I like to use the “pairs” format as a basic structure for SSGs — batters in pairs, facing a fixed number of deliveries, if you are “out” you lose runs, but carry on batting.
But the immediate penalty for getting out can make some batters overly cautious, and we do want them to still play their strokes.
So this week I tried out an alternative sanction – if you are out, you have to swap to using a thin/practice/technique bat!
I am setting myself a task for this year, to write up more session plans.
My preference is to ad lib around a session “theme”. I know what I’m going to do next, but no-one else does, so the plans will be for the coaches I work with and also for a couple of the boys who might appreciate a little less chaos and a bit more structure from my Saturday sessions!
It will work for me, as well, as much to capture the thinking behind the “plans” as actually to use them again.
(more…)I have been delivering an after-school club this term. As happened last year, we have been evicted from the newly built sports hall to accommodate exams. Unlike last time, we have been able to carry on with the weekly club, but in the much smaller and very crowded old sports hall.
So small and crowded, in fact, that the only safe option has been to roll out the nets to keep the players away from table tennis tables, rowing machines, badminton nets, benches and other clutter.
Rather than a basic net session, I wanted to utilise the simple net game format, with a points system designed to reward specific behaviours beyond just “having a hit”!
But, as I can’t resist tinkering with games, the points scoring system was modified, in an attempt to make the practice a little more realistic.
(more…)