Great Fun had playing Basketball

Last Saturday the weather was not so kind to us so we were forced to stay inside. So we switched sports from the planned session to play basketball instead and make use of the fantastic facilities that Oak View School provides.
It was great to see Ollie back on the coaching team as well and he helped Ray with the initial warm ups. Once they were complete the basket balls came out and each member started practicing their ball control by bouncing the ball as they moved around the hall. 
Ollie then led a traffic light game where, depending on which colour he held up, the members had to either stand still (red), bounce the ball from side to side on the spot (amber) or move around the hall (green). The last exercise before a drinks break was an slalom course laid out up the hall such that two members completed against each other to get to the end of the hall and back bouncing their ball around the cones and passing the ball around their back before returning.

After the drinks break it was on to some shooting practice making use of the net at each end of the hall. The kids split in to two lines, one for each net, and once they had taken a turn they would pass the ball back to the next in line before joining the back of the other line. This effectively meant that the kids went in a circuit shooting at each basket in turn.

It was then time for some matches. The group split in to three teams - reds, yellows and blues - for a series of matches against each other lasting a few minutes each. You can see some of the action in the photos below. 
Whilst the basketball games were going on a couple of our younger members made good use of the school's ball pool. As you can see Ciara was looking after them which involved being part of the slide for Liam to go down. They certainly seemed to be having a ball (apologies for the pun!)

After the final break the coaches took things down a notch or two for the final game by playing some Boccia. The remaining members split in to two teams, one at either end of the hall. The white Jack ball was placed in the centre of the hall and then each player took their turn to get as close to the Jack as they could. The team closest at the end was the winner of that game.

At the end of another great session the judges had the hard job of choosing the winner of the star of ​the week award. A few of the members really excelled this week but in the end they gave the award to Callum - pictured to the right with coach Ollie. Huge congratulations to Callum who really gets involved each week and is fiercely competitive.

Join us again this coming Saturday where, if the weather turns out to be as good as they are forecasting, we should be able to get outside for some fun and games in the fresh air.  Remember as always to bring in drinks (or drink bottles for the water fountain) and sun screen and/or a hat if it gets hot.