We had a great turnout and a lovely session based around Cricket this past Saturday at Oak View School. The weather was good enough for us to be out on the playground all morning and we started as usual with a warm up consisting of jogging and some stretches - all led by Ray.
The kids then paired up for some throwing and catching. We started with basic throwing and catching between each pair but then moved on to bounce passes, trying to hit a plastic spot on the ground between each pair with each throw.
We then moved on to some games of Champion with birthday girl Valentina doing the throwing for one of the groups, whilst Ray did the other group.

After a quick drinks break the kids took part in some fielding drills. First is was about running and picking up a ball from a cone and then placing it on the next cone before running back and tagging the next person. The ball would be moved up and down the cones. Next, the drill was extended to include some throwing at the wickets once the ball was at the end of the row of cones.​

After the main break the group split in to two teams for some games of three tee cricket. The batting team take it in turns to hit three tennis balls off of three plastic tees. Once they have done that the batter tries to get as many runs as they can in the time it takes the fielding team to get the three balls back on the three tees. It is a fast and frenetic game that the kids love but it also uses all the skills practised earlier in the session.
To finish off the session we moved back indoors for a couple of games of Boccia.​

At the end of the session to the three members who had a birthday this week, namely Sonny, Theo and Valentina. Our Stars of the Week this week were Valentina and Joseph so well done to you both.
Join us again next Saturday when we will be playing a different sport.

Firstly, apologies for club being cancelled last week. Ollie and myself were both away and Alan had a bereavement in the family. The post below was drafted on the 6th after our first session back but I could not post it before I went on holiday as I needed permission for some of the photos. As it happened, those photos can not be published so I have had to delete a few of them.

It was great to welcome everyone back after the summer break for the start of a new term at Sportability Club here at Oak View School. This year will mark 20 years since the club started back in 2005 and we hope the year provides as much excitement and fun as always!
We started with a session of Hockey, after a warm up led by Coach Ray. Each child grabbed a plastic hockey stick and tennis ball and started off with just dribbling around the playground. Ollie then led a game of traffic lights which helped the kids with their ball control. Lastly, they dribbled their tennis balls around a series of cones before shooting at a goal.

The kids then paired up before the break to do passing in pairs, in between cones. After the break the group split in to two teams, the yellows and the blues, to put all that practice to good use in a game. The yellows were victorious with a 6-3 scoreline.

We finished off the session with a few quick games of Boccia back in the hall. The group split in two and sat facing each other at either end of the hall. We started with 7 hoops in the middle to aim for and the blue team won that game. The next game there was just three hoops to aim for so much harder. The blue team smashed that game with eight shots in the hoop from 13 shots, to the red team's four. The next game had two hoops with each team aiming for their own coloured hoop - again the blue team won!

Our stars of the week were Theo and a new girl called Mary who was really enthusiastic and athletic - well done to both! See you all again at our next session.

It was the last session of the term and school year, at Epping Forest Sportability Club on Saturday and we had a lot of fun playing various games.
We started off with some warm up stretches and jogging, led by Ray, then played some Parachute Games. This involved running around then under the parachute. Sometimes switching places with someone else. Then they introduced a ball and tried to get it to go as high as possible whilst still on the parachute. Lastly, they tried to manoeuvre the ball so that it was right in the centre of the parachute.
We then went on to play a few, fast and furious, games of Rob the Nest with some teams doing significantly better than others!

We then went on to play a series of games of Boccia, with the group splitting in to two teams, one at each end of the hall. With each game the number of hoops to aim for decreased making it increasingly harder for the kids. I think the Blue team won once of the games but it was close!

After the main break we finished up the session with some real party games - Musical Chairs and Musical Statues and the kids loved it! What a great way to end the term!

From all the staff at EFSC we wish you all a fantastic Summer holidays and we look forward to seeing you all back, for another year of sporting fun, on Saturday 6th September.

Last week's session was based around Rugby but this week we switched to Football. Ray led a warm up out on the playground before we started with some ball dribbling and ball control. To start with it was dribbling with a ball on your own but we soon paired up for passing between cones. Then to make it harder it was passing a moving as we passed between a row of cones.

