Contribution by David Karekezi Iradukunda – Member of The Scea – PDS
Our young soccer hopefuls play both basket ball and hand ball as part of their practice warm up games. They play both games as an integration into their soccer practice sessions held between Thursdays to Saturdays in case of no weekend fixtures. The logic behind using both games is to tap into the transferable skills that cut across the game of soccer. Basket ball is a game of quick quick thinking, movement, anticipation, perception, and decision making whilst hand ball as an invasion sport enables hand-eye-foot coordination besides some of the positive attributes mentioned for playing basket ball. Let us not forget to mention the element of fun and entertainment that both games besides participation in other sports to being critical to player engagement, development and progress on and off the pitch.
Since the game of basket ball involves a lot of starting and stopping, it is a great aerobic exercise for developing excellent fundamentals of movement and movement skills as well. Additionally, the game involves very fast transitions into attack and to defense which are a common phenomenon in soccer. The game is instrumental in improving endurance, build up muscle – increase its mass, improve balance and body coordination, agility besides increase the level of focus and concentration. Technically, the game of basket ball helps our young soccer players improve on their footwork, quick flexes, good ball control, passing – dribbling, vision, and improvements in eye- hand- foot coordination.
From a social point of view, basket ball fosters good communication skills as it is a great social sport and teaches our young soccer hopefuls to be good teammates. It also boosts the self confidence and esteem of these young individuals too. All these are transferable skills to the game of soccer which help and enable players build long lasting social bonds, create more- investigate – perceive space optimally and make better decisions on and off the ball.
Hand ball as an invasion sport is a quick paced, all action high scoring game just like the game of basket ball. The game’s transferable skills in terms of positional awareness, vision and teamwork are paramount in the development of quick thinking, perceiving and decisive soccer payers. The quick reaction time, pass and move occurrences besides the running involved is helping and enabling our young players become more aware and creative in tight and more free spaces which increases the opportunities for scoring goals. It is also a great social sport which increases team spirit and team work, communication skills and great social bonds.
The two games besides participation in other outdoor or indoor sports will stay a core to the player development journey The Scea Development has embarked.