Twocourt Activity Guide

Transcript

G-1277070 TwoCourt Activity Guide Created and Written by Dale Sarratt, Manor View Elementary School, and Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Annapolis, Maryland, USA Introduction Congratulations on your new purchase. May you enjoy this new game! This game can be played as a small-court singles game (4’ x 8’) or with the large court as a doubles game. For advanced players the doubles court can be used as a large singles court. TwoCourt is a melding of several games and sports into its own unique physical education experience. You will note playing and scoring benefits extracted from four square, table tennis, badminton, volleyball and tennis to create a formative striking physical education experience. Objective TwoCourt is an exciting game. Its objective is to practice fundamental hand-striking skills. You will also note, while your students are learning core off-the-bounce striking skills, they simultaneously gain the critical learning of net/court game theory. Safety Precautions Use an official, properly inflated TwoCourt ball. To avoid over inflating, please follow the directions on the ball. Students primarily stand on the floor/ground and play behind baseline. One foot at a time may be inside the court (on the mat) while the other foot is planted off the court. Students must not stand or step on the net. TwoCourt Basic Rules For faster and less complicated play 1. Server stands with both feet behind baseline. 2. Ball-In-Hand Serving Rule: the player with the ball serves. There is no formal serving order, to ensure faster play. 3. Server must call score before serving the point or the point is lost. “5 serving 6” 4. Serve is bounced on the floor, behind the baseline, from waist height, and struck underhanded – pinkies down and together. 5. Ball travels cleanly over net to opposite court. Ball may not touch the net on the serve. In the event that the ball touches the net and lands on the other side of the mat, the serve must be re-served. 6. The entire ball must land on the rubber mat. If any part of the ball touches the floor the ball is out. 7. On a rally shot, the ball may not touch the net. If it touches the net, the point must be re-played. 8. All balls must be struck, not pushed, caught or thrown. 9. Ball may not bounce twice in a court before being hit back. 10. Only one foot in the court at a time. One foot may step in, on top of the court, then step back out behind baseline. The one step in footwork is needed for short shots/drop shots and sharp angle recovery plays. 11. Ball may not be hit twice or more by a player. 12. Ball may not be volleyed. It must be played after a bounce. 13. Allow long and out balls to land out and bounce before catching them. 14. First player to reach the predetermined number of points wins the match. There is no overtime. Doubles Rules: All rules are the same as for singles, except: 1. Partners take turns serving and may serve to any opponent. The ball-in-hand serving rule applies as well/keeps game simple and quick. 2. The player with the ball calls the score and serves. 3. Partners share the court like in tennis; they do not have to alternate shots like in table tennis doubles. TwoCourt Advanced Rules For more advanced players and Challenge Ladder 1. Server stands with two feet on the floor behind baseline. 2. Serve is bounced on the floor, behind the baseline, from waist height, and struck underhanded - pinkies down and together. 3. Ball travels cleanly over net to opposite court. Ball may not touch the net on the serve. 4. The entire ball must land on the rubber mat. If any part of the ball touches the floor, the ball is out. 5. Formal Serving Rule for the Singles Challenge Ladder Tournament is each server alternates two service points. Player A serves two points then Player B serves two points. If the match goes into “overtime” then the players alternate one point each until a match ends with a 2-point differential. 6. On a rally shot, the ball may not touch the net. 7. All balls must be struck, not pushed, caught or thrown. 8. Ball may not bounce more than once in a court before being hit back. 9. Only one foot in the court at a time. One foot may step in, on top of the court, then step back out behind baseline. The one step in footwork is needed for short shots/drop shots and sharp angle recovery plays. 10. Ball may not be hit twice or more by a player. 11. Ball may not be volleyed. It must be played after a bounce in a court. 12. Allow long and out balls to land out before catching them. 13. Games are played longer, to 16 or 21 points. 2 Doubles Rules: All rules are the same for doubles except. 1. Formal Serving Rule for a Doubles Challenge Ladder Match/Tournament is: Each doubles team alternates serves one point each, and each serve is cross court. For example, Team A serves with a partner serving one serve, and the other partner serving the second point. The opponents also serve one point each. Serves are to be cross court. If the match goes into “overtime” then the teams alternate serves like in singles, one point per side with partners taking turns. 2. The server with ball must make sure all players are ready and call the score before serving. 