Passes and 'space' in invasion games and sports

Hi All,

I have just begun examining some of the elements of play with invasion sports and have been examining two particular elements in relation to observation and analysis of players and play; the space that players feel safe and not confronted in and the type of pass they throw. Gréhaigne, Richard and Griffin (the text we base our understanding of play on) suggest that there are four types of spaces that are important to players in invasion sports

Observations on the cost of developing 'Game Sense'

Hi All,

One of the interesting things I noted during the season was the cost of developing game sense on the players. In this I mean the mental cost on the team performance. It was obvious that in the AFL team, we played really well for three quarters of the game and matched it with the best of the teams. However,

Been a while - AFL Training

Hi All,

Been a while, sorry for the delay, PhD's do take a lot of time and energy.
For the AFL and invasion aficionados, had a few games you might want to try in your coaching or units in invasion sports that build on some of the previous posts. In the last 4 weeks, we had a variation to the 9 squares, simplifying it down to two halves but adding a couple of primary rules to get the play we wanted.

In essence, our training game was two teams of nine

The Tipping Point

I was having discussion with a colleague and we were talking about the moment in a class where we try to create the balance between confusion and understanding for the students and they then run with the information and make some really great leaps in learning. We did not know what it was called but I mentioned the idea of a 'tipping point' (with Malcolm Gladwell's book in mind) in a lesson, the particular moment in problem solving that can tip students seemingly in three ways, on the path to understanding or to disengagement or complete passiveness. It seemed to me the mark of the expert teacher was the skill of creating the appropriate difficulty in the set problem, then recognise this 'tipping point' moment and then bring all students through the learning experience with the appropriate balance of discomfort and reward.

The Impact and Influence on beliefs of Coaching and Training

Being a teacher and a coach is a fascinating and frustrating challenge at times. The issue with our line of work is that
1. Everyone has been to school and
2. Everyone seems to have been coached by someone
3. Everyone has an opinion on what is best based on this
4. Nearly everyone has tried a method of getting fit

Of course, no matter how experienced we are, we take with us elements of that coach or player and it is this that forms our beliefs on what should be an appropriate session.

Isn't it amazing what 5 and 6 year olds can do?

I have been involved  / elected (as you do) with the coaching my youngest son's 6 years soccer team and as a result, two other small sided teams. Neither of the boys can escape, I think that is why my daughter does circus: Dad can't hassle her, even though I try to get her to think of how she can use the elements of composition when putting together her tissu routine - she did have her turn for three years). What has been interesting is the idea of small sided games and the narrow view of 'skill'. The aim in the manual is to get a similar level of 'skill' and develop 'skill' for the players so that when they move through the ages, there is consistency. Thus it seems many clubs band the teams together and then have elements of passing and trapping and kicking at different stations. At the end, all of the kids play. Even noted soccer afficionado and commentator, Craig Foster, notes the importance of this development but again it is such a narrow view of skill, it's the specific movement skills of football. Unfortunately, the

Why does our senior course in NSW have no movement?

I have been looking with interest at the Stage 6 Dance syllabus. It really leaves the PDHPE Stage 6 course for dead when we look at the content. The main reason? It actually assess movement and student's use of movement.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the PDHPE syllabus in NSW is that we study and assess concepts related to movement, well, sitting down. One of the key elements of the syllabus is assessed through pen and paper. In Dance, the students get to choreograph, they get to costume, they get to study history, they examine the elements of biomechanics and physiology in depth and most importantly, they get to dance. They have a key assessment component involving movement. It is the same with music, the students get to perform!