There are many tactical issues to consider when teaching the TGIF model. Today I am going to focus on “How do I find empty space?” By implementing some invasion games. This issue is going to be hopefully examined through the following 2 games.
1) 1) Flag football:
Flag football is a more complex game that is probably best suited for a high school students.
There are many tactical problems to consider with this game, however if the scorer wants to get through the defence with the ball without being tagged they must move to create, and then look for space to run through, in order to run past the defence.
Flag football is played the same way as tackle football. However instead of tackling, the defensive side picks flags off the attacking team’s belt.
A more in depth explanation of the game’s rules can be seen in this video:
2. 2. Modified game of tag:
This game is a modification of a game of tag specifically aimed at teaching children to look for empty space. It can be played by children of any age.
Set up the playing field with a few hula hoops on the ground. They’ re in no particular order. It’s a regular game of tag, with one person as “it” and the others are being chased. However if you have say 6 hoops, there must be one person in each hoop to start with. The hoop as a safe zone can only be occupied by one person for 3 seconds. However, a hoop can not stay empty for more then 5 seconds. This should make the children want to look around for empty hoops, and also this should make children communicate to help each other find the empty space.
As it has been made clear the previous teaching model was the TPSR, Which stands for Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility. Now we move on to TGFU Teaching model. I am going to start by explaining that TGFU stands for Teaching Games for Understanding. Originally this model was developed for improving the learning experiences of students. The aim of the TGFU model is to draw on concepts of defence/attack/space.Note that these concepts were not considered in the traditional teaching of games. This particular model also provides context to make the skills the student learns meaningful. Some fundamental skills learned include: body management (running, loco motor/non loco motor skills), Equipment handling.
There are some tactical Awareness components we must consider when teaching the TGFU model:
-Space
-Time
-Force
The TGFU Teaching model is run through 4 different categories of games:
1.Target Games:
Target games are aimed at emphasizing accuracy and control. Challenges can be modified by changing the size/distance of target.A teacher can also include obstacles to avoid.
Tactical Awareness component: Force: How much force do I need to exert in order for the object to hit the target?
Some possible games: golf, archery, darts
2.Net/Wall Games:
Involve moving and controlling objects within a specific space. Players may work to make it difficult for the opposition to hit the specific net/wall area, or remain in possession of the object.Net/Wall games are usually played with small numbers of players.
Tactical Awareness: Time: When do I execute to shoot the ball, and when do I play defence?
Some games: Handball, tennis, volleyball, badminton
3.Batting/Fielding Games:
These types of games may involve running, striking, throwing, catching and defending. Batters usually, kick throw or bat a ball to the defence (who try and catch the ball), if the batter is not caught they then run to a safe base. Fielders (defenders) try to catch the ball and throw the ball to get it to the safe base before the batter runs to it.
Some games: Cricket, Baseball, kick ball
Tactical Awareness: Space: The student must learn how to find spaces between the fielders so that they do not catch their ball.
4.Invasion Games:
Usually invasion games involve the ability to control an object, while at the same time trying to keep it away from the opposition that’s coming at you. The team in possession usually tries to get to a position where they can score a point by shooting into a target.
Tactical awareness: Force: If it is a contact sport: how much force can I use in defence without hurting someone?
Some games: Basketball, Netball, Hockey, Football.
This is a simple yet fun game that Elementary School Children like to play. Its called Poison Ball. I deally its half way between dodgeball and piggy in the middle. This game is best played outside. Begin by making a square playing area with pile-ons (size can be dependant on class size and ability).
You will need: 2 balls (soft), A few pileons
Set Up:
Rules:
-Designate 2 children to be outside the square with the balls
-The rest of the class has to be inside the pile-ons (if they step out they are out)
-The 2 children outside must roll the ball at other classmates, if another child is hit with the ball below waist they go outside and join the children who are throwing the ball (they help to get others out)
You can really experiment with his game because there are many progressions- from variying the size of the ball to varying the size of the playing field.
PIRATE BALL
This game is probably better for the older elementary children.
Equipment: 4 each of 4 types of balls, 4 mats, rope, 4 hula-hoops, flags and belts. However, much of this equipment is not absolutely necessary for this game to be successful.
First of all you must divide the gym into 4 quadrants (Use the centre line and the rope to divide the gym, or chalk, tape, pile-ons may work too). Each quadrant must have a station of a mat placed diagonally in the back corner. And behind the mat (inside the small triangle created by the mat placement) place ahula hoops with one of each ball inside it.
How to play:
Divide the class into four equal teams and have each team put on flags and belts. Each team should be designated by it’s own color of flag or pinnies. Each player must begin the game from his or her own home base. Each team will be given a name that is representative of their particular ball (for now we will call them the football team, basketball team, etc.). The object of the game is for each team to collect all of their designated balls from the opposing teams. The first team to have gathered all four of their own balls will be declared the winner of that round. Following are the rules of this game: Once a player enters an opposing teams quadrant (pirate ship), he or she is susceptible to having their flag removed. If you have a flag torn off, or fall off while in an opposition’s territory you must retrieve your flag and go to their dungeon (mat). Once inside the dungeon (on the mat), you must take your flags off and wave them overhead while kneeling. (Note): Any player from any team can remove the flag of any player who is not inside his/her own quadrant (ship). However, the captured player would go to the dungeon (mat) of the team whose quadrant he was in at the time of his capture. If a student successfully makes it into an opposing teams vault (triangle of floor behind the mat) he must rescue one of his/her teammates (to rescue; student must escort his/her teammate, by the hand, all the way back to their own quadrant). In all variations of this game, rescued students and their escort, get a free walk back to their quadrant as long as the hand joins them. If a player makes it to the opposing teams vault and there are no prisoners from his team to rescue, then he may steal only the treasure that represents his team.
