Physical Activity at School - Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU)

Equipment:

• 6 foam squishy balls
• 6 foam volleyballs
• 1 foam hockey stick per student
• 2 beach balls
• 2 sets of pinnies (12 in total)

Instructions:

1. Using the same groups as Broomball (o, x, a, b), o will play x and a will play b.
2. Each game will be 5 minutes long. The winning team will stay on, and the losing team will rotate.
3. Use pylons (if nets are not available) to construct a net on each side of the gym. (see below)
4. 6 on 6 using the foam sticks and the foam volleyball.

• Objective: Teams will have to try to score in opposing net.
• Rules: No goalie. Add a crease around the pylon/net to ensure no one assumes the role of a goalie and to prevent overcrowding of the area. At least 4 different people must touch the ball before scoring.
• Safety: Students must stay 1 stick length from the student who has possession of the ball. Set boundary 1 m away from the wall. No slap shots; no body checking.

Questions:

Q. How would you set yourself up to protect your pylon?
Q. What did you notice about how hard you had to hit the ball?
Q. How can your team stop the other team from scoring?

Safety:

1. Each warm-up, activity and modified game has its own safety rules.
2. In addition, make sure the class knows what your start/stop signal is.

Modifications:

1. For the warm-up, you may want to use a beach ball instead to slow down the game and have the students shoot between 2 pylons (or a net) as opposed to knocking a pylon down.
2. For the activity, you may want the students to work more individually. To do this, set up a line of pylons a couple of metres apart and have students weave around the pylons using their foam stick and foam volleyball. Once they get to the end, they are to turn around and weave back to the starting line where they pass off the foam volleyball to the next person in line.

Q. What are some things that we have to consider when weaving through the pylons?
Q. How would you have to position yourself to ensure a tight weave and accurate pass?

3. To make the modified game more challenging, add in another net so each team has 2 nets to defend. You can have 1 student be the goalie for both nets or eliminate the goalie completely.

Q. What is the best way to defend your 2 nets/sets of pylons?
Q. What tactics do you need to score/win?
Q. How can your team stop the other team from scoring?
Q. Did your defensive strategies change when there are 2 nets to defend?