In 1980 a reflection was taken on the way games were being taught, the report found that
- A large percentage of children achieving little success due to the emphasis on performance
- The majority of school leavers leaving school “knowing” very little about games
- The development of teacher/coach dependent performers
- The production of supposedly “skillful” players who in fact possess inflexible techniques and poor decision making capacity
- The failure to develop “thinking” spectators and “knowing” administrators at a time when games (and sport) are an important form of entertainment in the leisure industry
This means that learning to play games needs to be simplified and taught from a young age in order for participants to gain confidence and want to learn and understand the game. There are rules to TGFU these are primary and secondary rules, primary rules may also be know as game classifications and changing these rules will alter the game overall, changing football to hockey for example. It is also key that regardless of the game being played that it is not about winning but challenging the participants taking part.
The classification of games are as followed;
- Invasion – Hand, Stick, Foot
- Net/Wall – Divided, Shared
- Striking and Fielding – Fan, Oval
- Target – Opposed/Unopposed
My coaching philosophy for this placement is all about Teaching Games for Understanding and helping to develop my pupils through a TGFU approach, so i aim to enhance my use of game based coaching and using those to develop different areas of rugby
Example
An example of using games in my placement would be kicking tennis. The group is split into two even teams and placed either side of a set out area, each team will then have an attempt at kicking and receiving from a kick. Each catch is worth one point and each successful kick is worth 5 points. Mixing up the game of rugby with a slight undertone of tennis, it helps with shot selection and whether to go for placement or power.