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Year 10 - Physical education

Softball and basic rules

Striking and fielding games: evaluate and improve performance in softball

Unit Summary

This unit will develop batting, pitching and fielding skills unique to softball, such as using a glove and applying the rules around strikes and base running. Pupils will be challenged to evaluate both their own performance and that of others as they apply tenacity to this American game.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to apply fundamental softball rules and safety considerations to games.

Key Notes

  • Move: pitchers send the ball directly over home plate and between the batter's armpits and knees, into the strike zone.
  • Think: batters make quick judgements about a pitch's trajectory to avoid striking out.
  • Think: dropping the bat carefully before running after a fair hit will avoid other players getting injured.
  • Feel: learning skills and rules for a new game from a different culture can be exciting.
  • Connect: by drawing on the experience within a group, you can support each other to grasp new rules/techniques/tactics.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • strike: when a batter swings at a pitch but fails to hit it, or when a batter does not swing at a pitch that is accurately over the plate
  • pitch: a ball delivered by the pitcher to the strike zone for the batter to attempt to hit
  • pitcher: the fielder responsible for pitching (bowling) the ball

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • For many pupils, softball may be a totally new game. It's a game with a lot of different rules from the striking and fielding games they will already know such as rounders and cricket.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

Move: pitchers send the ball directly over home plate and between the batter's armpits and knees, into the strike zone. Think: batters make quick judgements about a pitch's trajectory to avoid striking out.

2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'strike'

when a batter swings at a pitch but fails to hit it, or when a batter does not swing at a pitch that is accurately over the plate.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: For many pupils, softball may be a totally new game. It's a game with a lot of different rules from the striking and fielding games they will already know such as rounders and cricket. Correction: Learning the intricacies, language and rules of the game in the first lesson and playing a version which includes most of the main rules, will allow pupils to relate to, and see sense in what they learn later in the unit, to the game itself.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 10 Physical education guide library.