The purposes of this game are to explore movement/space and passing skills, and to work and communicate as a team. This game is intended for middle school children upwards and there are many variations of the game.
Resources:
- Netball court or tennis court
- Netball or similiar
- Cones to mark to mark the area
- Whistle
Teaching Sequence:
- Organise the class into two even teams, or four if you want two games playing at once.
- Explain the the class the rules of the game: The aim of the game is to tag or touch the opposite team with the ball while trying to reach the score line. Emphasise that it is NOT a contact game! The person with the ball cannot run with the ball. Model to the children what ‘stepping’ looks like. If a person steps with the ball, the opposite team gets the ball. Possession also changes if a person runs outside the playing area (marked by the cones). Players are allowed to run anywhere in the marked area.
- After letting the children play for 10-15 minutes ask the children some ‘focus questions’ (see below).
- After asking the focus questions, swap score lines and continue play.
Attackers |
Defenders |
| How can you co-operative with your team to tag a player? | Where on the court is the best place to be to avoid being tagged? |
| Which types of passes are best to help you tag someone? | What can you do to avoid being tagged? E.g. dodge the opponent |
Another Version of the Game:
Instead of teams trying to reach the score line, change the aim of the game to trying to tag the opponents as many times as possible to score points. Encourage the teams to intercept the ball.
This variation could be the first team to 10 tags or as many tags as possible within a time limit. Allow a ‘half time’ so teams can discuss strategies.
There are also small variations that can be used within the two versions of the game.
These include:
- Allowing a certain number of steps or dribbling with the ball
- Time limit of holding the ball (like netball)
- Passes must be boy > girl > boy > girl
- Allow bounce bounces