ball in to the court and you would join Ollie on the fielding side trying to catch out the other kids.
It is a game of last person standing to be crowned King of the Court. However, in our game it was not a king of the court but rather a queen as Davina came out as the overall winner when she beat Sonny in the final round. Very well done Davina! 

We finished off the session with a few games of Boccia back in the hall with the teams splitting in to two teams at opposite ends of the hall. With so many kids in attendance this week rather than the kids getting two balls each game it was just one. It was a great end to a wonderful session.

It was great to be back after the half term break. We started the session off with a warm up led by Alan which included a few new stretches.
We then picked up a basketball each and started to dribble the ball around the hall. We then practiced with our least favourite (weaker) hand before bouncing the ball with both hands. Then it was bouncing the ball higher  - above waist height but below the chin - and then bouncing low to the ground.

Valentina then led a traffic light game. If she held up a red cone you had to stand still holding your basketball. Green for go to dribble around the hall and yellow was dribbling side to side between hands and then changed to be moving the ball around your waist. 
After that the kids had to dribble the ball around the cones up the hall. When they got to the far end they had to bounce the ball on the spot twice before dribbling the ball back again.

The last basketball activity was some one vs one games. The coaches called out a pair of kids to face off against each other. On the word go they had to run to the far end of the hall to collect the ball from Ollie, who threw it in to play. It was then a race to see who scored first. Big kids using the normal basket and the small kids using the shorter basket. 

After the break the kids took it in turns at Archery. Three arrows each turn and Alexander got the highest score with 27 out of a possible 30 and that included a bullseye!

We finished off with two games of Benchball with the green and blue teams winning one game apiece. Finally we played some Boccia. The blue team won the first game 3-2. The Red team won the second game but the Blues went back in front by winning the third game. The final game went to the Red team 2-0 meaning the series was tied.