Handball - Lesson 1

The first lesson in handball for Year 6 students focuses on the fundamentals of shooting and defending. The learning objectives are clear: pupils should be able to dribble a ball in various scenarios, shoot with the ball, and defend in game-like situations. The key vocabulary for the lesson includes terms such as 'dribble', 'shoot', and 'intercept'. To facilitate the activities, the necessary equipment comprises cones, handballs, a medicine ball, cardboard boxes or similar items, and bean bags. The warm-up session, lasting ten minutes, consists of ball handling exercises that emphasise spatial awareness to prevent collisions. These activities range from tossing and catching the ball in different positions to dribbling around cones and include extensions for more advanced pupils such as dribbling while chasing a partner or making bounce passes through a hoop.

The main part of the lesson spans 30 minutes and is divided into three distinct activities. The first activity involves shooting, where pupils are split into two teams, each confined to their own zone, and attempt to hit a medicine ball over the opponent's line using handballs. The second activity, 'Shooting moving the box', challenges groups of four to move a cardboard box over a finish line by taking turns to throw balls at it. This activity can be adapted by varying the number of balls or adding a medicine ball inside the box to increase difficulty. The third activity is an 'Intercepting Game', where teams of three try to complete passes while the opposing team aims to intercept. The cool-down session, lasting ten minutes, includes a game called 'Tigers' where two pupils with bean bags aim to tag the 'Fish' (other pupils) by throwing the bags below their knees. This is followed by a 'Follow my Leader' stretching routine, with an extension that encourages pupils to identify the muscles they are stretching, such as the hamstrings.