Net and Court Games - Week 3
Early Stage 1
Equipment
Marker cones or ladder
Relay batons
Tennis balls and small coloured balls
8 volleyballs or similar
Download the Net and Court Games - Week 3 activity card to support teaching before and during the sport session.
FMS focus: Catch
Learning intention
Students are developing proficiency in the catch.
Success criteria.
Eyes focused on the object throughout the catch.
Feet move to place the body in line with the object.
Hands move to meet the object.
Hands and fingers relaxed and slightly cupped to catch the object.
Catches and controls the object with hands only (well-timed closure).
Elbows bend to absorb the force of the object.
Explicit teaching of the catch
About the skill
Catching is a manipulative skill that involves being able to absorb and control the force of an object with a part of the body, preferably the hands. The ability to catch proficiently is important to most sports and games that involve an object, for example, cricket, football codes, netball, basketball, rhythmic gymnastics and playground games.
View 'The Get Skilled Get Active - 'Catch' video to support the explicit teaching of the catch.
Model the skill:
Model the catch to students while explaining the movements needed to effectively catch:
Say to the students:
Watch the object move into your hands.
Cup your hands.
Move to the ball.
Relax your hands.
Point your fingers up for a high ball.
Point your fingers down for a low ball.
Bend elbows to absorb the force of the object.
Guided practice with immediate teacher feedback:
Students standing balanced, hands lightly cupped, eyes focused. Using a beanbag, students:
throw to eye level and catch
throw to eye level, clap then catch
throw and catch with a partner
Skill development games
FMS focus activity - 2 square bounce
Skill focus: Catch
Equipment: One volleyball or similar per pair, court surface that allows the ball to bounce and 6 markers per court
How to play: A court is divided into 2 with a player in each half. The server serves the ball into the receiver’s half – the receiver tries to catch the ball after one bounce.
The ball must cross the line above waist height.
Play continues until one player cannot return the ball after one bounce, or the ball is thrown out of court, or the receiver drops the ball.
The serve alternates between players.
Play to a specified number of points, (e.g. 5) or a set time limit (e.g. 3 minutes).
FMS consolidation activity - Slalom sprint
Skill focus: Sprint run
Equipment: Marker cones, relay batons
How to play: In teams, players run slalom-style between markers in a relay race.
In teams, players divide and stand opposite one another.
On ‘GO’, the first player in each team runs slalom-style through the cones to the end of the course.
When they reach the end, they call out ‘GO’ for the next player in their team to start.
This continues until all team members are at the other end of the course.
Modified small-sided games
It's game time!
Teams play each other in the game outlined below.
Keep the ball up
Equipment: Tennis balls, targets, marker cones.
How to play: A group of players try to keep a ball off the ground by passing it to each other. Groups of 3 or more.
Start with a free-play version – rules can be decided later.
Introduce rules as required with
Change it.
Encourage a variety of passes – ‘hot potato’, where the ball is immediately hit away is a useful variation.
Reflection
2 stars and a wish
Ask students - what are 2 things you feel you did well today?
What are you going to try and improve on next week?
Students can answer reflection questions as a whole class, small group or in pairs.
