Gone are the days of pupils being taught rules their PE teachers learned when they were at school. Now, with input from the National Rounders Association (NRA), schools, teaching staff and pupils are benefiting all round from NRA support to meet education targets and wider agenda issues set by Sport England, Local Authorities and local partnerships.
The Shelfield case study is a great example of how schools can benefit from various projects to meet specific targets.
Shelfield Sport's Partnership in Walsall were seeking an activity to deliver in the Primary schools in the Summer term. The activity had to be mixed, able to be played by all ages and abilities, have enough skill involved to stretch the more able, offer training opportunities for adults and above all had to be lots of fun!
The activity that met all these criteria was Rounders, so with help and support from the NRA, the Partnership embarked on a project that spanned the whole of the summer term.
A well attended Coaching for Teachers course was delivered in March when many of those 'rules that we're not quite sure about' were explained. The course provided all schools in the partnership with the skills to organise and run Rounders participation sessions, both within and outside school time, and provided teachers with the opportunity to ensure pupils were able to achieve their full potential, even in a mixed ability group.
Further, the course made certain that the rules of Rounders and basic coaching skills were fully understood and consistently applied, something that has been a problem in the past. It gave teachers the confidence to use Rounders as a tool to deliver elements of the National Curriculum at all key stages. The local authority obtained funding for the Coaching for Teachers course, and each candidate received a pack containing valuable resources and publications to help in the delivery of sessions.
The NRA run Coaching for Teachers courses at Preliminary and Intermediate level for both umpiring and coaching, as part of the national Coaching for Teachers programme. A rapid upsurge of the NRA Coaching for Teachers courses has enabled teaching staff to deliver up to date, quality lessons that have surpassed the tradition of ‘hit the ball and run’ theory. Over 35 enthusiastic tutors, most of whom are players, coaches or umpires themselves, work to deliver the courses.
The course in Walsall finished with a game amongst the staff, which naturally became very competitive - two schools even had a Staff match a few weeks later!
Following the course one School Sport Coordinator (SSCo) organised a Rounder's Awareness afternoon at a Secondary school. Year 7 and 8 pupils demonstrated a series of practices and a variety of games to an audience of Dinner Supervisors, Teachers, Classroom Assistants and parents. The afternoon was a huge success and motivated those attending to go back into school and introduce structured Rounders practices and games into their schools at lunchtimes.
Each of the 6 SSCo’s organised a Rounders tournament for their family of Primary schools and the winners were invited to attend a Partnership Final at the Sports College. This had given 34 schools the opportunity to take part in a competition against similar schools and without having to travel too far. The better teams were then given the opportunity to match themselves against the other winners in a higher-level competition. 6 schools duly met in the finals in a competition that demonstrated a high level of skill, tactical awareness and knowledge of the rules. Obviously the work done with the adults in the beginning had had a big effect. One of the SSCo’s had organised a transition club for year 6 pupils at the local secondary school and it was no coincidence that 8 of the winning team had attended these sessions.
St. John's Primary School from Walsall Wood won the local tournament and went on to compete in the National Finals. A coach was booked, practices were arranged against a secondary school team (which the Primary School won!), letters were sent to parents and Sportsday was rearranged!
So St. John's travelled to Rotherham full of enthusiasm and good spirits but not knowing what to expect. The coach was full of Teachers, Parents and very excited pupils. The organisers, umpires, groundstaff and not least the players all worked extremely hard to ensure the day was a fantastic success.
As the games unfolded it became clear that St. John's were going to reach the semi-finals and the strain began to show - not on the kids but on the P.E. co-ordinator, Deputy Head, School Sports Co-ordinator and the group of parents who were playing every shot, catching every ball and running every rounder.
The team were victorious in the final and became National Champions. A fantastic achievement and a day that everyone involved will never forget. The journey back to Walsall was made in high spirits.
This was the culmination of the first year's work of the Sports Partnership. A school from the Partnership becoming National Champions had topped off all the work that went into the Rounders Project.
Above all else, the Partnership Development Manager was most impressed with the quality of play and the level of skill shown in the tournaments. So many fundamental skills are used in the game that as a Partnership, Shelfield will be advocating Rounders is taught and played across all ages in all schools.
In delivering this tremendously successful project, Shelfield Sports Partnership generated a huge interest in rounders as a sport, with many individuals looking to play on a regular basis.
