Hop, step, jump and land
Ready when: Run, stop and change direction (b1) done.
What you are learning
The three ways to take off and land: two feet to two feet (a jump), one foot to the same foot (a hop), one foot to the other (a step). Landing quietly with bent knees protects the knees and starts every jumping event.
Set up
Hoops, chalk circles or tape crosses as pads, 1 m apart in a line; small rewards (bean bags).
Weather: dry ground
Show it first for the one teaching
- Jump with two feet from pad to pad: bend, swing the arms, look ahead, and land quietly with bent knees. Hold still.
- Hop on one foot from pad to pad, landing on the same foot.
- Hop, step, jump: land on the same foot, then the other foot, then both, saying "same, different, both".
Your part while they practise
Hold the finish; count the pads reached.
Step by step
- Two-foot jumps pad to pad, holding each landing.
- Hops pad to pad.
- Link them: two feet, hop, two feet.
- Hop, step, jump, saying "same, different, both".
How much: each pattern along the pads 3 times 6 min a session 3 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Call the jump
The caller names a jump and a number of pads; the jumper plans it and lands still on the last pad.
Who plays: the child jumps and you call; then swap. 2 or more.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- The caller names a jump and a number: "hops, 3 pads" or "two feet, 5 pads"
- The jumper does it
- On the last pad the jumper freezes for a count of 3
- 8 calls each
- Fair play
- Pads closer together for a younger child.
- Points
- 1 point for the right jump on every pad; 1 more point for a quiet, still landing on the last pad. The winner of each call takes a bean bag.
- Fouls
- No points for that call
- The wrong kind of jump
- A foot lands outside a pad
- A wobble or a step after the last landing
- Winning
- The most points after 8 calls each.
- 6 points for 1 star
- 11 points for 2 stars
- 16 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Pads closer together.
Pads further, one foot to two feet.
What you will see, and what to say
- a stiff, loud landing
Bend your knees, land quiet
Land on the front of the feet and let the knees bend. - the child looks down
Look where you are going
Eyes on the next pad, not the feet.
Self-check
8 pads in a row with a quiet two-foot landing each time.
Stop and get a coach when
Pain in a knee or ankle after landing.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains jumping, landing, rhythm.
awiseathlete.com/sports/athletics/athletics-b2