Stretching past the Syllabus
At Erskine Park Physie, we don't only teach the Physie Syllabus, but also a variety of movement strategies to address both health and skill related components of fitness.
Our Stretch & Technique course for 2015 has come to an end as we now start to focus on competition readiness for Term 3. We would like to extend our congratulations to all of the girls who attended the course and are currently reaping the benefits.
Each week, we begin the hour class by marching three full songs to improve stamina, technique and style. Once we are warm, we come in to lines and have a specific focus for the week e.g. leg work, positions etc. We spend the final 20 minutes of the session working on our flexibility. We saw amazing improvements in everyone who attended. As our stretch groups are graded to cater for the diverse flexibility needs of our students, we are able to assess just how much success the group had as a whole.
To be graded into the Gold Group, girls must be able to complete: 1. a left leg split, 2. a right leg split, 3. a side straddle with stomach on the floor, and 4. body on legs at long sit. Girls at Gold Level start to work on extra Physie skills, perfecting them with correct technique. Girls in Silver Group can complete stretches 3 and 4, and are working on their splits, or are very close in all four stretches. Bronze Group are working towards the achievement of the four focus stretches.
We started the course in Week 1 of Term 2 with 7 girls at Bronze Level. Four of these girls progressed to Silver Level throughout the 10 weeks. Silver Group started with 7 members, of which 3 progressed to Gold Level within the first 4 weeks of the course. By the end of the course, we ended with only 3 members in Bronze, 7 in Silver and 6 at the Gold Level.
We are amazed by the achievement of all of the girls who attended. They have made leaps and bounds in terms of their flexibility, strength and technique. The most important outcome of the course is how the girls transfer these skills into their Physie Syllabus.
Our three teachers noticed one girl in particular who took on board the focus skills for the week and tried her hardest to apply it to her Physie. We awarded Alesha with a Teacher's Commendation for her outstanding improvement. What an achievement at only 6 years old!
Overall 2015 Stretch & Technique was a great success. We look forward to running the course again Term 2 next year.
