WEDNESDAY WORKOUT
15/11/23
A daily blog by a coach for the coach
AM:
Making Wednesday worth it!
It was another day, another breakfast club session visiting the lovely staff and pupils of St Mary’s, as much as this session is about the children being ready for the school day ahead, this session each morning is such a fulfilling thing for me to do personally, knowing that the children enjoy seeing me first thing everyday is something that never fails to fill me with immense pride!
Today, the idea for our breakfast club was to see if as group the children can coexist in a team and work as a team to win a game/achieve a goal. We did this by playing a game dodge-ball, and the rule was that you are never allowed 2 balls in your hand at once, so this encourage the team skill of sharing and believing in your teammates.
The children did themselves proud and played the game to a good standard and showed me that they can working a team if they are all wanting to achieve the same goal.
PM:
Afternoon boogie
Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon, we travel to visit the wonderful staff and children of Bursar Primary School which never fails to disappoint!
This term we are delivering 3 different PE sessions to the pupils of Bursar: Ball Games, Dance: Jazz and Circuits, for Year 1/2, Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 respectively.
For me personally Ball Games and Circuits are something that aren't alien to me personally as a coach and/or PE Teacher. But Jazz themed dance is a new one for me but I'm determined to have learnt a great deal (from teaching these sessions) and from the children that might have dance backgrounds by the end of the term.
But before each session we deliver a lunch time club for the children that consists of a different sports activity most days, so today for example we delivered a game of 'head or catch'. The idea of the game is to do the opposite of what is said by me. If you are told to catch, header it back. If you are told to head it, catch it and throw it back.
The children stood in a circle and each of them would get plenty of goes each and they were in very good spirits when getting it a bit mixed up, because it is a game where you need to a lot of thinking really quickly!
Today's afternoon PE lesson was Jazz dance (hence the title of this afternoons session). I was looking forward to this session because last weeks one was really enjoyable.
I'm a massive fan of all music but I'm not much of a dancer at all, but on the other hand it's another chance for me learn something about a topic of PE I am not very familiar with!
The lesson began with a group recap for the first 5-10 minutes. I wanted to know if there was aspects of last weeks session that the children remembered and not to my surprise, there was plenty. All of the questions i asked them were answered with a degree of knowledge behind it, which as a coach and/or teacher is always a great thing to hear/see.
We then had a go at practicing the two movements the learnt last week and it was also another excuse to listen to more Jazz music. The group managed to pick up exactly where they left off in terms of quality and enthusiasm.
We then moved on to the two new and more advanced steps we were going to learn this week.
The 'Chasse' & The 'Pas De Bourree'
At first after just explaining each dance step, there was a little confusion but after a demonstration, we understood the task a lot more, starting with the 'Chasse'. This one is a controlled leap so managing the space everyone had was essential to this activity. We got it sorted and started to practice and the children struggled at first but with patience and practice they got there!
The next daily update will feature Friday of the same week, in which we are in the same two schools but the lesson are slightly different, stay tuned as this will go live at some point over the weekend (10/11/23)
DAILY AFFIRMATION:
(Each post will end with a daily affirmation, whether it be an inspirational quote or a coaching tip either from myself or one that i have received in the past)
“An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”
EMIL ZATOPEK
(Three-time Olympic long distance running champion)
FRIDAY FUNDAY
17/11/23
A daily blog by a coach for the coach
AM:
FRIDAY MORNING FEELS
It was another day, another breakfast club session visiting the lovely staff and pupils of St Mary’s, as much as this session is about the children being ready for the school day ahead, this session each morning is such a fulfilling thing for me to do personally, knowing that the children enjoy seeing me first thing everyday is something that never fails to fill me with immense pride!
Today, the idea for our breakfast club was to get the children playing games that involved accuracy but also a competitive element to it with there being two teams and the highest score wins after a certain amount of time.
The group were split into two teams of 5 with two lined up one side of a hula hoop and three the other side. The idea of the game was to see how many times we could play a bounce pass into the hoop for the person opposite to catch and that would be a point, after throwing the ball they were asked to moved to the back of their line to ensure that each member of both teams got a good amount of attempts each.
PM:
ATHLETIC AFTERNOON
Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon, we travel to visit the wonderful staff and children of Bursar Primary School which never fails to disappoint!
But before each session we deliver a lunch time club for the children that consists of a different sports activity most days, so today for example I decided to test the movement and basketball skills of the children. We did a shooting challenge that involved running in and out of cones before shooting at the hoop, each child had 3 turns at a time, if they scored first time they would get 3 points, second time 2 points and third time 1 point. The listening skills of the children involved was really good to see and they completed the activity very well and did it in a sensible manner.
This afternoon was a little different, due to it being Children In Need all the children were told it was a non-uniform day, with this occasion also falling on a Friday, there was obviously added excitement all through the day.
Normally, we would provide a Circuits lesson on a Friday afternoon to Year 5/6 children, but we decided to have an afternoon of dodge-ball as the school day was a little different due to the occasion.
We split the hall into quarters and had two games playing at the same time. Each team had about 5-7 members so the team were fair numbers wise throughout. The games were completed with very little disruption, barring a few children that got a bit over excited due to the change in lesson and that fact it is a Friday!
The last session of the day was with a class that is considerably smaller than the rest so we just had one game between two teams, the class decided that they wanted to do boys vs girls which numbers wise didn't really make sense but they were sure that it was what they wanted to do. I ended up joining in due to the girls overwhelming the boys due to numbers.
But overall, it was an enjoyable afternoon doing something slightly different to normal.
See you soon!!
Remember to Be Great!
DAILY AFFIRMATION:
(Each post will end with a daily affirmation, whether it be an inspirational quote or a coaching tip either from myself or one that i have received in the past)
“What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.”
ANDRE AGASSI
(Eight-time Tennis Grand Slam Champion)