🏘️ Naughty Neighbours
🎯 Objective:
Develop overarm throwing technique, power generation, and confidence by throwing up and over obstacles, using the whole body.
🧠 Focus:
Sideways stance • throwing mechanics • coordination • power • spatial awareness
⏱️ Duration:
5–7 minutes (including demonstration)
🧠 Focus
Balance • coordination • racket control • carrying objects • colour matching • careful movement
⏱️ Duration
5–7 minutes (including demonstration)
🎤 Coach Script / Story Setup:
“Uh oh… we’ve got naughty neighbours on the other side of the fence! 😮
Your job is to throw the ball high into the sky and over their fences — without knocking them down!
Remember:
👉 Sideways on
👉 Arm back behind your ear
👉 Big throw using your whole body!”
🏗️ Game Layout:
• Set up multiple mini tennis nets in straight rows, creating a series of “fences”
• Children start on one side of the first net
• Space between nets depends on ability level
• Coach stands to the side to feed and cue technique
Equipment:
• Mini tennis nets (2–5 depending on space)
• Beanbags (start here)
• Soft balls (progression)
🔁 Gameplay:
1. Each child starts behind the first fence
2. Holding a beanbag, they:
• Turn sideways
• Bring throwing arm behind the ear
• Throw up and forward, aiming to clear the fence
3. Count:
• How many fences they clear
• Or how far their throw travels
4. Children collect their object and return to the back of the line
5. Rotate turns quickly to keep energy high
👉 Encourage height first, distance second.
🪶 Feathers (Simplifications for Younger Tots):
• Move the nets closer together
• Use large, soft beanbags
• Allow underarm “rainbow throws”
• Reduce to just one fence
• Coach stands beside child to guide arm path
• Let children step forward as they throw
⚡ Progressions (For Older or Confident Children):
• Swap beanbags for soft balls
• Move nets further apart
• Add a challenge:
• “Can you clear 2 fences?”
• “Can you clear the last fence?”
• Introduce a run-up step
• Add a scoring system:
• 1 point per fence cleared
• Throw with:
• Dominant hand
• Non-dominant hand (challenge!)
🎾 Coaching Cues:
• “Sideways like a crab 🦀”
• “Show me your elbow!”
• “Throw it into the sky ☁️”
• “Big step, big throw!”
• Praise effort and shape, not just distance
🌈 Themed Variations:
🎃 Halloween – Spooky Neighbours
Throw potions over haunted fences 👻
🎄 Christmas – Snowball Trouble
Throw snowballs over garden fences ❄️
🐣 Easter – Bunny Boundaries
Throw Easter eggs over bunny fences 🥚
🏴☠️ Pirates – Cannon Practice
Throw cannonballs over ship walls ☠️