The Ashes may be gone but we still played Cricket at EFSC

With the England side having lost badly in the Ashes there is a great need for some good new emerging talent in the world of cricket. So we at Epping Forest Sportability Club had a session based around cricket skills to try and inspire the next generation of Joe Root's.
​The session started as always with a warm up and that included the favourite game of the moment - What's the time Mr Wolf?
​It was soon in to the main sport though and to start Alan and the coaching team had the members pairing off to work on some throwing and catching to each other. That soon progressed in to a game of Champions led by Ollie. In this game the members stand in line and Ollie throws a tennis ball to each member in turn, but randomly. If they catch the ball they move up a spot in the line but if they fail to catch the ball then they move to the bottom spot in the line. Whoever, is at the top spot in the line at the end of the time is the Champion.
Our last cricket based game was Three Tee Cricket where members take it in turns to bat and accumulate as many runs as possible. They start with three tennis balls atop three tees and hit them one at a time trying to get them as far up the hall as possible. Then, once the last ball is hit, they try and run as many times between the stumps as possible in the time it takes all the fielders to collect all three balls and tees and put them back in to their starting positions.  At the end of the game the batter who scored the  most runs on their turn was declared the winner.

After a well deserved drinks break we switched sports to take things a bit easier with some Boccia based games. The group split in to two teams - blues and reds - and as you can see in the photos above the first game was about getting your balls in to the same coloured ring. The second game was a classic game of Boccia with the aim being to be the closest to the white "Jack" ball.
​Our last game in the session was Benchball where the two teams faced off against each other from either end of the hall. It is another catching based ball game where team work, throwing and catching are key. Each team starts with all their players on the floor with just one player standing on the bench. They must pass the ball to each other three times, without dropping it or letting the other side get hold of it, before they can shoot for the bench. Once three passes have been completed and they are close enough to their bench they can throw to their person on the bench. If it is caught the thrower joins their colleague on the bench and gradually more and more players join the bench. Once all players are on the bench that team is the winner. However, it is not easy as they other team will be defending for their lives trying to block passes and intercept the ball so that they can get the ball to the other end of the hall quickly and to their own bench.

Not only was it a very busy session in terms of activities and sports played but we also welcomed three new potential members who came to see what the club is all about. Hopefully, they liked it enough to come back on a regular basis and take part in all the different sports that we get up to. It is always great to see new faces and to see young people enjoying the activities that Alan and his team of coaches provide. 
​At the end of each session the coaches award the Srar of the Week award to a member who has done really well throughout the session. This week they decided to award it to Anand, one of our longest serving members and greatest characters.

Our Star this week was Anand, pictured with coach Ray