Year 3-5 - Lesson 1 - Balance/Stability

By Smart Coach
Part of Smart Coach - Netball
The focus for this lesson is to teach the students how to land and pivot in a stable body poistion in order to enhance their skills in later lessons.

Notes

How wide should our feet be? (Soulder width)

What should we be doing with our knees in order to stay balanced? (Bending them)

 

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Warm Up

Netball - In the River, On the Bank

Kids will stand on one side of a line on the ground. They will start facing towards the line and this means they are "on the bank". When the coach yells out "in the river", the children will jump forward over the line meaning they are now "in the river". The coach will then yell out “on the bank”, and the kids have to jump backwards onto the other side of the line where they began. The children need to be landing with two feet planted on the ground, shoulder width apart and with bent knees in a stable position.

To challenege the students, the coach can add in an elimation round and enforce the following progressions/rules:

1) speed up the game - if students can't keep up with the speed they will be eliminated
2) if the student gets tricked by jumping to the wrong area they will be eliminated 
3) if incorrect jumping/landing technique is not used (e.g. stepping with one foot) - students will be eliminated
4) if students are losing their balance due to poor technique they will be eliminated. 

When students get eliminated they must still continue playing but will do it opposite the students that are left. Try and position yourself in front of a line so it is an easy transition for players being eliminated to continue playing on this line once they have been eliminated.

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Activities

Netball - Pass and Move

Set up an area in the shape of a square with at least 12-15 spots place on the boarder evenly spread apart. Divide the class in half (2 groups) with one half standing on the spots and the other half stood in front of players on spots roughly 2-3metre apart depending on year level. Each player on the spot will need a netball each, these players will be named "passers" while those without the netball will be named "movers". The job for the "movers" is to recieve and make a pass with the player in front of them and then move away to another "passer" and repeat the process. The "mover" must NOT take the easy option of travelling around the square in a clockwise/anti-clockwise direction, instead they must travel across the square when finding a new "passer". Ensure that the "movers" are coming to a complete stop and standing in a balanced/stable position before passing instead of trying to pass on the move which in an actual game of Netball will result in travel/stepping. 

Round 1 can be a practise - if there is enough time you can have a 2nd round where now the "movers" will compete with each other to see how many passes they can complete in the set time from the coach (1 or 2mins). The coach can tell them what pass they are to use (if both chest and bounce pass were covered at start of lesson). 

Modifications

Increase the amount of passers to make it harder for the receivers to find someone that is open. Change the type of pass the players must complete to alter the difficulty. Increase the playing area to make it more difficult to cover ground to receive a pass.

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Netball - Connect 5

Students are split into small teams with 4-6 on each team. One team is on attack and one is on defence. The team on attack must move around and attempt to 'connect 5' by successfully completing 5 passes in a row. If they do this, they collect a point. If a point is scored or if the ball or intercepted by the other team, then the other team becomes the attackers and can attempt to 'connect 5'. An attacking player with the netball is not allowed to move thier feet, however the rest of their team may move into space and recieve a pass to accumulate points. If the ball travels outside the playing boundary, it will be a turn over of possession.  

Modifications

Create a larger area to allow more space for players to move to. To change the level of difficulty, change the number of passes that has to be completed to score a point. Place more people on the attacking team to create a higher chance of their being an open attacking player. If the ball is dropped, it will be a turn over of possession.

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