Building understanding

Volleyball (Part 3)

Physical development

﻿Hi everyone, my name is Alistair. And today we're going to play volleyball. For this lesson, you will need a balloon, a softball, some foil, and some coloured paper or card. If you haven't got these items, you can substitute them with other things you have at home. And that's absolutely fine. Press pause while you get things ready. Let's get ready. Find a quiet, clear space to work away from distractions. Ensure the area is safe and that your child is feeling fit and well to take part in the lesson. Check you are wearing the right clothes for sports and physical activity. I'd encourage your child to be as independent as possible with this. Make sure your resources are nearby and use a familiar reference to prepare the learner that the activity is going to start. This could be a symbol, a sound, or even a song. Press pause while you get things ready. It's time to look, listen and learn. First, before we play volleyball, we need to get our muscles ready for exercise. So we're going to start with some stretching. So I'm going to put my feet slightly apart and stretch all the way up. Really nice and high and then slowly stretch down. If you can't touch the floor that's fine. and then stretch back up, and to the side and down, and to the other side and back up. Loosen your shoulders, roll those shoulders over and some big windmill movements with our arms and put your hands on your hips, going to make small circles with our hips all the way around. You can try the other way. And feet together, going to take a step out to the side and stretch, keep this leg nice and straight. Don't go too far. And then back to the middle and stretch out the other way. Again, keep this leg nice and straight. And back to the middle. Take a big step forward, put your hands on your hips and just lean forward. We're going to keep our back leg nice and straight, and our front leg slightly bent. And back to the middle and with the other leg step forward, front leg slightly bent, back leg is straight and you might be able to feel a stretch and a pull on your muscles. It shows we're getting ready for exercise. Have a good shake off, and we're going to practise our jumping. So in volleyball, there's lots of jumping and leaping around, especially when you're at the net, either attacking or defending. So I'm going to slowly crouch down and then I'm going to leap up and jump up as high as I can. So try that again, so slowly crouch down, and jump up as high as I can. That's a really dynamic explosive movement and will really help us when we're playing volleyball. So one more time your child might practise this for several minutes or so. So we're crouching down and jump up as high as we possibly can. That's a really good warmup for us. So we've had some stretches, we've practised our jumping, readiness can really supports us with our volleyball starts to maybe get our heart rate going. Your child will do a slightly longer warmup maybe and have them moving around stretching and really getting them ready for our lesson today. Pause the video to complete your task. Next up we're going to practise some of our volleyball shots. And the first one we're going to try is the dig in volleyball. And that's a really important shot where we use our forearms to hit the ball up into the air, maybe to one of our teammates or back across the net to the other side. It's quite a good defensive shot. And for the dig I put my hands together and I'm hoping to hit the ball or the balloon into the air using just my lower forearms, just above my wrist there. So I'll have a practise and see if we can dig the ball into the air. A balloon is a great place to start with. 'cause this is a really difficult skills. Your child might practise with a balloon for a few days or even a few weeks just to get them more confident before they progress on to using their beach ball maybe perhaps. So I'm going to put the balloon there and with my forearms dig and just dig. You can see the balloon will go in different directions, so it will force your child to move they'll crouch down and dig, they might start going a bit higher and keep control of that. That's a really important shot, the first shot we've practised in volleyball. The next shot we're going to practise is the set. And that's a really important shot where we pass to our teammates that we're working together as a team and you and your child can practise this maybe over a table and we just set the ball up for our teammates or our partner. Now we use our fingers, our fingertips really, so we want really soft hands and fingers, and we may be on our toes crouched down and set the ball up, ready for our teammates to do a spike at the net. So it's a really important shot and skill in volleyball. So I'm going to practise with my balloon again. So I'm crouched down, I'm ready, and with my soft fingertips, I'm going to set the ball up for my teammates. So I set them all up, set the ball, keep our eyes on the ball that's it. Again, the skills that we've used in other areas of physical development, some realisation from your child here when they recognise they've used these skills before in other areas, in terms of catching and the ways in which they've performed other skills. So they transfer in their learning across. I'm practising my sets, soft fingertips, the balloon's going into the air, I'm setting up ready for my teammates. And the final shot, we're going to try before we move on to a bit more of a game situation. This is the exciting one, is the spike, and this is the net and this is the scoring point for us in volleyball. So when we're up the net and we stretch up high, and we spike the ball down as hard as we can. So again, balloon is a really good starting point here. So I've got our balloon with some rice in you can hear that. So if your child has got some sensory needs or they're visually impaired, this will really support them with this activity. So against the wall, I'm going to put the ball up the balloon up and action spike. So you might put a bit of a jump into there as your child becomes more confident. So the balloon goes into the air and stretch and spike the balloon down. So some really good volleyball skills there. The shot of the dig, the set and the spike, great work. Pause the video to complete your task. A brilliant way to practise our skills is with the game of seated volleyball. This is where we can start to introduce the different tactics within the game and how we score points as well. So I've got my net made of tinfoil there on the wall. I've got different coloured pieces of card as my target. So a game could be to see how many points you score if you hit those different pieces of card, you could maybe have a competition with yourself and your child. Or we could turn this into a game where I'm against the wall and I'm seeing if I can keep the balloon off the floor. So the balloon is a great place to start with this. This works really well, if you are short on space to practise your volleyball skills. So I'm going to try with the balloon, remembering those shots of the dig, the sets and the spike. So I'm practising this on my own, you could do this maybe if there were two or three of you in your home and you could play together as a real volleyball team. So I'm doing it on my own against the wall, but you could do this as a team together. So I have my balloon up and my first shot go, oh, that's come back a big, sharp nerve, and you can see how I have to move different directions. I can practise my different shots. And you can see, it's quite a workout, just moving around on the floor and really accessible for everyone to try that. You can progress onto using a proper ball, a beach ball or different outdoor volleyball here, it could be a football, whatever you have at home. Practise your skills using that. So I'm going to concentrate on that idea of the set and see if I can set the ball over the net. Again, you could do this with your child as a team, and they could set the ball up for you and you do a spike or vice versa, you can swap around. Ways of progressing our skillset I'm getting myself in position, and I set the ball nice and high set. I can practise the dig so I come sideways and it goes there. Brilliant ways to practise our volleyball skills. You could do this standing up outside. So loads of ways to practise your skills and have a really fun game of volleyball. Remember to keep score, and have a really good workout as a team. Pause the video to complete your task. To make our lesson easier, you could use a larger ball or balloon and practise using your hand to strike and make contact. You could focus on fewer skills and movements and progress it to pace most appropriate to your child. To make it harder, you could look at our masterclass sessions and explore top tips from elite sports people. You could work together with a partner and count how many shots you can make before the balloon hits the floor. More ideas, ask your parents or carer to help you search for volleyball content online. You could make a court and enjoy a balloon volleyball match. All of our activities could be adapted using the STEP principle. That's looking at the space, the task, the equipment, and how people help us. For example, you could use a balloon with beads or rice in to support visually impaired learners. Bigger, brighter resources could be used, and we could adapt spaces and activities to suit wheelchair users. For example, adjusting the height of the net or barrier and ensure there's an appropriate space to practise our skills. Brilliant volleyball, everyone. Bye I'll see you next time. Share your work with Oak National. If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and with #learnwithOak. We'd love to see your brilliant work.

Volleyball (Part 3)

Volleyball (Part 3)

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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