PATTERING FEET, CHILDREN'S VOICES
ABBY: Do you like having fun and trying something new?
Perfect!
Because today, we鈥檙e going to learn some of the skills that we need to play boccia.
SOFT MUSIC
It鈥檚 time to meet our wonderful boccia coaches: Rafael Young and Natasha Critchley.
RAFA: We鈥檙e here to tell you a little bit about boccia.
Boccia is a ball sport where you鈥檙e trying to win by scoring more points than the other side, by getting more balls closer to the white 鈥榡ack鈥 ball than your opponents.
ABBY: Now, you make it sound really simple with that explanation, but for me playing boccia, I know it takes some real skill.
RAFA: Everyone can do some boccia.
Anyone can join in, that鈥檚 kind of the point.
ABBY: That鈥檚 amazing, I think that we should all join in, right?
CHILDREN: Yeah!
CHEERING
RAFA: When we play boccia, some of us don鈥檛 have the strength and the movement to throw the balls onto the court ourselves.
We use a ramp and we have somebody to help us move the ramp and put the balls on it, to deliver the balls onto the court.
So, we鈥檙e going to practise giving instructions and asking people to do things.
Look up at the ceiling.
NATASHA: Lift your arms up as high as you can鈥
And then back down.
RAFA: Move forwards and then back again.
NATASHA: We鈥檙e going to move around in one circle.
CLAPPING
ABBY: Okay, so we have followed instructions and practised our listening skills, but what鈥檚 next, Rafael?
RAFA: We need to get some balls moving, we need to get the balls to go, but if like me, you can鈥檛 throw the ball then you鈥檙e going to roll it down a ramp instead.
SOFT MUSIC
RAFA: Okay, and another one, please.
Thank you.
NATASHA: And I throw the balls onto the court, so we can either throw them overarm, like this鈥
Or we can throw them underarm and roll them onto the court.
RAFA: We鈥檙e gonna have a little bit of a go at controlling how fast they go.
So, try overarm first.
Do you want to try an underarm one?
That鈥檚 it, nice and soft.
Good job.
Brilliant, well done.
Good job, guys.
Do you see this line on the floor right here, this one?
So, you鈥檙e gonna throw your ball down to the floor just before the line, and then let it roll the rest of the way so that you have a nice, gentle, slow ball that you鈥檝e got lots of control of the speed of.
We鈥檙e all going to stay sitting down because in boccia, we always play sitting down so that we鈥檙e all the same.
That went way past the line.
Goodness me!
Do you want to have another try?
That鈥檚 better, well done.
Make your ball hit the floor before the line on the floor, and let it roll the rest of the way.
Good job, well done.
CHEERING
ABBY: So far, we鈥檝e sharpened our listening skills, we鈥檝e tried our hand at throwing the balls and now, it鈥檚 time to practise our aim.
Rafael, what鈥檚 the game!?
RAFA: We鈥檙e going to practise aiming at our targets.
An easy target is one that鈥檚 close to you, or it鈥檚 big, or it鈥檚 close and big.
First, you need to look at which one you鈥檙e going to aim at and then you need to move your body so that you are facing towards the one that you鈥檙e going to aim at.
Okay. Yay!
Oh, got in the circle, well done!
We make it harder by going for a smaller circle or a smaller net.
ABBY: That was brilliant!
I鈥檝e had a great time brushing up on some of my boccia skills, but why don鈥檛 you give it a try?
CHEERING
PATTERING FEET,
CHILDREN'S VOICES