After all the practice was done we split in to three teams for a set of round robin games.
The first game ended scoreless but the blue team got on the scoresheet in the  next game. But in their second game the blue team were on the receiving end  and lost that one. We carried on playing until time ran out but it was good to see everyone taking part and all teams winning at least one game.

Our stars of the week last week were Pranav and Alexander and this week it was Sonny and Joseph - well done to you all.
We still have two weeks left to go of term so please ensure you join us again next week for more fun in the sun!

Firstly, my apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks as I was away. But, it was great to be back on Saturday to catch up with all the gang.
Saturday, as you are no doubt aware, was a scorcher so our whole session was about heat management and trying to stay cool. We did start off with a gentle warm-up on the playground, concentrating more on stretches than jogging and skipping! However, even at that early stage it was clear it was too hot to be outside so the rest of the session was held in the school hall outside of the sun's glare.

​We started off with some Golf putting. We split in to a few small groups and started off trying to get the ball in to a hoop at the other end of the hall. Speed and direction are equally important if you want to get the ball to stay in the hoop.
Next was a game about hitting as many cones as you can with your putts. You collect the cones that you hit and the team with the most cones at the end is the winner. It starts off easy but as more cones are removed and the amount to hit diminishes the harder they are to hit. It was Kerrie's team who came up on top. Our last game before the break saw the group split in two with each group trying to get a put through the legs of all the other team members who are forming a tunnel.

After the break we switched sports to Archery and the group split in two to take turns trying to hit the target and hopefully get a bullseye.
We then finished off with the two groups playing some games of Boccia.

It was a great session overall and we did manage to stay fairly cool despite the heat outside. Our star performers this week were Theo and Swaran - a very well done lads!
Hopefully next week we will be able to get outside on to the playground to have even more fun!

The session last Saturday (24th) was based around Volleyball but we had some other great activities too. After the warm up led by Ray we played some Parachute games which the kids always love. We then played some games of Rob the Nest but rather than using Rugby balls we used tennis balls instead. We split in to four small groups and the aim was to have the most balls in your nest at the end of each game.

After a drinks break we moved on to Volleyball. We split in to three groups and started by throwing the ball over the bench to teammates on the other side. They would catch the ball and throw it back. That moved on to hitting the ball back and that built up over time to try and get a rally going.

We then moved on to playing small sided games with the benches across the middle of the hall being the net. Three teams took it in turns to play each other.

We finished off with a couple of quick games of Benchball with the group splitting in to two teams rather than three.

Our stars of the week this week were Harry and Hal so congrats to both of you!. We also had another birthday so we all sang Happy Birthday to Pranav at the end of the session. Now that it is half term there is no club this coming Saturday (31st May) but we will back raring to go on June 7th. Have a restful week and see you all again on the 7th.

Better late than never but here are all the photos taken from the session on Saturday 17th May. It was a session based around basketball with skills practice in the hall to start with before going outisde after the break to play some games.

Our stars of the week were Charlotte and Ellis so well done to you both. Also, it was Anand's birthday and as per tradition he brought in a wonderful birthday cake. Happy Birthday Anand!

It was a glorious day on Saturday so it was lovely to get out on to the playground to have a session based around Cricket. We were without Coach Alan so Ray led the session with the help of the birthday boy - Ollie.
We started off with the usual warm up of jogging, skipping and stretches then we paired up for some throwing and catching practice. First it was just throwing and catching but then involved a bounce pass trying to hit a plastic disk set in-between each pair. 

After a quick water break we moved on to some fielding practice using cones and splitting in to four groups. Then that developed in to throwing at the wickets, wicketkeeping and finally batting practice.

After the main break we split in to two teams for some games of three tee cricket.
This is where the batting team each have a turn to hit three tennis balls off of three plastic tees. The fielding team cant move until the final ball is hit but they then have to get the balls back on the tees in their original positions as quickly as possible. The batter meanwhile will try and get as many runs as possible by running between two wickets and only stops when all the balls and tees are back in position.
Each person has one turn at batting and the scores and then totalled before the teams switch over so the fielding team get a chance to bat.
There were two main games that were fiercely contested but I am glad to report each team won one game apiece.

At the end of the session Ollie present the star of the week awards to Kerrie and Joseph before we all sang Happy Birthday to Ollie. 
Join us again next week for more fun and another birthday celebration!

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!