Sports’ Report 16/17 #6 – Wednesday 9th November 2016

Health-Related Exercise in P.E.

Pupils in Years 3-9 are experiencing health-related exercise in PE. These sessions are designed to improve fitness, promote confidence in exercise and prevent injury.

Pupils will rotate between:

A) Pace work to improve stamina
B) ‘Fartlek training’ as a fun training method
C) Strength, conditioning and injury prevention.

The objectives are to develop a knowledge of fitness that encourages pupils to lead a Healthy active lifestyle and also have confidence to train in their own time.

What is Fartlek training?

Fartlek, which means “speed play” in Swedish, is a training method that blends continuous training with interval training.^[1] Fartlek runs are a very simple form of a long distance run. Fartlek training “is simply defined as periods of fast running intermixed with periods of slower running.”^[2] For some people, this could be a mix of jogging and sprinting, but for beginners it could be walking with jogging sections added in when possible. A simple example of what a runner would do during a fartlek run is “sprint all out from one light pole to the next, jog to the corner, give a medium effort for a couple of blocks, jog between four light poles and sprint to a stop sign, and so on, for a set total time or distance.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek

By the 5th week, we would like pupils to attempt part or the whole of our Cross Country course. It is driven by pupil evaluation of their fitness and by them setting a realistic yet challenging target.”Walking is not an option” so pupils are encouraged to use the methods they experience to try and build their stamina.

Pupils can set targets, for example by:
1) Running whole or at least two parts of the course without walking
2) Increasing their distance of run by week 6
3) Setting advanced training to complete the course and extension course with the target of competing for Ballard at New Forest events or the ISA championships.

Please encourage pupils to train at home, possibly even with you. For example there are popular park runs available all over the south coast on weekends.

Oakhaven Santa Dash Challenge

A great challenge would be for every Ballard pupil and parent to run the Oakhaven 3km run on Dec 4th in Lymington. If you are keen to join the challenge and run for Ballard, entry forms can be obtained from Mr Marshall. Over 100 took part last year. We are aiming for 150 this year!

Regards
Justin Whitbread

Inter-House Hockey and Football

Our Year 3-8s took part in Inter-House Hockey (girls) and Football (boys) tournaments at the end of our first half of the Autumn Term.

All these photos, and more, can be found in our Flickr Album ‘Sports’ Report at Ballard School’.

Both pitches in action with some closely contested hockey matches on our Astro and inside in the Sports’ Hall. Our younger girls took part in a skills workshop on the Basketball Court, followed by a short game.

Our Football teams produced many an action shot – including this one; just over the bar!

Overall Wilverley House were the champions. Congratulations to all who took part.

New Forest School Sport Partnership video

Produced by the New Forest SSP (http://newforestssp.co.uk/) but much of the video was filmed at Ballard’s tag rugby event – see especially from 0.24secs to 1.06mins.

The New Forest School Games 2016 [HD] from New Forest SSP on Vimeo.

Website

Our dedicated Sports’ website, www.ballardsport.co.uk, provides fixtures information, directions for away matches, results and more. Our Flickr Album ‘Sports’ Report at Ballard School’ is where our sports’ related photos can be viewed.

We tweet from @BallardSchool and @BallardSport

Ballard School is an independent, private co-educational school in New Milton, Hampshire (on the Dorset/Hampshire border), providing an outstanding level of education for nursery to GCSE. With small class sizes and proven academic excellence, we strive to nurture the academic potential of all students. Learn more about our academic programmes, pastoral care, facilities and school ethos by visiting our website or by requesting a prospectus here.