June 5th 2020
Back to school and back to sport
What a wonderful start to the second half of our Summer Term it has been! It has been a real treat to return to school from our virtual world and to be met with huge smiles, immense amounts of energy and oodles of tremendous rays of sunshine!
The boys have all returned with great vigour and ready for action! The Pre-Prep staff have been very busy with preparing the environment so that the return to school is safe, productive and the same place the boys know and love while observing all the guidance to ensure best possible health and safety for all the boys, the staff and everybody’s families.
We are so fortunate here at Moulsford to have the amazing grounds and space that we do. Our games sessions with the Bobcats, Pumas and Panthers have started off with lots of activity and movement. We have focused on having loads of fun while getting back into our routines and structures of our Playball PE sessions. The boys have rushed out onto the fields into the sunshine and the release of energy through movement has been wonderful to observe.
The boys have done very well in understanding and keeping to their class ‘bubbles’, and have been able to maintain the expectations that have been carefully explained to them about being aware and mindful of space between each other during our Games sessions.
The beauty of the Playball Programme is that we are always aware of space around ourselves so that we can move easily and safely, and so that we can observe what the coach is demonstrating and what our fellow team mates are doing. At Playball we learn so much from not only our own experiences, but also from observing the experiences of everyone around us. We have worked very hard on this concept of space and this has therefore helped tremendously in transitioning to the current way we interact with each other due to Covid-19 with ease.
The boys have also shown great maturity in the way we use the equipment responsibly. We are using a limited amount of equipment and when in use each boy has his own set to use. The structure of the timetable is set up in such a way that each ‘bubble’ of boys has its own dedicated Playball PE session on alternating days so that there is no crossover of equipment or space used. The equipment gets thoroughly cleaned before and after each Playball session.
Our sessions so far have included many movement games and activities, some work on particular skills, some activities to help us pay attention during instructions and demonstrations, and even some water fun activities when the sun was out and blazing. We have also been revising some of the work we did in previous terms and you can ask your son to demonstrate two very important body positions we use in setting up for various skills. The first one is called the Front On Power Stance and the second is the Side On Power Stance. To get into either of those positions we count to 3 and shout BOOM as we get our bodies into the correct stance. Let your son be the coach and ask him to help you get into the correct body position.
The Pumas and Panthers have also learned a new Playball song – The Playball Dynamite Song! Ask for a rendition from your son and I am sure you will all be chanting along as a family to the catchy tune in no time 😊. The Bobcats also have a song – I like to Playball Playball (to the tune of I like to Move it, Move it from the Madagascar movie).
I am delighted to be back and working with all the boys in Pre-Prep! They are all such superstars and I look forward to coaching them and observing the immense amount of development taking place at this crucial time of their lives. All the boys are well on their way to creating a solid foundation of movements and skills upon which they will rely for the rest of their lives!