3. Partners share the court like in tennis; they do not have to alternate shots like in table tennis doubles. 4. Ball may not be hit twice or more by a player or team. Only one hit per side Basic Skills • Athletic stance: relaxed slight crouch, head up, with slight knee bend, feet shoulder-width apart, hands hanging down naturally between knees. • Proper hands open and two hands working as one; as a single striking implement. Think of the two hands as one unit, like the face of a tennis racket. • Two Basic shots: a. Pinkies Down: Pinkies together and underhand with fingers open and pointing down – the most common shot. Used in most rally shots especially for intermediates and advanced skilled players. Cue “pinkies down.” b. Thumbs Up: Thumbs together and overhand with fingers pointed up – for higher shots, which are rare in this game. Cue “thumbs up.” PINKIES DOWN Activities: Drills for Skills The following Drills for Skills can be performed as singles or doubles activities. 1. Basic Serve: Grip side of ball, drop from waist height, let ball bounce, hit an underhand/pinkies-down shot over the net, a one bouncer to partner, and catch. Repeat back and forth with partner concentrating on developing and refining quality skill of striking with two hands, pinkies together as a single unit. The critical goal is getting the players to think and practice hitting lower shots, and not high looping shots, while keeping the ball in the court. This process cannot be hurried, or sloppy skills will ensue. THUMBS UP 2. Basic Serve and Rally for Skill: Partners cooperatively rally back and forth using quality two-hand, pinkies-down-andtogether skill shots. At this time do not use number challenges. For example do not use 5 in row or 10 in row, etc. Just have the learners concentrate on excellent low serves and lower underhand rally shots. Any high or wild shot should be caught and a new serve begins the Basic Serve and Rally for Skill Drill. 3. Cognitive Skill: Explain to your students that the serve is the most important shot and the only time when the player has complete control over the ball; the ball is still and in the player’s hands. Any other time in rally the player is reacting to a shot. Good serves are consistent but also low and fairly fast. Both elements take some practice and skill development. 3 4. Faster Serves and Catch: Practice quality low and fast serves to a partner. Take turns serving and catching partner’s serve. Can they serve a little lower and faster but keep the ball in the court and not touch the net? 5. Return: Players now concentrate and practice the second most important shot: the return. Players take turns serving and returning. Returner tries to hit the return low and fairly quick. Server catches the returned ball. Repeat and switch after several serves and returns. 6. Serve and return: Players practice the two most important shots cooperatively: the serve and return. Server serves quick and low, returner tries to return low and quick. Practice just serving and returning at this time. Now players are serving and returning with better quickness and keeping the ball lower. 7. Rally Time! Practice good serves with returns and underhand rallies. Players serve and strike rally shots back and forth. On any mistake, or high shot, the player catches the ball, re-serves and begins a new rally. Controlled pinkies-together, underhand, low rallies only at this time. 8. Rally Time with Better Footwork: Students concentrate and practice side sliding across baseline for good striking positioning. Cue: fast feet and quick hands. On any short ball one quick little step is all that is needed on the mat, strike and then back off behind the baseline. 9. Overhand Shot: Demonstrate how to go from hands-down/pinkies-together, to fingers-up/thumbs-together. When to use overhand shot? For rare high shots only; shots at stomach height or higher. Important to stress that students may not push the ball or “carry” it, but must strike it. Also, the carry-throw, cherry-bomb catch and slam used in 4 Square is of course illegal in TwoCourt. 10. Rally Time! Practice underhand serves and shots, and if needed, overhand shots. Students serve and rally back and forth to partner. On any mistake, the player catches the ball, serves and begins a new rally. Teachers should be aware that students are able to switch between underhand to overhand shots when needed. At this time it is critical to watch for “slop ball” carries and pushes. 11. Rally Ball with Number Challenges: Students must use the proper serve and strikes. After the serve the ball must bounce cleanly in the opposite TwoCourt. Each student with a partner will cooperatively rally for a numbers challenge. “How many hits in a row without a mistake? 5? 10? 15?” After several minutes students can switch and find a new partner. This is an ideal drill/challenge prior to learning to play points or a “real” match. 