It was great to see coach Ray back this week after recuperating from a successful surgery. Ray wasted no time getting back in to the swing of things as he led the warm up outside on the playground, on what was a very surprising and pleasant morning. We even had a bit of sun on a few occasions.
Once the warm up was complete the kids paired up for some throwing and catching with a tennis ball. That moved on to doing bounce passes trying to get the ball to bounce on a plastic spot laid out between each pair.

We then took the catching practice further by playing a game of Champion. The group split in to two with Ray throwing the ball in one group and Ollie for the other group.
When the coach calls you name he throws the ball for you to catch. Catch it and you move one place up the line. Fail to catch it and you move right to the bottom of the line. Those at the top of the line at the end of the game are the Champions. In this case it was Kerrie in Ray's group and Davina in Ollie's.

Before we had our main break we had time for some batting practice. The group split in to three with each child taking it in turns to hit a tennis ball off of a plastic tee. The idea being to try and hit the ball as straight as possible.

After the main break we played two games of Three Tee Cricket. The group split in to two teams and each child, when batting, had to hit three tennis balls off of three plastic tees. Whilst they were doing this the fielding team must stand still and not touch any of the balls. Once the last of the three balls is hit the batter must try and get as many runs as possible, between the wickets, in the time it takes the fielding team to get all three balls back on all three teams. Once every batter has taken a go, the score is added up and the teams switch so the other team then bat.
In the first game Anand's team won 57 to 49 but in the second game Reece's team got revenge winning 60 to 50.

We finished off the session back in the hall with three games of Boccia with the blue team winning all three games! Our star performers this week were Ellis and Todd so very well done boys - great effort!
One note for parents and carers, and anyone else who wishes to come along, is that we are holding our Annual General Meeting on Saturday 19th October at Oak View School . This will be while the kids are doing the activities and it gives everyone a chance to have their say on how the club is run and input in to the future direction of the club. It would be great to see as many people as there as possible.

We had a really good turnout this week and enjoyed two great but very different sports in Rugby and Archery.
Alan led the warm up once more, on the playground, before the kids paired up and grabbed a rugby ball.

The first hour was all about Rugby drills starting with ​passing in pairs whilst standing still. Then running around the playgroun and passing whilst on the run. Then it was moving the ball around the body - over and under then side to side.

We then played some games of Rob the Nest before our break. The group split in to four small teams and once Alan shouted GO one member of each team could run a take a ball from another team's nest and bring it back to their own. Only when they were back could the next person in the team have their turn. It is fast and frenetic and I think we had three different winning teams over the three games that we played.

After the main break we moved back inside to play some Archery. The group split in to two, as we have two targets, and took it in turns to fire three arrows at the target.

It was another great session and at the end Alan and Ollie awarded the Star of the Week awards to Alexander and Kerrie. Well done to you both - great effort throughout!
See you all again next week for more fun and games.

We were blessed with some good weather and a great session of Basketball on Saturday at Oak View School.
Ray is still recovering from his surgery so Alan once again led the warm up. After that the kids grabbed a basketball each and started to dribble with it. First one hand, then the other, then switching between hands. They bounced the ball low to the ground and also high up but the main aim being to always be in control of the ball. The routines got longer with throwing the ball in the air and clapping before catching being added. Then moving the ball around the waist and lastly, around the feet. 

Ollie then led a traffic light game - green being move around  the playground dribbling the ball, red for stop and yellow for move the ball side to side between hands whilst standing still.
Alan then laid out a run of cones and the group split in to three little groups to practice their ball dribbling around the cones ending with a pass to the next person in the group to take a turn.

That dribbling practice around cones became shooting practice when we added a couple of baskets at the end of each run. We then put all that practice to use in some small sided games, either side of the main break.

Our star of week winners this week were Liam and Hal so congrats boys! Great effort

Join us again this coming Saturday to see what sport we will be enjoying.

We were blessed with wonderful weather on Saturday so we made the most of it by getting outside on the playground to play some Tennis. We were low on members this week as a number of the kids were attending a drama show. That meant that those that did come got added attention and we could concentrate on upping their skill levels.
We started with a warm up led by Coach Alan before it was out with the tennis rackets to practice some balancing skills.

