Athletics is amazing once Summer finally comes around…. if you’re one of the fastest/strongest. If you aren’t in that privileged group then poorly taught Athletics can be pretty unrewarding/boring for the middle to lower ability children. In our group of Schools we emphasise that who wins races/events in lessons isn’t too important. That is for Sports Day and representing the School. Instead we track personal bests. Pupils record their first score each time they meet a new discipline, the challenge is then who can improve on their original score by the largest margin! It is a little more engaging and it means all of the children have the possibility of being the winner of an event! (It also helps focus them towards each and every teaching point).
At the end of every lesson we try to have a relay race, for 2 reasons:
- It is one of the trickiest skills to master (Relay change over)
- It is great fun!
This is how we organise our Relay races….
We also attempt to combine teaching technique in the traditional way with some fun twists. This way we enable the children to apply the skills in a competitive environment that isn’t just “9.35m – You came 8th”. For example we teach children technique in the following format…
Then once the children have recorded their first attempts, spent some time refining technique we play games such as these (with bean bags, not Javelins!)
Hopefully this post has given you a few new ideas to freshen up your Athletics delivery. It shouldn’t just be a process for teachers to pick their track team for Inter-School competitions. Try and structure so it is fun and competitive for everyone.
If you want to pinch our Athletics Journey booklets you’ll find them attached below!
Now all we need is some sun!