A Rock-ing Good Time at Knavesmire Primary
As far as sporting excellence and traditions go, Knavesmire,
York is perhaps best known for the Sport of Kings but Knavesmire
Primary School, just around the corner from the famous racecourse,
is introducing a whole new fast and furious sporting experience
to its upper school pupils. The sport, Rock-It-Ball was developed
in North Yorkshire and is now attracting international interest
by educators and pupils in both primary and secondary schools.
The sport is played with a ‘Rock-it’ which is
a control bar with a catcher/thrower at each end. It is very
versatile and can be played in a number of ways, for example
it can be played with goals at either end of a playing area
or targets in no-go areas. The version that is proving most
popular amongst pupils is a combat version that involves two
teams of four players, or Rock-Iteers, who fire low impact
balls at each other with points being scored for successful
hits on opposing players or for catches. Rock-It Ball can
be played both indoors and outdoors and even in the playground
by players of all ages.
Hannah Muschik, PE Co-ordinator said: “Here at Knavesmire
we like to think we are innovative and forward looking and
we are very keen to explore different options that will help
increase the sporting participation of all pupils. Rock-It-Ball
is very innovative in a number of ways and it does drive participation
amongst the children. Even pupils who are normally reluctant
to get involved are keen to play. It is exciting and it is
different and it gives us an excellent structure for developing
hand-eye co-ordination, spatial awareness and a range of skills.
The guys from Rock-It-Ball have been really supportive and
have provided demonstrations and training.”
Maria Winspear, Year 5 teacher, has used Rock-It-Ball with
her class and said, “Rock-It-Ball was first used with
our Years 4 and 6 and my class were desperate to play. Some
of them picked it up really quickly but we also noticed that
it was encouraging for some of the less sporty ones as they
could also make noticeable progress quickly and get into a
game situation very quickly. In fact it works well for all
abilities. They are all very proud of the fact that they are
the first children in York to be playing Rock-It-Ball”
However it is the children who will be the real judges of
the new sport and the comments from the junior Rock-Iteers
has been very encouraging:
“I really enjoyed it. It is the best sport I ever played”
“Rock-It-Ball is fantastic, absolutely brilliant”
“It was great”
“It’s a brill game”
Hannah Muschik
PE Co-ordinator
Knavesmire Primary School
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