Following are some other miscellaneous rules that help with this game:
1. Students cannot have their flag removed as long as they are in their own quadrant.
2. Players are not allowed inside their own vault unless they are returning with a piece of treasure (ball).
3. You may rescue only 1 player at a time.
4. Players are not allowed on their own mat, this is how I stop the arguments over weather a person was safely in the vault or not when their flag was removed. By not allowing players to be on their own mat, and opposing players to be safe if in the vault area, arguments are eliminated because: If a player had his flag removed by an opposing player not on a mat, then he must be out because the students are not capable of reaching the vault without being on the mat.
5. You may not rescue a player and a ball at the same time.
6. If a flag falls off in enemy territory then you are out and must go to the dungeon.
The aim of the game is to get all your balls together into your hula hoop!
High School:
FUKAHARA!
We Play this one at volleyball all the time it is called Fukahara!
All you need is: A ball and access to a volleyball court (not nets needed)
Split the class into 2 teams. One team on one side of the centre line the other team is on the other.
One person will serve from the back line.
The ball must be on the floor the entire time, and children must use their hands (no feet) to strike the ball.
There must be 3 contacts each side before the team can score.
How to score:
The ball must cross the side line or the back line (BUT ONLY PAST THE ATTACK 3m LINE) on the other teams side. (In The green lines in the picture)
Which ever team scores sets to serve!
Eg:
HUMAN KNOT!
The intent for this game is to get the children to bond!
The set up for this game is versatile, you can do it as one big class game of spllit the class in half.
Each person in the group must stand in a circle shoulder to shoulder facing in to the circle. Everyone first must lift their left hand and put it into the circle and grab somebody elses left hand (some body who is not next to them). They must do the same thing with their right hand also.
The children must communicate to "detangle themselves" without letting go of hands. The first team to stand in a circle with linked hands wins.
here is a short video of a group of children doing the human knot:
This article reminds me of the statement: 2 heads are better than one. Team work can go a long way. But to some extent I don’t think having competition or a competitive attitude is necessarily a bad thing. I think what’s more important is to have a balance of cooperation and competition. And yes I believe there can be a balance. In response to the statement: “scientists who consider themselves cooperative tend to have more published articles than their competitive colleagues.Cooperative businesspeople have higher salaries”, it would have been impossible for the scientists and corporate people to achieve their status and publications without some sort of competition, whether it be from colleagues or other scientists and companies.
With that in mind I do agree on the fact that we need to be taught more on cooperation.
Competition only benefits certain types of personalities. On a sporting field competitiveness is a benefit for your team. Especially if the team is aiming to play in specific sporting competitions and tournaments. For those high performance athletes competition is the key motivational factor. Speaking as an athlete I believe competition gives me a confidence boost, I like the idea that if I fight for something I know I will get it and I earned it truly. Even if I don’t end up getting my goal, I know I took a step forward towards it and I have the confidence to work harder and compete more so that next time I will get it. On the other hand having too much competition can definitely be a negative, if we look at the classroom situation: I believe competition can cause bullying, and jealousy and fights between children, especially young boys.
Thus this state of mind is not for everyone I must admit. In a class room situation you are expected to have different personalities, so, let’s be real, not everybody is going to be a high performance athlete. I guess in those instances cooperation works best, because for kids it is essential they feel included. For some children competition may be intimidating, especially if they are not confident in the skill they are asked to perform, it may be more beneficial for them if those children who are more confident take a step back and help the less confident children. This intern promotes peer support, a sense of belonging, and external motivation in the gym.
There are many more benefits to playing cooperative games; it’s not just about ‘let’s play cooperative games so that we don’t hurt somebody’s self-esteem.’ Those kinds of games promote good leadership skills, team work, communication, confidence boost, peer support motivation as well as many other things.
As an athlete I do believe that elite athletic sport should be promoted in schools. It all depends on the age group once again, with elementary students it is key that they “participate” in sports, whereas with the older children they tend to know whether they want to pursuit an elite sport or not, so they become more accustomed and understanding of a competitive environment, if they chose an elite athletic sport. I believe that elite sport is a great opportunity for children to be active, as an athlete I believe it’s very rewarding, you learn how to become self-reliant, and you learn to appreciate the efforts of people around you, like coaches, community, and parents. Both cooperation and competition have positives and negatives. With elite sport promotion: yes it should be promoted in schools, but children and parents must understand that it is a competitive an environment and it might not necessarily be for every child.
As I said before, for this system to work the important thing is to find a balance between competition and cooperation. Playing a team sport I understand how important this balance is, because you have to able to rely on your team mates, trust them and cooperate with them, and at the same time you must compete, with and against each other to produce the results that you are looking for. And I believe the same principle can be applied to the corporate world, and as with gym class, I agree that yes the competition does need to be cut down a little bit. But it all depends on the group, and what your aim is for the class. It’s hard to make assumptions because all class groups, teams and children have different abilities, so we must do our best as teachers to account for every child’s needs.
This show is awesome! Here are some fun ideas for games! I have personally tried a few, and the face the cookie game was so much fun! Here is the link to some of the videos of contestants playing the games from the show:
http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/video/categories/games-in-action/1260249/