12. Working a Point: Play for time with a partner. Find a partner and Rally the ball with no specific numbers challenges. Concentrate on keeping the ball going, but players can now start to use various angles, and shots, and work points, to develop tactics and strategies leading to competition. Teachers must still emphasize the development of quality skills, and avoid poor technique. It is now time for a more serious challenge: playing a point. Activities: Lead-Up Games, Matches and Tournaments Playing a Point - No Scoring Playing a Point can be performed as a singles or doubles activity. You may want to ask your students, “Girls and boys what does it mean to play a point?” Many students at the younger age, like 3rd graders, are unaware of this rather simple concept when it comes to net games. Therefore, before having students learn all the rules of TwoCourt, how to manage a match and keep score and so on, it is ideal to explain and demonstrate the basic rules of a point for TwoCourt. Choose a student and present Basic Rules of TwoCourt for clarity (see enclosed Basic Rules mini poster at end of guide). DOUBLES After the demonstration and explanation of the basic rules, the students practice playing points with a partner or as a doubles team: • Calling score is not needed or warranted at this time, but practicing making good calls, whether the ball is out or not, etc. is essential. • However, when a student makes a mistake, the point is stopped instantly. The student would call the fault by saying, “out”. A new serve begins the next point. Great training for a match. 4 • Partners and/or teams can demonstrate and “student coach” each other. • Partners and/or teams should take a moment to discuss calls for understanding and clarity of the rules. This is an opportunity to foster comprehensive learning of the rules. Once the students have shown readiness it is time raise the complexity level to play some practice matches with scoring. The Basic Game Playing a Practice Match - With Scoring Playing a Point can be performed as a singles or doubles activity. Before a practice match can begin, there is one essential learning phase remaining that must be addressed - score keeping and disputes (see Basic Rules mini poster at end of guide). Score Keeping Calling Score Rule: a player must call the score loudly before serving. Server’s score first, then opponent’s. “5 serving 6.” Calls and Disputes • Calls of whether the ball is out or double hit is by the player who made the mistake. For example, if a player knows he double hits a ball, he calls the infraction on himself and the point is awarded to his opponent. • Also the player is responsible for calls in his court because he is closest to the ball and has the best look at the shot. For example, when a player sees his opponent’s ball fly long and land out of the court, she would call “out,” retrieve the ball, call the new score, serve and resume the match. Simple, fast and fair. • Occasionally if both students are unsure of a call, a “redo” is agreed upon and the players agree to replay the point. • If there is a specific question, players may ask another student or teacher for clarification about a rule or occurrence. Students now partner up and play a practice match with score keeping. The number of points to which a match is played depends on factors like time, ratio of students to TwoCourts and experience level. If time and TwoCourts are not a factor, 11 points is a number for beginners. • After 5 or so minutes the teacher calls time and ends all matches regardless of score. • Both players will exit the TwoCourts and rotate to find new partners • Rotate next students in for equitable playtime. Once students have played some matches and have shown quality score-keeping skills, it is time for a more structured challenge match played to a set number. The Basic Game Challenge Matches Played to ____ Points This is a fun formation and ideal for younger or less experienced TwoCourt players, for example 3rd graders. Also this Challenge Match activity can be performed as singles or doubles (see Basic Rules mini poster at the end of guide). With this simple goal structure, players learn to play challenge matches to a predetermined number of points. First player to ___ wins the match. Various factors determine the length of the match. If you have no students waiting to play, and enough TwoCourts for all players, then the matches can be longer, like to 11 or even 16 points. If you have several students waiting to play at each TwoCourt, then shorter matches, 5-7 points, are recommended for more time on task. With this structure, students are more independent and the matches will begin and end at different times at the various TwoCourts. • While other students are playing, waiting students can assist as student referees. This is also helpful for students to observe other player’s skills and learn different tactics. • After a match is complete, all players leave the TwoCourt for others to use, and find new players to challenge for the next match. 