First day..what a day!!!

Today was the first day of my field hockey program at the Boys and Girls club of Lawrence. I got to the Club around 3 and started tutoring some kids that just got out of school. They were mostly around elementary school. This also helped me get to know the kids that I am going to be later on teaching them how to play field hockey. I did that for about an hour. Then this lady Melissa who is the head of the girls programs at the club got together all the girls that signed up for field hockey. The first thing is we went outside and I got the sticks and balls and went on the grass in front of the club. The first thing I did was introduce myself as McKenzie, but they all wanted to call me Miss. So then I taught them how to hold the stick with the left hand on the top and the right on the bottom. They asked me if there was any left handed sticks which made me laugh a little because it is a right handed sport. Then I told them to get in there basketball stance and that is how they will be playing through out the whole game and practice. Then we went over dribbling and passing. The kids had the hardest time trying to figure out how to hold the stick they kept wanting to switch the hands around so the right was on top and the left was on the bottom. This was hard for me because I was trying to explain to them that they can only use the flat side of the stick, in which they didn't listen and proceeded to do their own thing. Which was fine with me. I just wanted them to get the point down for hitting and passing the ball. As the kids started to get that down we then paired up and started passing back and forth to each other. Then we got in two lines and started a drill in which one line had to pass to the line that was straight across from them and the other line had to shoot the ball in the net. They did a great job of this because they all listened and pay attention to what was going on. After about a couple of rounds we went back and started to say each others names and get familiar with each other. During that time more kids decided to join, along with some boys. At this time I had about 20 kids. I didn't mind that at all as long as they listened. Then after learning the kids names I lined them up, shoulder to shoulder and told them to put their arms out and if they were touching each other then they would have to spread out. After they spread out I then said on the count of three they would put the ball on their left foot and hit the ball as far as they could, and who ever hit it the farthest they would get a prize from me tomorrow. We hit the ball a couple of times seeing who could hit the farthest, and then we went back to passing with partners. I then went around teaching the kids that showed up late how to hold the stick and pass the ball. Then after I taught the new kids I then made the kids line up in two lines and ran and pass the ball at the same time. The kids did great on this. After about 10 minutes I lined them up again and made two teams a mixture of boys and girls each team had to hit the ball passed a certain point and then run and get the ball for the next person in line. It was a race and each person who hit the ball passed that certain point would get a point for the team. It was a fun little activity that would involve having the kids learn to play on a team, and work with each other. Then at five we ended, and I went and had a meeting with the director about everything that I did with the kids. He was thrilled that I had the sanity left to talk to him after a day with the kids. Today was an interesting day, but also every fun. It taught me to be patient with the kids to get across what they are trying to say and what I wanted to say. 

P.S pictures are on there way...