Today the kids were playing to be a Champion of Goalie Wars. Who was going to take home the prize of a soccer jersey? The kids were broken up into a bracket as far as age. The game was timed for three minutes. So in the three minutes either the person had to score three goals before time was up, or they had to have the most goals. If both players were tied by the time was up they went into overtime and whoever scored the next goal went on to the next round. This older kids had the advantage over the younger kids in some ways but it was a very competitive game for everyone which made it fun.
The day started like any other day with performance and a dose of physical activity. There were a couple of kids that mentioned that they wanted to play basketball at some point today. Early in the day before I left we played a round of knock out with those that were interested. It was a great time to work on the techniques for shooting the ball. Over the course of playing it got down to the last two which ended up being a great match up between them making back to back shots.
Today we started off with free play. During free play the kids were allowed to play in the two gyms we have. After free play, as a group we worked on performance. There was a series of static stretches that the kids did for a warm up before performance. Performance in the mornings lasts about 45 minutes every morning. For performance we took a lap around the building which was not far, followed by wall sits and planks. It was very important that we helped the kids learn the proper way of doing wall sits and planks to avoid any injuries.
Although the kids don’t always like performance it is important for them to learn the proper techniques when doing planks or any other exercise right way. The Coaches and I help and went around showing them the proper technique of a plank and wall sit. It was time for a break after performance for the kids to take a break for snack and some down time before the rest of the day full of sports. Today three of the kids were very interested in the game of lacrosse. So I worked with the kids on playing lacrosse and learning the basics. I went over the basics of throwing, catching, and picking up ground balls. The three kids were a more advanced group of individuals so had them play a little 1v1 and changed to a 2v2. They were learning how to move the ball around a team when they went into a 2v2. For their 1v1’s they worked on dodging.
From what they have learned it was rewarding to see how much they had advanced over the time we were playing. For the group that was interested in lacrosse we went over dodging skills. The three that we went over are listed below. There is also a description of the dodge. Roll Dodge The ball carrier has a defender moving across the field (sideline to sideline). The defender’s hips likely will be turned toward the sideline with his or her entire body moving in that direction, making it extremely difficult to recover to a roll dodges. With your ball carrier moving to one side of the field. He or she does not need to go all the way to the sideline, but far enough to get a good run at the opposite sideline so the roll dodge finishes somewhere between the pipes. Split Dodge A defender is squared to the dodger not dictating a direction for the ball carrier. If you see the defender’s toes pointed toward the midfield line, it’s a good time for a split dodge. With speed. The ball carrier takes a few steps back and then sprints at the defender. If the defender attempts to direct the ball carrier to one side, the dodger should focus on attacking the defender’s lead foot, making him or her drop-step with this foot. Face dodge A defender is coming out to meet the ball carrier in an uncontrolled manner with poor footwork or positioning. The defender is off balance and likely will lunge at the ball carrier. It is an option after receiving a pass from a nearby player, with the defender rushing to get in position. The ball carrier should anticipate the pass and start their dodge with the ball in the air. That will force the defender to react quickly and sacrifice positioning.
Today we played Flag Football which was a lot of fun for the kids. Each of the coaches played on the teams and all time quarter back. That made it fair for the kids, because they all wanted to play quarter back. The rules for flag football are listed below.
1. At the start of each game, captains from both teams shall meet at midfield for the coin toss to determine who shall start with the ball. 2. The winner of the coin toss gets to decide taking possession or defense, to begin. The loser of the coin toss chooses the end zone to start play. 3. The offensive team takes possession of the ball at its 5-yard line and has three (3) plays to cross midfield for a first down. Once a team crosses midfield it has three (3) plays to score a touchdown. 5-6 year olds will receive (4) plays (for a first down and touchdown) 4. If the offense fails to score, the ball changes possession and the new offensive team takes over on its 5yard line. 5. If the offensive team fails to cross midfield, possession of the ball changes and the opposition starts its drive from its 5-yard line. 6. All possession changes, except interceptions, start on the offense’s 5-yard line. 7. Teams change sides after the first half. Possession changes to the loser of the coin toss. We did have some kids that were not interested toward the game or found that they did not get passed too. Which when they noticed that we tried to pass them the ball, but also had to make it clear to them that when there is a person right on them they might now get passes too A simple way to describe the object of the game is relate it to the game of soccer. In soccer the only real object of the game is to get the ball into the goal of the opposing team more often than they do, within an allotted time period. In bocce the only object is for one or more of your teams balls to be closer than any of your opponent’s balls to the pallina (small target ball, often white) at the end of every set. Rather than a time period you can play a fixed number of ends and total the higher score to win or the first team to a predetermined score. For the sake of keeping score we kept track of what team was closest to the pallina ball the most. We did not get into real depth with the rules of the game for the sake of time.
Today was a day of having the kids go through a series of tests. This week’s group of kids has not done any testing so far, so wanted to see where they were at. All though it is a sports track out camp we have performance for them to see where they are. The series of tests and a description of each are listed below.
Broad jump Basically, it is testing an athlete's lower-body explosion and lower-body strength. The kid starts out with a stance balanced and then he explodes out as far as he can. It tests explosion and balance, because he/she has to land without moving. 3 cone drill The 3 cone drill tests an athlete's ability to change directions at a high speed. Three cones in an L-shape. He/she starts from the starting line, goes 5 yards to the first cone and back. Then, he/she turns, runs around the second cone, runs a weave around the third cone, which is the high point of the L, changes directions, comes back around that second cone and finishes. Shuttle run The short shuttle is the first of the cone drills. It is known as the 5-10-5. What it tests is the athlete's lateral quickness and explosion in short areas. The athlete starts in the three-point stance, explodes out 5 yards to his right, touches the line, goes back 10 yards to his left, left hand touches the line, pivot, and he/she turns 5 more yards and finishes. Today’s performance and dynamic stretching included:
Full court jog from end line to end line, high knees, Front forward lunges, back lunges, sprinting to mid court and back peddling back to where they started. Then they ended with a sprint back to the line, followed by a water break. After their water break we took them to the upstairs track and had them all do wall sits. While doing wall sits each kid took a turn and sprinted around the track. To end their performance we broke them into three groups, they rotated through each station as they were timed. Group one started off with sprinting to a cone 10 feet away and back peddling to the cone. Each kid in line would go 2 times and switch. Group two shuffled side to side to the cones. Each kid would go 2 times and switch. Group three would complete figure eights around two cones. Today’s focus was working on the kids foot skills. |
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