Sadly, this is my second last session at Raploch Primary School. I was invited to assist a primary 6 basketball session and a primary 3 rugby session. For this specific blog, I have chosen to speak about the Rugby session, as I feel that this session benefited me the most.

For the warm-up, we played two rounds of toilet tig which was chosen by the participants. When referring to the drills, I split the kids into 4 teams (white, red, yellow and blue). The aim of the session was to focus on traveling with the ball with both hands. Firstly, we started with relay races, where the participants had to run with the ball using both hands while keeping the ball close to their bodies. They were required to sprint to the cone at the opposite side of the court, throw the ball upwards, clap their hands together and then run back to their line. Secondly, the participants were expected to do the same as above however, once they reached the far away cone, they had to pass the ball around their body. Thirdly, the participants had to follow the same sequence as above, however, when they reached the far away cone, they had to perform a figure of eight around their legs, working on their ball-handling skills.

After the drills, I decided to put this practice into play by playing a game dividing the hall into two pitches. I added a restriction were every 5 passes equals a goal. As I supervised the game, I noticed that the children were either; a) all running towards the ball, b) not running when they had the ball or c) running out of the court. During the game I decided to join in. I ensured that I went to the opposite side of the court and shouted for the ball. Lewis, who currently had the ball stated, “Lauren you’re too far away, I can’t pass to you?”. I replied, “Well what was the focus within the drills, run with the ball”. This is where I stopped the game and stated to the participants that; a) we have to spread out because if we all go to the ball then the player on the ball has no options and b) in rugby we don’t always need to pass we can run with the ball. Instantly, I saw an improvement which reassured me that the children were listening to the coaching points given.

Overall, I really enjoyed this session as I managed to encourage the children to stay on the move, gave coaching points when needed and assisted a rugby coach which pushed me out of my comfort zone as this is a sport that I don’t have a lot of experience in.