Spikeball proves a winner with students

SPIKEBALL is an adapted game of volleyball developed by the Volleyball Association of Ireland to encourage primary school teachers to introduce the sport to their students.

This adapted game makes the sport easier than volleyball to play for younger children, and since its introduction participation levels have risen by over 300 per cent.

Instead of the traditional 6v6 game, SpikeBall is a 4v4 game that allows for 100 per cent more touches.

It has been specifically aimed at primary school students from 5th and 6th class and post primary students from 1st and 2nd year.

The aim is to encourage learning, promote physical activity, and increase fun for the participants.

SpikeBall has proven to be an outstanding success in bringing fun and enjoyment to the students who have been introduced to the sport.

The Transition Year Girls SpikeBall Leaders Award Program 2012-13 was developed by the Volleyball Association of Ireland and is funded by the Irish Sports Council’s

‘Women in Sport’ project that is aimed at encouraging girls to actively participate in sports.

The course involves training Transition Year girls to play and coach SpikeBall to primary school students over a six-week period.

This year there were 11 Transition Year students from Loreto College St Stephen’s Green participating in the programme.

We were the first year in the school to do so. Our first experience with SpikeBall was in our respective PE classes in the first term of school. After this any one who wanted to go further with the sport had the opportunity to apply for the course.

To do this we were required to pass a test on the rules and principals of SpikeBall, as unfortunately the course can only take so many students. The 11 students who passed the test were chosen to participate in the programme.

The school was visited on two occasions by Graham Torrance, who works as a development officer for the Volleyball Association of Ireland.

Each week every student completed a lesson evaluation on their sessions. We were all slightly nervous but very enthusiastic about the course.

The culmination of the six weeks of coaching was a Blitz that the 11 coaches organised in March.

The event was held in our sports hall and involved all the students we had been coaching. We had 11 teams participating and it proved a great opportunity for the students to showcase all the skills and teamwork they learned over the six weeks.

The students had an enjoyable time and the coaches were all gratified that all our hard work had paid off.