With the sunshine finally making an appearance, every parent’s thoughts are turning to outdoor activities. Football, tennis and cricket clubs are perennial favourites—but how about an activity that is based around the best aspects of all three and more besides? Combining agility, flexibility and hand-eye coordination, and aimed at improving many other life skills including confidence, Playball has arrived in west London at Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith and in Acton, at the Old Actonians Sports Club.
Hailing from South Africa, where it was founded over 25 years ago, the Playball programme is also run in America, Australia, and numerous locations in the UK. Playball aims to help children—aged from 2 to 9 years old—develop fundamental building blocks of sport, agility, balance and coordination, as well as the three key elements of physical fitness: endurance, strength and flexibility. Children are exposed to a range of different sports skills taken from tennis, cricket, hockey, rugby, football, basketball, baseball and volleyball. It’s varied and creative to make sure each lesson is exciting and positive.
There are six age-appropriate programmes, each one lasting three terms, designed to meet children’s developmental, emotional and physical needs. Each programme aims to teach sport and movement and teach it well, taking into account each age group’s cognitive and emotional capabilities.
The organisers talk about enhancing “physical literacy”. Physical literacy, they say, like learning English or maths, is the learning of fundamental skills that will form a solid foundation for movement—in this case skills for all sports participation.
Programmes progress from simple sport introduction classes to mini sport academies. The teachers aim to give children the skills and techniques to be competent at a given activity.
Playball classes run for 45 minutes, except for the “Two Can Do” programme (ages 2 to 3), which progresses to 45 minutes once the children have settled. Parents are encouraged to watch from the sidelines and let the teachers take control of the lessons.
So why chose between tennis and football for your children, when they can simply Playball?
For more information and to book a free taster session in Hammersmith or Acton, contact Murray Mansfield on 075 341 346 69 or visit their website murray.playballuk.com
