Transforming play : teaching tactics and game sense

152 Pages·2010·20.374 MB·English

by  Dennis G Slade

Transforming Play
Teaching Tactics
and
Game Sense
Dennis G. Slade
Human Kinetics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Slade, Dennis G.
Transforming play : teaching tactics and game sense / Dennis G. Slade.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-7518-3 (soft cover)
ISBN-10: 0-7360-7518-6 (soft cover)
1. Sports--Study and teaching. 2. Teamwork (Sports)--Study and teaching. 3.
Group games--Study and teaching. I. Title.
GV361.S545 2009
796.071--dc22
2009025667
ISBN-10: 0-7360-7518-6 (print)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-7518-3 (print)
Copyright © 2010 by Dennis G. Slade
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E4520
To the memory of George E. Slade and Rosina M. Slade, with respect for all that
I learnt from them. To my wife, Philippa, and my children, Andrew, Richard and
Caroline, for their unremitting encouragement and support.

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Games Model Instruction: The Teaching Games for
Understanding (TGfU) Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
How to Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvi
1
Fundamental
Movements and Tactics . . . . . . 1
The Great Escape 2 Wall Ball 20
Block Buster 4 Corner Ball 23
Cone Down 7 Eliminator 26
One Bounce 11 Space Pass 1, 2 and 3 29
Crossbar Catch 14 Throw Golf 33
Rotation Catch 17 Piltz Pass 35
2
Attack and
Defence Tactics . . . . . . . . . . 39
Man-to-Man Defence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Piggy in the Middle 1, 2 and 3 41
Hoop Pass 44
Challenge 46
Round the Outside 48
Zone Defence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Zone Defence 52
Outlet 55
Fast Break 58
Progressive (Layering) and Sliding Defence . . . . . . . . 62
Splitz Attack 63
Draw and Pass 66
5-3-2 Goal! 70
v
Team Formations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Three-Zone Pass 74
Risk 77
Culminating Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Touchdown 81
Rollaball 84
3
Applying TGfU to
Teaching Badminton,
Basketball and Netball . . . . . 87
Badminton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Lob Pass 89
One Bounce 90
Rotation Catch 90
Basketball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Zone Defence 95
Outlet 95
Continuous Outlet 95
Netball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Passing Competition Relay 97
Fastest Hands (Simultaneous Infringement) 98
Pass-In and Goal Shooting 98
Pass-Off 99
4
Applying TGfU
to Teaching Football . . . . . . 101
Learning Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Flick Up, Catch and Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Flick-Ball 102
Trapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Trap-Ball 106
Trap and Throw-In 106
Throw and Trap Practice 107
More Trap-Ball 109
vi Contents
Side-Foot Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Knock It! 110
Dribbling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Dribble Game 111
Modified Zone Defence 112
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5
Authentic Assessment . . . . 115
Enhancing Learning and Game Performance . . . . . . . 116
What Is Authentic Assessment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Assessing Declarative Knowledge and Affect . . . . . . . 116
Assessing Team Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Glossary  127
Bibliography  129
Index 131
About the Author  135
Contents vii

