Week 2 - Australian Rules Football
Skill focus: Handballing, evasion and kicking
Session equipment
1 Australian Rules Football per 2 students (many of the activities in the School Sport Australian Rules Football program require every player to have a ball, therefore similar shaped balls can be used to ensure maximum participation).
30 markers
Bibs/braids to differentiate teams
Download the Australian Rules Football - Week 2 task card to support teaching before and during the sport session.
Lesson preparation
View the short explanatory video before the session to understand how to pass the ball correctly in Australian Football. Teacher may also choose to show this clip to students.
Main teaching points for a handball:
The ball must rest on the platform hand and be hit with a clenched fist.
Players should have their eyes on the ball.
The punching fist is formed by placing the thumb outside, not inside the fingers.
The stance is nearly side on to allow the punching arm to swing through freely. The knees and the punching arm should be slightly bent. For a right-handed handball, the left foot is forward and vice versa for left-handed handball.
After contact is made with the ball, the fist remains on the platform hand. ‘Catch the fist’ is a good cue for coaches to use when teaching handball.
Fast start - Warriors and dragons
Equipment
8 markers
3 Australian Rules Footballs
One set of braids or similar for at least one team
Activity set-up
Set out the playing area (25 students = approximately 25m x 25m).
Divide students into two teams called 'warriors' and 'dragons'.
The dragons begin to move around the playing area.
How to play
The warriors pass the ball to each other in an attempt to tag a dragon with the ball.
Once a dragon is tagged they become a warrior.
While a warrior is holding the ball, they cannot move and the ball cannot be thrown. It must be held and used to tag a dragon.
Change it - Introduce the handball pass to students
Explicitly model the handball to students. Use teaching points at the beginning of this page and points modelled in the explanatory video during your instruction.
Explain to students they will be practicing the handball and ball handling during the fast start and throughout the circuit stations.
Give students time to practise the handball in the playing area.
Begin game again, with warriors using the handball in an attempt to tag the dragons.
Select card to download
Skill development games
Activity 1- Pairs passing
Equipment: One Australian Rules Football per pair, 2 markers per pair
How to play: Players form pairs. To begin the game, they handball a football to each other three times between a gate then move to other gates to repeat the activity – continue for 30 seconds. Encourage control of the football and accuracy of the pass. Pairs score a point for each gate they handball a ball through.
In pairs, players set up gates within the playing area.
To begin the game, pairs handball the football three times to each other, then run with the ball to a free gate and repeat the activity.
Continue for 30 seconds until the teacher calls, ‘STOP!’
The teacher asks ‘How many gates can your pair handball between in 30 seconds?’
Repeat the activity with pairs trying to beat their own score.
Activity 2 - Names
Equipment: One Australian Rules football per game
How to play: Players in a circle handball a football to one another. An interceptor inside the circle tries to intercept the ball. Play in groups of 6 to 10.
Form circles with one ball per group.
One player starts as the interceptor in the middle.
Before the ball is passed everyone takes a turn to call out their own name. (Hint: start with the person holding the ball and finish with the interceptor.)
To begin, the player with the ball calls out another player’s name (the receiver) and handballs the ball to that player.
If the ball is intercepted, the player who touched the ball last changes places with the interceptor.
Activity 3 - Mirror mirror
Equipment: One Australian Rules Football per player
How to play: Players face their partner. The leader performs a series of movements with a football while the player who is the ‘mirror’ copies the skills like a reflection.
Form pairs with one ball per player.
Leaders have 30 seconds to move the ball while their partner mirrors the actions.
After 30 seconds, players reverse roles and repeat the activity.
Change it
Play in groups of three or more with one player as the leader and all other players the mirror.
Activity 4 - Kick to kick
Equipment: One Australian Rules football per pair, 4 marker cones per pair
How to play: In pairs, players take it in turns to kick a football, trying to make it land in their partner’s marked area.
Form pairs of similar ability.
Pairs collect marker cones and decide/ test how far apart they will place them.
Players kick the ball to land inside their partner’s area. Score one point for each ball that lands inside that area.
Player with the highest score when the time at the station is up wins.
Modified small-sided games
It's time for competition!
Teams compete against each other in the game outlined below. You can use the 'Australian Rules Football draw' as a guide to organise the competition, across the 4 sessions try to ensure each team has a fair number of games.
Allocate 3 points for a win, 2 points for a drawer and 1 point for a loss for each game played. Record results and points in the School sport program results spreadsheet.
Remember, to give students an update of the leader board each week.
Game- Coast to coast
Equipment: One Australian Rules football per game, 8 marker cones per game to mark out a 20m x 50m playing area, bibs or sashes to distinguish between teams.
How to play: The attacking team try to move a football from one end of the field to the other using a handball only (coast to coast) to score a point, while the team defending try to intercept it. The football must be touched by a team member in each zone.
Captains of each team toss a coin to choose ends and to decide the team that begins the game.
Teacher organises both teams so that there are 3 players in each zone - 3 forwards, 3 centres and 3 backs. The forwards of each team are in the third closest to the goal-line they are aiming for, centres in the middle third and backs in the third of the goal-line their team is defending.
Play starts with the ball either handballed into the first zone by an attacking player, from behind a goal line.
The ball must be touched by a player in each zone.
A point is scored when an end zone player (a forward) runs over the goal line to receive the ball from another player in the same zone.
Continue play back to the other end.
If a defender tags a player in possession of the ball, or intercepts the ball, the ball must be passed to the nearest attacking player to continue playing the game in the same direction.
Teaching tip: To maintain flow of the game, the teacher may choose to call, ‘Play on!’ if an inexperienced player ‘throws’ the football when attempting to handball.
Reflection
TAG
Ask students to form pairs with a student from their team.
Inform students they are going to give feedback to their partner using 'TAG'.
Tell your partner something they did well in today's session.
Ask your partner the question: How could we have worked together to score more points in coast to coast?
Give your partner some feedback on a skill or tactic they could focus on during next week's session.
