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Resources needed
All students must be dressed appropriately - bare foot, no baggy clothing, no jewellery, not chewing. Count the number of students. When they enter the gym ask them to collect a mat between two and place it in a space away from any other objects. Reinforce good lifting technique ie bending knees. If there is an odd number of students, one group can be in a three - use two mats for this group put together. Students should sit up on their mat with their partner and face the teacher who should be at the front centre of the room. Introduce to students that this lesson is going to look in detail at balances, in particular partner balances. Ask who can remember what the definition for a balance is. Students should reply "an unstable position held stable". They may need leading to this answer. Recap with students that a balance does not have to be on the feet, but can be on a variety of body parts, eg hands, bottom, stomach, shoulders. Explain that the warm-up is going to consist of travelling around the gym, weaving in and out of the mats. When the whistle goes they must go to a mat (no more than two per mat) and hold an individual balance. When you say travel, they must choose a different travelling action to move around the room. Students stand up, find a space and begin the warm-up. While the students move around the gym, reinforce importance of good posture, use of arms, focus, fluid movements, use of different ways of travelling. When the students are in their balances reinforce stillness, focus, and different body parts. Once the warm-up is completed, ask the students to stand with a partner on a mat. Stretches should then take place and these should be teacher led. Stretch the hamstring, calf, quadriceps and the inner and outer thigh. Make the stretches flow from one to the next and encourage the students to use good balance throughout. Finally stretch the arms and shoulders. Students should sit on the mats. Ask one of the students to join you at the front. Explain that when doing partner balances, communication and trust is very important. With the volunteer, perform the following two pairs balances.
While doing them talk through body tension required in arms and legs, the importance of communicating when the balance has finished and not just letting go, which could result in one person falling. Students should then attempt both balances with their own partner. If you are happy that they are all sensible and performed the last two balances safely, ask them to come up with five more pairs balances of their own. At this stage tell them that lifting is not allowed. After they have had time to explore different balances, stop the class and ask pairs to show some of the more interesting balances you have noticed as they were working. Introduce words such as "levels" and "direction" as you talk through the demonstrations. Give students five minutes to use some of the ideas they have seen and to practise their favourite four pair balances. Sit students down facing the front. Ask one pair who has been working hard during the lesson to come to the front. Ask them to get into their first balance. Talk through ways that they could get out of the balance and into their next balance by using a travel action to link the two balances together. Tell the class that their next task is to link the four balances together using a different travel action in-between to form a longer sequence. Give students time to choreograph and practice their sequences. Ask them to have a clear start and end position.
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