The session this week concentrated on dodging, running speed and we introduced the idea of defence; given this was the first week back to school for a lot of the players, this was probably a bit too much as we had some very tired children!

That being said, they picked up the defence drill after several tries and this is a game that will be reinforced all season, so it was pleasing that they all understood the game by the end of it; also pleasing was everyone’s dodging in Red Arrows which was the first game that we played. This game helps them to control the speed of their run and uses their peripheral vision to watch out for other players who aren’t in front of them; during this game we had around 10 players running from 3 different angles (with no bumps into each other) which was very pleasing. This is another game that continues the message that we began last season in respect of finding the space and waiting for the other team (or coaches) to make a mistake allowing space to be generated.

Jungle run was, again, very pleasing with a smaller area of space to work in with no-one touching the poles which showed the micros listening well and controlling their run accordingly.

In a week where we had tried players, keeping them upbeat wasn’t the easiest task but the effort from all players (and coaches) was great; this week Henry won the teamwork cup and Wilf the listening cup. Henry’s actions during the final game was especially pleasing; he was helping his team mates to identify where the space was for other runners and was shouting at them to help them. This is something that we haven’t taught beforehand so seeing this natural development in Henry was amazing; well done.

Wilf was a worthy winner of the listening cup this week; always attentive and always had a smile on his face despite the tiredness. He shown particularly good listening in the defence game and we will look to see how we can utilise his natural aptitude for this game in the future. Well done to Wilf.