It was really great to be back after the Easter break and we had a fantastic turnout.
Ray led the warm up to get the session started and then it was straight in to the Hockey. We started with some dribbling then passing in pairs before moving on to dribbling around cones and some shooting practice.

After the break we split in to three teams for some small sided games. While two teams played each other the third team practised their dribbling, to one side. In the first game the yellows beat the greens by 4 goals to 2. In the second game the greens beat the blue team by the same scoreline. Then the blue team faced the yellow team and it ended up in a  1-1 draw. There was another round of games but I did not keep up with all the scores.

It was great to be back and even better to get out on the playground for the matches, as the weather improved. The coaches had a really hard job selecting the Star of the Week winners, what with so many attendees and all doing really well. In the end, they gave the awards to Vikram and Theo - well done lads!
Join us again next Saturday for more fun and games!

Hi All, I was not present for last Saturday's session so cant provide an update but I was passed this photo of the group at the end of the session.

From all of us at Epping Forest Sportability Club we hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday. If you are going away we wish you a fabulous time and if you are staying at home that you get plenty of rest and sunshine. Have a great Easter all and see you back on Saturday 26th April.

We were blessed with plenty of sunshine and a great turnout this week at Sportability Club. We therefore took the opportunity to get outside on the playground and centred the session all around Tennis.
Ray led the warm up as usual and then everyone grabbed a tennis racket and ball and we started by just balancing the ball on the racket as we moved around.

We then moved on to bouncing the ball on the racket, keeping it under control as we moved around. Then we paired up taking it in turns to throw to our partner for them to hit back.

We then tried to do a few rallies with each pair trying to hit the ball back to each other with the racket.

After the main break we played some games of Build a Burger. This is where the group break up in to small teams and one by one they add layers to the "burger" layering tennis balls between the rackets. They have to negotiate a course of cones - up and back before adding the next layer. The idea being to get the full stack up and down the court without dropping any of the balls. Very tricky!

We finished off by splitting in to two groups for a series of games of Champion. In this game one of the coaches throws a ball over the net for a member to return. If they manage to return it over the net and get it in to the court without being caught then they are through to the next round. Get caught, fail to get it over the net or hit it outside of the court then they are out. They  then join the coach on the other side of the net trying to catch out the remaining players. The rounds progress until there is only one person left -  the champion!

It was a great session and the coaches, at the end, awarded the Stars of the Week to Swaran and Vikram - well done lads. There were many good performances including Kealan, Harry amongst many others that meant it was not any easy decision. The kids had a lot of fun!
Join us again this coming Saturday for our final session before the end of term and the Easter break.

Update received from Alan on what the gang got up to on Saturday.
The session was all based around Hockey. They started with solo dribbling before moving on to pairs passing then adding passing through cones. Following that they then went in to two groups by splitting the hall. Passing and moving then switching the ball when they heard the call change.
After the break was dribbling and shooting followed by matches using 3 teams. .
Stars of the week were Valentina and Sonny so congrats to you both!

We had a very busy but great session on Saturday based around volleyball.
We started as always with a warm up, led by Ray and the we did some ball work - throwing and catching. We passed a ball around a circle and did other drills before we laid out some benches to act as volleyball nets. We split in to three small groups so that we could start to throw the ball across the net for people on the other side to catch 

we then progressed to hitting the ball back over the net using two hands together, as in volleyball. The more we practiced the more we could try and get a rally going, back and forth across the net.​

We then put all that good practice to use by making the hall in to one big volleyball court and the group splitting in to two teams for some games.

At the end of the session the Stars of the week were announced as Todd and Anand - both of whom were over the moon with their awards. Congratulations lads!
See you all again next week where, weather permitting, we hope to get outside on the playground and maybe do some Tennis.

We started back after the half term break with a great turnout from both staff and members and we were blessed with some good weather as well.
We started out in the hall as Ray led the warm up to get us all going.
The kids then paired up for some throwing and catching to each other. Some used bounce passes, some without bouncing at all, The more adventurous would make the gap between them bigger to make it more difficult.

Alan then set up some sets of stumps at one end of the hall and some cones along the hall. The kids split in to three groups and took part in a fielding drill where they would pick up the ball from the first cone, place it on the second cone, run around the stumps at the far end before picking up the ball and placing back on the original cone on the way back.
After that the drill was changed to include throwing at the stumps. Once you had picked up the ball and thrown at the stumps the wicket keeper would then collect the ball and return it to the cone. The person throwing then becomes the wicket keeper for the next person. Once the wicket keeper replaces the ball on the cone they go back to the end of the line to wait for their next turn.

The last drill was fielding a rolling ball, so in this drill the wicket keeper would roll out the ball to the next person. They had to field it before throwing at the stumps.
After a drinks break we moved on to a game of champions. This is a catching game and the group split in to two with Ollie and Ray leading a group each. It is quite simple. Catch the ball when it is thrown at you and you move up the line a place. Fail to catch the ball on your turn and you go to the bottom of the line. The person at the top of the line at the end of the game is the winner! In Ray's group it was Kerrie who came out on top and in Ollie's group it was Charlotte. Girl power reigns supreme.

