Today I am sharing with you my ALL TIME favourite PE activity!  This has been tried and tested on numerous occasions for a range of sports and ALWAYS proved a hit.  The setup is simple, yet the range of variations is enormous.  With that said I hope you find it useful and can put some of these into practice yourself!  I would love to hear about your own variations or similar drills that you find equally useful.  Listen to the podcast for more detailed information.

Starting point: A large area roughly 20mx20m is marked out and then split into quarters.  The children are then split into groups of anywhere between 4 and 7 players and placed into their own quarter.  They must pass the selected ball (rugby, football, hockey, netball, basketball) around their square and see how many passes they can make in 30 seconds.

Progressions with an emphasis on movement:

1. How many in 30 seconds? Children must sprint to a new space (in their square) after every pass that they make
2. How many in 30 seconds? Children must always be on the balls of their feet as a minimum, if any player is stood still then the team all stand still for 5 seconds, thus meaning no passes can be made.
3. After children make 10 passes in their square, they rotate clockwise to the next square and make 10, then rotate and repeat until they return to their starting square. The first team back to their square and sat down is the winning team.

Progressions with an emphasis on communication:

1. ** Children MUST call out the name of player they are passing to and make eye contact. **
2. Number each player in the team 1-5. Players must pass the selected ball in number order. Can add 2 balls to challenge if this is too easy.
3. Play any of the above with NON VERBAL communication only (children may clap, point, nod head to communicate that they want to receive or make a pass)

Progressions with an emphasis on defending:

1. In their area, 1 or 2 players are a nominated defender. This should make either a 4v1 or 5v2 if numbers are bigger. Must make as many touches on the ball as they can in 30 seconds. Rotate. NOTE: Join 2 defenders by having them hold each end of a bib to make it easier.
2. Number each player in the team 1-5. When the teacher calls out a number, that player switches to an opponent’s square to try and steal the ball. First defender to steal wins a point for their team. For example in the diagram the yellow and blue defenders switch and the red and green switch.

** I am not suggesting that in any of the other variations that the children do not communicate, rather that in this variation, the MAIN FOCUS of the session is communication.  In any team activity/sport I believe effective communication should always be encouraged as one of many key social skills.

For a downloadable and printable PDF of this activity then click HERE.

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