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Jazz up catching
Catching is a crucial skill. Minis must work on catching the ball in their hands away from the body and not with their arms close to the chest. Use the following three activities to sharpen up catching in a competitive yet fun environment.
Start by emphasising that the best position for catching a pass is hands outstretched to give the passer a target and hands in a ‘W’ shape with thumbs close together (see picture 1). Then, get the following three games on the go…
1. Relay races
Equal numbered teams start side by side, 2m apart with a ball at one end. The maximum in a team should be five players.
On “GO”, teams pass the ball along the line and back again. The winner is the first team to get the ball back to the start. Players will soon realise that the winning teams are the ones who pass most accurately. Increase the distance between players as they improve.
Also, swap players around in each team and make sure that they are passing from left to right and right to left.
I would run this for no more than five minutes.
2. Rob the nest
Place three each of four different types of ball (rugby, tennis, golf and beach or football) in a marked out centre circle. Mark out four nests around the centre circle, all the same distance away. Teams of three players occupy each nest (see picture 2).
On “GO” the first player from each team runs to the centre circle, picks up a ball and passes it back to a teammate who catches it and places it in their nest. The passer runs back to their nest and the next player runs out, picks up a different type of ball and passes it back.
To win, a team needs to get one of each type of ball into their nest. Players keep taking balls from the centre circle until they are all gone. Then they start stealing the balls they need from each other’s nests. Players cannot stop other teams stealing from their nest and all balls must be passed back to the nest, not carried.
3. Catching ‘T’
A rugby ball is passed back and forth along a line of three players. Each player aims to pass the ball as soon as they have caught it.
A fourth player passes the tennis ball as soon as the middle player has passed the rugby ball (see picture 3). The middle player has to return the pass before they touch the rugby ball again. You can substitute a rolled up sock or even a football for the tennis ball.
- The receiver’s hands are outstretched towards the passer and their hands make a ‘W’ shape with the thumbs close together
Related Files
- Put one less ball of each type than the number of groups into the centre
- Play as groups of three
- The aim is to get one of each type of ball into their own “nest”
- One player from each group runs to the middle and passes a ball back to their team. There is no running with the ball
- Once all the balls have gone from the central nest, one player at a time can go to another nest and steal a ball
- Three players pass a rugby ball along a line and back
- After every pass made by a central player, a player opposite them throws them a tennis ball. The central player has to catch this ball and return it before they receive another pass
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