After the main break we actually went outside in to the lovely spring sunshine to play some games of three tee cricket. 
The group split in to two teams and they each took it in turns to bat and rack up as many runs as possible. On each players turn they would hit three tennis balls off of three plastic tees. The fielding team are not to move until the last ball is hit. Then the batter scores as many runs as possible in the time it takes the fielding team to get all three balls back on their respective tees.
The games were fast and furious and each team won a game each so we had to have a quick cut down game of 1 tee cricket to get a winning team. It was the team batting second that came out on top, although it did look like they had more people on their team!

It was a lovely session and we all had a lot of fun.
At the end Alan and the coaches awarded the Star of the Week awards to Davina and Kealan for great effort throughout. Well done to you both!
Join us again next Saturday when the main sport will be Rugby.

We had a great turnout this week for our last session before the half term break. We also welcomed back Coach Ray who was been away in France for the last month. It was all change as Ollie was back this week but it was Alan's turn for some time off.
Ray led the warm up which was much needed on a chilly morning. The main sport was Hockey and I managed to take a few photos before I too had to leave early.

We started by grabbing a hockey stick and tennis ball each and pratcising dribbling the ball around the hall, keeping the ball in close control at all times. Valentina then led a traffic light game - stop and go and moving the ball from side to side on an amber light.

Ray had us then pair up to pass across the hall to each other, ensuring we controlled the ball first then passed making sure both direction and speed of pass were correct.
After a quick drinks break he changed it up by grouping pairs together to form a square and so we passed the ball around the square.
Our star performers this week were Charlotte and Hal so well done to you both!
As it is Half term this week there is NO club next Saturday (22nd Feb) but we will back on Saturday 1st at the normal time. We look forwards to seeing you all then.

Basketball was the main sport this week at Sportability Club. We had a good turnout on a very wintery morning and everyone got stuck in in what turned out to be a very enjoyable session.
We were without Ray and Ollie this week so Alan led the warm up and then it was out with the basketballs for some skills practice. We started with just dribbling the ball around the hall. Alan then added some pairs of cones which acted as "gates" to dribble through.

Next up was dribbling down the hall around a slalom course of cones and returning before passing to the next person in the term.
​Then Alan added some shooting practice to the end of each run by placing the small basketball nets at the end of the slalom run.

​After the break we played some small sided games with the group breaking up in to three teams. The first game the blue team won by four to two against the yellow team. The  blue team stayed on to play the green team but ended up losing 6-2. The last game was the green team against the yellows and it was the green team that came out on top by a scoreline of 5-2.

We finished off the session with some games of Benchball. The group split in to teams this time and it was the team without bibs that won both games against those with blue bibs.

It was an enjoyable and active session and at the end Alan awarded the Star of the Week awards to Hal and Harry. Well done boys - well deserved!
Next week is our last session before we have a week off for half term so make sure you join us to get your weekly activity fix!

After a bit of a slow start we had a really good turnout and a lovely session at Sportability on Saturday, in the Oak View School main hall.
We started as always with a warm up, led by Alan and Ollie. It was then out with the rugby balls and running around the hall, throwing them in the air and catching them on the run. Then stopping mid-run, throwing in the air and clapping before catching again.
They then paired up to practice passing in pairs.

We then formed a circle and players took turns to run across the circle and pass on the run to another player of their choosing. The rugby then finished off with some mad, frantic games of Rob the Nest. The group split in to four teams and each had a nest (hoop) in their corner of the hall. All the balls start in the middle of the hall and once the game starts each team sends a team member to go and fetch a rugby ball. Once they are back the next player goes and so on until all the balls in the middle are gone. Then, when Alan shouted go they start to "Rob" the balls from opposing team's nest. It is the team with the most balls and the end of each game that is the winner. I dont know how they managed it but Todd's team won all three games that were played!

After the main break we split in to two teams to play ​Benchball but with a rugby ball. The blue team won the first game as the yellow team struggled to get past Ollie in defence. However, we levelled the teams up and the Yellow team stormed back to win the next two game and therefore win 2-1 overall, but it was very close!
We finished off the session, still in the two teams, with a few games of Boccia. The team using the red balls won the first game 3-1 and then the second game 4-3 but the last game was won by the blue team who won 4-3.

It was a great session and at the end we all sang Happy Birthday to Ellis, and his Dad! Our star performers this week were Ellis and Joseph - well done boys!

See you all next week for another session where we may be playing Archery and Putting.

Firstly, and if it is not too late, Happy New Year to everyone - we hope you had a great festive period.
It was great to see so many of you back this week at Sportability, especially battling the cold and ice to get to Oak View.
We played Hockey as our main sport and after a much needed warm up led by Ray it was straight in to the hockey with some practice drills.

​Dribbling, follow the lines, traffic light game, pairs passing, passing around group, dribbling around cones

Small sided games - Liam's team drew with Hal's team 8 goals each. Next was Liam's team vs Charlotte's team and the score was 7 to 4 in favour of Liam's team. That left Hal's team to face off against Charlotte's team and that ended up as a 7-5 win for Charlotte's team.

We finished off with a couple of quick games of Boccia with the group splitting in to two teams. The blue team managed to win both games.

It was lovely to see everyone again and it was a lovely session in the warmth of the school hall. At the end of the session the coaches awarded the Star of the Week awards to Theo and Kerrie for their hard work and enthusiasm throughout the session. Well done to both of you!
Our last bit of news is that Ray is off to France for a few weeks so we wish him a fabulous holiday and look forward to his return in February.