Week 2

Striking and fielding games - Two-hand strike

Equipment

Marker cones
Hoops
Tennis balls
Hitting tees
Bats

Download the Week 2 Striking and fielding games - Two-hand strike task card to support teaching before and during the sport session.

FMS focus: Two-hand strike

Learning intention

Students are developing proficiency in the two-hand strike.

Success criteria.

Student has:

Stands side-on to target area.
Eyes focused on the ball throughout the strike.
Hands next to each other, bottom hand matches the front foot.

When proficient in above, student has:

Steps towards target area with front foot.
Hips then shoulders rotate forward.
Ball contact made on front foot with straight arms.
Follows through with bat around the body.

Explicit teaching of the two-hand strike

Model the skill:

Model the two-hand strike to students while explaining the movements needed to effectively strike:

- Stand side-on.
- Keep your eyes on the ball.
- Position your hands so they match your feet.
- Use a big swing.
- Step forward and swing.
- Contact the ball with straight arms.
- Swing and follow through.

Guided practice with immediate teacher feedback:

Students work in groups of four spread out in a defined grass area with three markers, a batting tee, bat and three balls. One person in the group is the batter; the other three are the fielders. The students take turns to hit the three balls off a tee:

for height
for distance
between two markers set up by the fielders.

Skill development games

FMS focus activity - Batting blast

Skill focus: Two-hand strike

Equipment: 1 batting tee, 1 bat and 1 softcore ball per group.

How to play: The batter hits the ball, from a tee, at different targets. The aim is to work on moving towards the ball and swinging freely.

Pair students and make one the batter and one the fielder.
The batter hits between the target or at their own target.
Once a batter hits 3 balls, students swap roles.
Make up your own scoring system, students love scoring challenges.

Activity adapted from Cricket Australia HPE Program.

Form a group - Playing for Life Activity Card

FMS consolidation activity - Form a group

Skill focus: Skip

Equipment: Marker cones

How to play: Players skip around in different directions avoiding body contact with other players. The coach calls a number and players form a group of that size.

Mark an area free of obstructions - disperse the players.
Players start skipping.
Try several group sizes before you get to the number you would like for a subsequent activity, eg. start by calling 2s, then 6s and finally the group size you want, such as 4’s - you may want to add a “new peoples to the group” rule for the second and third calls.

FMS consolidation activity - How many bean bags?

Skill focus: Skip

Equipment: Balls, marker cones, hoop

How to play: Players work in pairs. One player from each pair skips to a central point to collect one ball at a time and throw/roll the ball back to their team-mate at their base and then skip back tag the next player. The aim is to collect the most number of balls.

Teams skip to collect as many balls as possible in the allotted time, e.g. 60 seconds.
When all the balls have been removed from the centre, the coach calls ‘STOP!’

How many bean bags? - Playing for Life Activity Card

Modified small-sided games

It's game time!

Teams play each other in the game outlined below.

Hit 4 and go

Equipment: A suitable indoor or outdoor playing area as shown, range of bats/rackets and balls (sponge balls, softballs or tennis balls), marker cones (for running and playing area), batting tee(s)

How to play: A batter hits 4 consecutive balls into the field and then skips between marker cones as many times as possible. When the fielders have returned all 4 balls they call out ‘STOP!’ (4–5 per group).

2 teams – batters and fielders

Batter:

Hits 4 balls, off a tee, one after the other, into the playing space.
When the last ball is hit, the batter skips between the marker cones as many times as possible.

Fielders:

Fielders skip to return the balls to the home base – balls must be inside the hoop to count.
Fielders call ‘STOP!’ when the last ball reaches home base.