Net and court games - Week 4

Stage 1 - Phase two

Equipment

Marker cones
Tennis ball, soft rubber or foams balls
Racquets
Newspaper / paper
Tape
Wall
Skipping ropes

Download the Net and court games - Week 4 activity 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.

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.
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

About the skill

The two-hand strike is a manipulative skill in which force is applied to an object using an implement, in this case a bat. It forms the foundation to more advanced games and sports-specific skills, such as: the strike in Tball, baseball and softball; the drive in cricket and hockey; the golf swing; and ground strokes in racquet sports, handball and volleyball.

View 'The Get Skilled Get Active - two-hand strike video' to support the 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:

Students demonstrate the two-hand strike concentrating on the stance, hand positioning and swinging action. Students complete the following activities:

stand side on to a line shift their weight back and forth from front foot to back foot
swing their arms in time with moving forward. On the number ‘one’ students complete the back swing and transfer weight onto their back foot. On the word ‘and’ the students pause and on the number ‘two’ they swing forward and around the body and step forward transferring weight to the front foot
use an improvised bat (soft bat, rolled up newspaper, a single cricket stump or half a swimming noodle) and move through the action holding the base of the bat with two hands.

Independent practice with immediate teacher feedback:

Students work in pairs using a rolled up newspaper or a soft bat and scrunched up paper the size of a softball. Students stick the paper balls to a wall or other surface at about waist height spaced far enough apart so that they will not hit each other with the bats as they swing through. The first student stands with their feet shoulder width apart, performing the striking action from the previous activity. Students swing their bat trying to hit the paper ball without hitting the wall with their bat. Students could explore different ways of performing the skill such as:

facing the ball
two hands on the bat then one hand on the bat
straight arms through the whole swing or no back swing.

Each student has five turns and then swaps with their partner. The other student in the pair finds a space and skips using a skipping rope while waiting.

Skill development games

Choosing teams

In a sport education approach, affiliation is promoted by students being a member of the same team over a period of time. It is intended that students remain in these teams for the duration of each sport program for the skill development and the modified small-sided games, so that they can develop and learn together.

Place students in equal teams, 4 teams is optimal, at the beginning of the skill development session. Strategies for forming groups can be found in the Game-based learning in sport and physical activity e-learning course.
To further promote affiliation students can decide on a team name.
Once the teams are determined you can add the team and student names to the Net and court games draw.

FMS focus activity - Hit and catch

Equipment: 1 raquet, 1 ball, 1 hoop per pair

How to play: One partner serves a ball so the other one can catch it without moving from a spot.

The player with the racket serves a ball to their partner
The partner attempts to catch the ball while standing in a hoop
Players start by standing two meters apart and swap roles after five hits

Hit and Catch - Playing for Life Activity Card

FMS consolidation activity- Wild, wild west

FMS: Jump

Equipment: Marker cones, coloured sashes

How to play: Two players are Sheriffs (taggers), two players are jailors who monitor the jail zones. Any remaining players (outlaws) tagged by Sheriffs go to jail and must perform a nominated task before returning to the game. Jailors try to re-tag the escaping outlaws and send them back to jail.

Establish boundaries.
Nominate Sheriffs and Jailors.
Nominate jail activities e.g. 5 jumps.
Swap roles every 1-11/2 minutes.

Modified small-sided games

It's game time!

Teams play each other in the game outlined below.

Footy squash

Equipment: Goal post marking tape, or Goal posts for each group, 1 racquet per group, 5 balls per group

How to play: Players aim to score by hitting a ball between goal posts (or targets on the wall). Each player will bounce the ball, to set up for themselves, before swinging. This is done in a ‘side-on’ stance position.