Ski Trip - Day 3

Today, in terms of skiing, was amazing! Last night a heavy snowfall meant that the conditions for skiing were close to perfect. After a long day of lessons, the kids had a chance to visit Andorra la Vella and check out the shops. It's an amazing area for a city, as you are literally in the middle of dozens of mountains. Of course, when given the chance to shop, the kids mostly bought sweets!

Anyway, as promised, here is the blog entries of 5 students. Click 'read more' to see them.

Ski trip - Day 2

Firstly, please excuse the delay. We were busy having fun!

Well, the first day of skiing here in Andorra is over, marked by a heavy snowfall. A sigh of relief from all as no one was hurt or dismayed at the difficult task of learning to ski, and best of all, everyone enjoyed themselves.

As mentioned in ski blog 1, four students will be writing their accounts of the day in their guest blog posts. Click below to check them out!

Ski Trip - Day 1.

"Todos en Andorra. Sin Novedad. Ceramos y tenemos una reunion para informar del dia de manana. " ~ Gonzalo

We're all here in andorra, safe and sound. Today, as expected was long and arduous, but fun nonetheless. We have all gotten our equipment and are ready to ski, some more eager than others! On a personal note, I was excited to find out that the hotel holds an 'all you can eat' buffet for every meal. It's the little things that matter, right?

Below you will find personal blogs from four of our students. Each day, four new students will write a guest blog piece for me and I will do my best not to edit them in any way. They will be directly from your son/daughter, so don't blame me if they write something rude or offensive.

Basketball - The Crossover

Also known as an anklebreaker, the cross-over is a great dribbling technique for creating space between yourself and a defender. The basic move involves faking to one side and getting the defender to follow you before abruptly bouncing the ball back over to your other hand when the defender is turned. This leaves the defender off balance and out of position, and leaves you open to take a shot, drive the lane, or pass. Popularized by such greats as Allen Iverson, Tim Hardaway, Pearl Washington, and Deron Williams, it can be a deadly offensive weapon with some practice. This guide will help you develop the balance, technique, and finesse necessary for a killer crossover.

St. Patricks Day - The 17th of March

Who is St. Patrick?

People all over the world celebrate on the 17th day of March in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Some cities have parades, most revelers wear green, and a few families commemorate the day with traditional Irish fare for their meal. However, not everyone may know who St. Patrick is.

Basketball - Review (Shooting)

Here, I will provide a review of the skill of shooting in basketball. Firstly, I will outline the correct technique for shooting in a stationary position (Free throws), then I will include a video for you to see the technique in action.



Remember, practice makes perfect! If you want to do well in the exam for basketball, make sure you have these techniques as close to perfect as you can get them.









B.E.E.F. is designed to help any aspiring basketball player to learn the skills necessary to shoot correctly. By working on the points of BEEF you put yourself in a better position to be selected for a competitive team, since coaches will notice that they don't need to teach you the basic mechanics of shooting.

'B'-Balance: Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, with your shooting foot slightly ahead of your non-shooting foot. If you're right-handed, your shooting foot is your right foot. If you're left-handed, then your shooting foot is your left foot. Make sure your entire body is aligned at a square to the basket.

'First E'-Eyes: Choose a target - it could be the front of the rim, the centre of the hoop, or the basket as a whole, and focus only on that. Don't watch the flight of the basketball, or your hand as you release the ball. 

'Second E'-Elbow: Cock your elbow back to a 90° angle and look at the back of your wrist. If you can see wrinkles, then you have your arm in the correct position. Rest the ball on the pads of your fingers with the centre of the ball on your index finger, then place your guide hand on the side of the ball and make sure that it doesn't slip underneath it. You will not be using that hand to help shoot the ball - it is there to make sure that the ball doesn't fall off your hand before you shoot it and nothing more.

'F'-Follow-through: Straighten your elbow and release the ball by flicking your wrist, which gives the ball some backspin. You should look like you're reaching into a cookie jar that is on a shelf above your head.

Ski Trip - Details

As the ski trip is impending, I will provide some details about the area of Vallnord, the hotel in which we are staying, and the pistes on which we will ski.

Basketball: (Review - 03/03/2014)

Basketball

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect" - Vince Lombardi
As we are entering our 3rd or 4th lesson of Basketball, I felt it would help your learning if I detailed some of the most important skills that we have learned so far so you can do some "perfect practice". In this blog post, you will find explanations through text and video of the dribble, pass and lay-up.