After balancing the ball on the racket as they moved around they then started to hit the ball first up, then down. They then paired up to starting returning the ball to each other. One would throw the ball underarm for the other to hit a return. They then switches around so everyone got a chance to return. This helped them to judge how hard to hit the ball and in what direction to get it back to thei partner.
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We then played two tennis related games. First we played Champion which is a catching game. The ball is thrown at random to people in the line. Catch it and you move up the line, drop it and it is back to the bottom of the line. The person at the top of the line at the end of the game is the champion. 
The second game is King of the Court where the idea is to return a ball thrown over the net back. The ball must be returned in to the court (not miles outside) and must not be caught out. If you are out you become a fielder on the other side trying to catch the others out. We played a few games of this, as we enjoy it so much, and Harry won one game and Swaran two. An honourable mention to Kealan who came second in at least two of the games.

We finished off outside on the playground with some Putting at hoops. We then ended the session back in the hall with some games of Boccia, trying to get as many balls in to the hoops as possible.
It was a lovely session and we hope the weather stays kind for as long as possible so that we can have many more fun sessions like this. We just had one Star of the Week award this week and that went to Joseph, new this term, who has settled in really well and showed great energy throughout the session.
Join us again next Saturday for more fun and games when we hope to see all the "Drama" kids back.

It was great to be back at Oak View School on Saturday for the start of Autumn term at Epping Forest Sportability Club. It was lovely to find out what exciting things people had got up to over the summer holidays.
We then got outside on to the playground for a much needed warm up of jogging and stretching before we launched in to our main sport of the day - hockey!

The hockey started with the kids grabbing a hockey stick and tennis ball each and started moving around the playground dribbling the ball under close control.
They then paired up to practice hitting the ball to each other between cones laid out on the floor. Alan then came up with an exercise called Follow the Pass. In this, each child was stood next to a cone laid out in a big "circle" around the playground. There is just one ball and the first person moves towards the next person in the circle and passes the ball to them. They then follow the pass and take that players position at that cone. The next person then takes the ball and moves towards the next cone and so on. This was they are practicing passing the ball while on the move.

Next up, the group split in to four to practice dribbling around cones then shooting at a goal, marked out by cones at the far end of the course. Again, this concentrated on close ball control before stopping and shooting accurately at a target.

After our main break we put all that skills training to good use with a game of hockey. The group split in to two teams and it was a great game with the lead changing hands a number of times. A lot of the kids got on to the score sheet including an end to end attack from Harry, who was probably getting bored of being goalie!

We finished off the session to moving back in to the school hall from some games of Boccia, trying to emulate Team GBs success in the Paralympics. The group split in to two teams once more and we played several games with a decreasing number of hoops to aim for each time. It was the blue team who came out victorious in all three games.

At the end of the session Vikram picked up his prize for correctly picking the winning team in the Euro 2024 sweepstake. It finished just before we broke up for summer (that seems a long time ago!) but unfortunately Vikram was away for our last week. Therefore, Coach Alan presented the prize this week. Vikram was  then also chosen as one of our star performers this week along with Davina. Congratulations to you both!

After quite a slow start to the session we ended up with a really good number of kids, as we know many were already away on their holidays. It was a lovely morning so we were outside for the warm up, on the playground, before playing some Parachute games.

We then played some Hockey, at the request of a few of the members. So we started with dribbling the ball around the playground before Ollie led us in some traffic light games. We then did some drills using cones which culminated with some shooting practice.

After the main break we then played a Hockey match which the red team won, beatingthe yellow team by three goals to two. Todd scored both yellow goals while Charlotte, Anand and Swaran scored for the reds.

We finished off with a quick game of Basketball. The heavens opened so we rushed back in to the school hall to finish off the game and the summer term.

We hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable summer and if you manage to get away that you have a wonderful time.
We look forwards to seeing you all back in September for the start of the next school year, our first Saturday back in on the 7th.

