3 of the best Game/PE planning/Coaching planning resources available

3 of the best PE\Games  Resources Available

Whether you’re a teacher looking for PE lesson ideas or a coach looking for games ideas to incorporate into your sessions, you need look no further than  the  CIRA Ontario , OPHEAs Playsport.net or Playworks.

While Playworks is an English based website , the other 2 are Canadian where many would say the concept of "Physical Literacy has been born long before it became the buzz word for Children's activity over hear.

I have been using the Canadian websites for a considerable period of time, I only recently stumbled across the Playworks site. I must say the clarity and quality of the lessons and progressions are impressive.

 Scott Kretchmar writes:

When movement is experienced as joy, it adorns our lives, makes our days go better, and gives us something to look forward to.  When movement is joyful and meaningful, it may even inspire us to do things we never thought possible (2008)

What better way to experience the joy of movement than through fun filled engaging games. All 3 contain easy to search libraries. Games are classified under clear easy to follow headings. So whether your looking for an object striking game, a kicking game or a chasing game, I would say make these sites your first stop and look no further!

Playsport contains excellent games for a class based setting. I can testify as to the enjoyment and engagement of the class when playing the likes of 3 Ball Baseball and Kick It Cricket . I also like the video demo contained in the page for many of their lessons. Showing this to the class prior to the lesson certainly aided the understanding for the children and cut down on those annoying breaks in play for all concerned to explain the rules.

Whoever knew that there were so many varieties tot he game of tag?

Well on the CIRA Ontario's TGFU website there is no excuse for ever getting bored of the same old, same old. It contains an astonishing array of variations on many types of invasion, tag, movement and ball games. Some are subtle, some are vast but all are easily understandable and adaptable for whatever situation you are presented with. 

From a coaching point of view for those of us who are enthusiastic about games based coaching, my use of this website is 2 fold. Number 1 is I always like to use a game with players as part of my warm-up, cool down or for athletic development  training phases. there is certainly plenty of scope to adapt different situations from the Games Database here. Secondly I like to use some of the ideas if relevant to facilitating a games based situation. Whether its No Mans Land, Everybody's IT or Last Player Standing, engagement of the players is assured. 

 The question often pops up as to what level of skill proficiency is required before you advance to game based scenario play - particularly with sports that combine loco motor movement with object manipulation. As someone who is no expert but who champions on a daily basis the development of Fundamental movement and Sports Skill together as the foundation stones to Sport Play, I can only tentatively put forward this theory as a possible route towards sporting prowess development. However one thing is assured while they may not become the next Messi or the next Beauden Barrett they can develop the skills which can allow them to become physically literate citizens in today's and tomorrows society.

And now for the bonus material.......

Active for Lifes excellent Lesson Planner for building Fundamental Movement lessons is the ideal starting point for any practitioner looking to begin on the journey to Physical Literacy. Organised on an age basis skills and skill progressions can be easily searched organised and thus lesson plans created.

For anyone tasked with developing a coaching plan, or a school plan for PE in the early years right through to pre-teens i think this clear concise resource should not be too far away from your browser window as you build your plan through the age/class groups.

So there you have it, if your looking to develop a coherent whole school/club approach to physical activity/player development and need a good reference or starting point look no further than the resources mentioned here. I cannot recommend them highly enough and i  know my students would too.

My final rumination for now is :
Get them moving, movement is fun, movement is engagement, movement is enjoyment.
Play and movement are the development of the emotional, physical, intellectual and creative citizen.  As Piaget said " If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterises children before they are deformed by adult society".