5 Challenge Ladder Tournament: Singles or Doubles This formal goal structure is best as a unit-ending experience for 4th and 5th graders and older students. This functions best with a full complement of TwoCourts for the entire class. Also this Challenge Ladder can be successfully performed as a singles or doubles activity. Challenge ladders are terrific fun with the attempt to play and climb to the highest possible position; and then hold that position. Challenge Ladder tournaments have been popular for table tennis, racquetball and tennis in middle, high schools, colleges and of course recreation leagues the world over, but has been adapted successfully for elementary level TwoCourt. During the Ladder, students will also progress to the Advanced Rules of play so please see mini poster at the end of guide for the modifications. • Students are randomly seeded on a ladder-seeding chart from your class list. If the tournament is played as a singles tournament, then they are seeded as individuals. If played as a doubles tournament, the children will be seeded as a pair/team (see sample at end of guide). • Players/teams are free to challenge other player/teams above them according to the seeding list. They never challenge players below them. • If the challenging player or team wins the match then both players’/ team’s positions are switched on the seeding chart. All players report directly to the scorer’s table and the teacher will switch the names on the seeding chart and quickly review the game. • If the challenging player/team loses the challenge match then neither player/team switches on the challenge ladder. The higher seeded player/team defended their seeding. After the match they exit the TwoCourt for others to use and report to the scorer’s table. • After reporting the results of the match both players/teams are free to challenge or have another player/team challenge them! • Matches continue until time is called near the end of class time. The Challenge Ladder Tournament can be played over several classes. • The length of the match is usually longer, to 16 or 21 points if TwoCourt availability is not an issue. • Because Challenge Ladder is for advanced TwoCourt players they use the more formal serving rules. The exceptional aspect to this final goal structure is that even though there is competition, there is complete inclusion with no elimination like in classic tournaments. Also players/teams discover as the ladder continues that there is increased fun and strategy in the act of challenging a player/team. And lastly, with the ladder all players’ skills improve in a fairly short time. This is due to many well-played, equitable, tightly contested matches that occur as the tournament progresses. Students are constantly switching positions up and down the ladder. And any student who loses is just as excited to challenge their next opponent, quite possibly more than the winner! All very intense, fun and great exercise as well! My only problem with it each year is the students do not want to move on to our next unit... Evaluation Scoring Rubric: Adapt For Age/Grade, Special Needs or Individualized Education Program (IEP) After instruction and practice: 1 Student played with little enthusiasm. Player possessed poor serving and returning skills and was unable to rally more than a couple shots in a row. Student did not attempt to learn game rules nor follow them. Player did not cooperate with classmates. 2 Student played with enthusiasm. Often an active player with a few of his/her friends, and worked hard to improve skills. Student was able to serve the ball using proper skills, and sustain a rally of 5 shots or more in a row. Player learned most game rules and was mostly honest. 3 Student played with excellent enthusiasm. Was always willing to play with a variety of classmates. Student played with good skills and was able to use quality underhanded serve and return, and maintain a rally of more than 5 shots in a row while changing angles. Player was also able to switch to the over-handed shot and switch back to the underhanded shot without losing control of the ball. Student played with honesty and cooperated with classmates. 6 Student assisted the teacher with responsible play by reminding and helping other classmates of honesty. Player was willing to assist and “student coach” other players. Student was genuinely willing to congratulate the winning player with a kind hand shake. Student demonstrated comprehensive, excellent skills of serve, return, high shot (over handed), and rally, while keeping most shots low and fast with sharp angle changes. Student knows all the rules, and was excellent at calling the score before serving. Any disputes were handled calmly and fairly, and if needed a “redo” was played without question. 4 Sample Ladder Seeding Chart 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 MR. BARRY’S 5TH GRADE Nic Paxton Jacob Bailey Devan Jenny Scottie Ariel Ryan Curt Laura Mark Cris Alex Natalie Tracy James Caroline Jimmy Isabella Jayshawn Challenge Ladder examples: • If Cris challenges Bailey and wins, then both players switch seeds on the ladder. Cris now resides in the 4th seed and Bailey moves down to the 13th seed. • If Bailey loses the challenge match, Cris defended her seed and no ladder movement occurs. • Bailey nor Cris are permitted an immediate re-challenge. Both players must play another match before a re-challenge can occur. 7 Singles Court 4' x 8' ©2008 Sportime, LLC • Norcross, GA 30010-2668 • USA • All rights reserved. Customer Service 1-800-444-5700 Or reach us via e-mail at: [email protected] 1-YEAR GUARANTEE OF SATISFACTION See more, fun activity guides for other great Sportime products at www.sportime.com.