It was a lovely day on Saturday and we managed to get outside on the playground for the whole session without getting too hot or soaked by rain.
Ray led the warm up consisting of the usual jogging and stretching and then each kid grabbed a basketball and started to dribble the ball around the playground.
Alan then started to mix it up to make things a little harder but introducing cones to dribble around and then asking the kids to move the ball around their waist and legs. Ollie then led a Traffic light game where red was stop, amber was moving the ball side to side on the spot and green was for dribbling the ball around the playground.

Next up was some shooting practice and at the end of a run of dribbling around the cones laid out on the playground the kids had to try and shoot it in to the basket from a short distance.

Here are some of the photos showing the kids aiming for the baskets in Shooting practice.

After the break we put all that skills practice to use in a game. The group split in to two teams with the green team up against the yellow team. Initially it was a low scoring game as the kids got used to trying to score past defenders in to the low baskets. But eventually they got the hang of it with a close fought game ending up with a 6-5 win to the Green team thanks to a final basket from Harry.

Our Stars of the Week this week were Valentina and Harry so well done to both of you!

Join us again next week for our last session before the summer break and see what Alan and his team have in store for us!

Just a few photos from last Saturday's session at Epping Forest Sportability Club.
I was away but Coach Alan advised that they worked on Rugby which included:-
Pairs passing 
Over and under , side to side 
Running and passing 
Rob the nest 
The game of hunter (tagging) 
And then finished off with benchball. 
Our star performers this week were Charlotte and Vikram - congratulations to you both!

We were blessed with some wonderful weather this Saturday, dare I say almost too hot to be outside running around. Therefore, we had a more leisurely morning with Parachute games and Putting.
Ray led the warm up out on the playground before the Parachute came up for some fun games.

We moved inside to play some Putting games in the hall (nice smooth surface!). First up it was trying to get the ball to hit the bench and stop as close as possible to the bench. Therefore, hitting the ball gently and at the right speed was of most importance. Next, they were aiming for hoops so direction of shots as well as speed was important. The group then split in to two teams to see who could get the  most in the hoop. The yellow team came out winners with Alexander getting the winning putt.

After the break we played some more putting, this time trying to hit and collect as many cones as possible. Davina and Alex's group won with 21 cones beating their closest challengers by two cones.

We finished off the session with some Archery with the kids taking in turns to have three shots at the target. The kids were getting better and better and towards the end both Davina and Kerrie both scored Bullseyes!

It was a lovely session and we managed to stay cool. At the end of the session the coaches awarded the Star of the Week awards to Alexander, who did really well in the golf, and Todd, who should great energy and enthusiasm throughout.

We managed to get outside for most of the session on Saturday, despite the weather changing from rain to sunshine and back again constantly. 
Ray led the warm up as usual and then we went straight in to our main session of Tennis so everyone grabbed a racket and tennis ball. First up was balancing the ball on the racket as they moved around the playground. Next was to try and bounce the ball on the racket without losing control. We then moved on to hitting the ball down between the racket and the ground. Three hits down then catch it on the 4th go. This helps with ball control and concentration as it is easy for the ball to go flying off in another direction! 

At this point it clouded over and there were a few spots of rain so we moved inside to play some games of Build a Burger. This is where the kids go up and down the hall, around cones, but balancing tennis balls between rackets. With each turn another layer of the "burger" is added which makes it much more difficult to control.

After a quick drinks break we were back outside as the sun had returned. We switched to playing some games of King or Queen of the Court. This is where the kids take it in turns to return a tennis ball over the net trying to get it back in court without being caught out. Fail to get the ball in to the court or get caught then you join the fielding team. Manage to get the ball in then you re-join the back of the line to wait for the next round. It is last person standing who becomes King or Queen of the Court. Liam won the first game before the main break with Davina and finally Kerrie winning after break.

We finished up back in the hall with some games of Boccia using the hoops as targets. With each round the number of hoops decreased making it harder as there was less to aim for.

It was a great session and we all had a lot of fun. At the end the coaches awarded the Star of the Week awards to Theo and Ellis - very well done lads!