Introduction
A
s a child growing up in a small seaside town based on who turned up to play. Occasionally,
in New Zealand, I eagerly cycled home from those tactics required rule changes if the rest of
school as fast as I could to play games with the those playing thought the tactic unfair.
community of kids of all ages and sizes in our In our playing of games we never did drills.
immediate neighbourhood. The beauty of being We never went for training runs. All games were
home first was that you got to pick what game self-umpired, and we seldom had cheats, though
would be played—unless you were the smallest! occasionally if players got too upset about some
Game contributions from my family were field aspect of the game they would take their ball
hockey in the winter and cricket in the summer. and go home! When that happened, the rest of us
Games from other families were football or rugby. either sat down hoping they would come back or
One family had a badminton net; playing badmin- went home too. The games were competitive. We
ton with tennis rackets under the carport was kept the score, and it was only darkness or being
great on wet days. One family that moved into called home that ended the games. Importantly,
the neighbourhood had a table tennis table and we always came back the next day for more games.
wooden bats, and this too quickly became a favou- Growing up and learning games within this com-
rite game. There were also lots of cycling games munity transformed our understanding of game
including polo on cycles with a soccer ball as the tactics from a basic to a quite sophisticated level.
chuck and hockey sticks as mallets. Because the Our techniques evolved because we were always
street was a cul-de-sac and there were few cars, playing and because the environment in which
that particular game traversed the entire street! we played (a long, narrow lawn on two levels)
Teams were chosen by a pick-up method. The required us to master techniques that would work
two best players of the game (decided by general well in that situation. Our understanding of game
group consensus), starting about 2 metres apart, play was also transformed through the socialisa-
made alternate heel to toe foot placements, bring- tion process of cooperative and relational play.
ing them closer together. The player who was the We adapted how we played based on whose team
last to be able to place his entire foot within the we were in, the opposition and the game we were
remaining space was the winner and had first pick. playing.
(Yes, we weren’t particularly sensitive to issues of
self-esteem; if you were good at the game, you were
GAMES MoDEL INSTRUCTIoN:
an early pick!) There were standard rules about
what to do when the ball went over the fence or THE TEACHING GAMES FoR
was lodged in gardens, but, with such a range of
UNDERSTANDING (TGFU)
abilities, ages and experiences, game rules were
always modified. For example, when we played MoDEL
rugby, our biggest players tackled the opposition’s
biggest players. If chance had it that a small player
My approach to game instruction in sport and
was left to tackle a big player, the unstated rule was
physical education, especially for novices, is to try
that the big player did not knock the smaller one
to capture aspects of the context of game learning
senseless! Only infrequently did smaller players
I experienced as a young boy. I have found that
ever stop bigger players— occasionally, the bigger
non-specific games—games made up for teaching
player would fall over laughing at the smaller one’s
tactics or skill techniques or just because they are
attempt, but no one ever got hurt beyond a bruise
fun to play—very effectively achieve that outcome.
or a scratch.
I have also found that such games are also excel-
We learned tactics through constant play
lent ways to introduce novices to specific sports.
and imitating older siblings or neighbours. If we
In a formal schooling context I believe that
mucked up, as we trudged back to restart the
game model methodologies (e.g., the Bunker-
game, we were given advice—generally politely—
Thorpe [1982] Teaching Games for Understanding
on how to avoid making the same mistake next
[TGfU] model) and more recent derivatives of that
time. Team leaders or captains changed tactics
model (e.g., Kirk and MacPhail’s rethinking of the
ix
Bunker-Thorpe method [2002] and Alan Launder’s and interest. It certainly eliminated the ‘When are
Play Practice model [2001]) provide templates we going to play the game?’ plea from the class.
for instruction that are able to replicate the game Importantly, it recognised the seemingly inherent
learning contexts I experienced as a child. My desire in children to play games.
belief is supported by a growing worldwide accep- In Bunker and Thorpe’s TGfU model, instruc-
tance in the literature of teaching games in this tion starts with a very basic, or modified, game
manner to the extent that Kirk noted: ‘If we want and some clear rules adapted to the needs and
students to learn to be good games players we level of the students. Games then develop; for
must use TGfU or a comparable approach’ (Kirk, some, games might not progress much beyond
cited in Griffin & Butler, 2005, p. 224). the introductory game, whereas for others, they
The original TGfU model proposed by Bunker could become very sophisticated adult versions
and Thorpe (1982), also encapsulated in the Kirk of the sport. But game instruction is based on a
and MacPhail (2003) model shown in figure 1, continuum of student ability within the class, and
advocated that novices start to learn games by the outcomes are honest and transparent. For
actually playing them at their own level of com- example, within a class playing badminton the
petence and in a manner that promotes enjoy- teacher might structure the instruction so that
ment, satisfaction and fun while they are learning. some students might be playing on half a court
This approach to game instruction perhaps best with a modified version of the game focusing on
addresses the inherent desire to play games and learning the basic play long or short strategy of the
is a move away from a single skill-based teaching game. On other courts students might be playing
structure. the full adult version of doubles badminton.
The motivation for Thorpe and Bunker to The TGfU model advocates the following prin-
develop another approach to teaching games ciples to enable students to discover tactics and,
came from their dissatisfaction with the highly to a limited extent, techniques for themselves:
structured, teacher-directed, skill-based approach
• Game form. Use a variety of games that
to teaching motor skills they observed in physical
encourage thought about the shape of the
education classes. They did not believe that this
playing area and the fundamental problems
method of game instruction provided a context
associated with finding space when on attack
of learning that represented the authentic nature
and denying space when on defence. The adult
of game learning, namely a combination of tactics
version of the game is not necessary, but a
and technique. The wide range of ability found in
close approximation is frequently developed.
physical education classes meant that for some
• Game appreciation. Ensure that students
students the technique-based instruction was too
know and understand the rules. Rules define
easy and not necessary, while for others it was too
the game and the tactics and strategies
difficult and they required more basic instruction
needed for successful play.
especially focused on why you need to develop
these techniques. They observed that either way • Tactical awareness. Place students in situa-
both groups found the experience frustrating and tions that direct them to consider the tactics
unmotivating in terms of developing any desire to to be used in the game (e.g., creating and
play games and sports. denying space, fast breaks, observing weak-
Bunker and Thorpe believed that a superior nesses in the opposition). For students to
approach to game instruction would be to allow be able to observe and understand these
students to play the game with basic tactics concepts, you must have considerable skill
and techniques until the game broke down, and in establishing the game and recognising the
then, and only then, would teachers or coaches teaching moment of when to ask the right
introduce additional skills to advance the play- question. Pragmatically, games must be
ers. Instead of developing skills in isolation from modified to reflect the learners’ development
the game, this approach advocated setting out so they can divide their attention between
some very basic rules, getting the game going and the primary task of executing technique and
providing specific motor skill instruction when the secondary task of employing tactics.
students asked questions about techniques, for • Decision making. Create opportunities for
example ‘How do you do that?’ or ‘How can you students to develop the anticipatory skills
get the ball to travel that far?’ This allowed stu- associated with when to attack, defend, or
dents to play the games at various levels of ability perhaps be patient and keep possession.
x Introduction