Why you need to be using 'Small-Sided Games' in your P.E. lessons.

Small-sided games are multiple mini-games all happening at once in an HPE lesson as opposed too one large game involving all students in the class. This is an approach to teaching P.E. activities in a non-conventional way but has numerous benefits.

A majority of my lessons across all year levels from foundation to year 9 (5-15-year-olds) involve small-sided games. Not only are small-sided games done because they have a wide range of benefits for me as a teacher but most importantly, they are extremely enjoyed if not favoured by my students.

Here are some reasons why you need to be incorporating small-sided games in your teaching.

Higher Practice Load

When you play a class game or sport, let’s say for example touch football, basketball, Softball, cricket or netball. You have many students all on the court/ field at the same time vying for the ball. What generally happens is that the action of play is dominated by a handful of players, typically the most athletically experienced students and these students tend to be around or involved in a majority of the game.

This creates a situation where a large majority of the class are not being active, not getting involved and not having an opportunity to practice the skills that are being taught. They become non-participants which in turn makes the games not fun and creates a negative image not only of the sport but also their ability. It can be especially frustrating for those students who are keen to be involved but seem to never get the ball.

Instead of having one big game, I break down the game into 2,3 or even 4 smaller games spread across the playing area. This means that the rules may need to be modified and of course, the playing area needs to be adjusted. This is not extremely complicated as generally the smaller number of players makes things far more manageable.

These smaller games allow all students to be involved, do not really allow them an opportunity to stay still or to not be involved and importantly allow them to practice the skills that are being taught. Students will get far more repetitions at skills and be able to get many more experiences playing the game as opposed to a larger game. This not only helps them refine their technical and tactical skills but also allows them to have some experiences and questions to bring back when we have whole group discussions. It allows them to be involved in the questioning process as well as the participation of the game itself. This higher practice load will encourage improvements far greater, allow students to be far more active in the lesson and provide a great opportunity for success in their own personal enjoyment of the lesson and potentially in their grades.

Effective Group Management and Teacher Feedback

Smaller games allow you two main massive benefits as a teacher.

You are able to pin point the specific students you want to asses or support. As you can observe them much more closely and without other players running in front of them or blocking them. It also provides a safer environment for them to receive feedback as it is not in front of the whole class, which can be daunting to students.

You can stop a specific game to provide feedback without stopping the whole class from playing. This is very critical as P.E lessons have a limited time frame and there is no need to stop all students from playing and developing their skills if there’s only a handful of students you need to give specific feedback too.

Chaos Free Environment (Safety)

As a P.E. teacher, you would be doing two main things in a majority of your lessons, explaining to students how not to get hurt/ how to be safe and mediating issues and arguments. When you are teaching a new sport or game, students experience and skill level are low. Introducing them to a full game the whole class is a recipe for disaster as there are too many variables for things to go wrong, create a messy and interrupted activity which in turn does not allow students to develop skills effectively or in the right way.

When you have so many students all playing together in a high-paced active environment, there are too many variables for students not to get into arguments, disagreements and of course accidental injuries.

Small-sided games reduce the potential for collisions and also because the game is less chaotic due to involving fewer students, the opportunities for disagreements and issues are reduced significantly. You can also organise teams around personalities and separate some of our more ‘passionate’ students from others.

Greater Opportunity for Individual Success

As a teacher, we use pedagogies, frameworks and evidence to ensure the highest possible outcomes for our students. The biggest benefit of using small-sided games is that this is exactly what it does. This is achieved by doing the following:

Differentiate levels & Modify games appropriately

Differentiation is the key to effective teaching across all subject areas and year levels.

You can create numerous small-sided games based on the level of where your students are at. You can have a group of novice students playing against other novice students with slightly modified rules that allow them to learn and absorb the game at their own pace.

You can also have more advanced players playing against other advanced students to ensure all students are being challenged and met at their level. This ensures all students are able to grow and learn and a pace that is comfortable and appropriate for their ability whilst all still learning the same, sports and skills as their peers in the same lesson.

As students progress and work on different things, you can continue to switch and change groups for different purposes.

An example of this for the sport of softball is- You could have one small-sided game that uses a larger bat and ball for the students who are less confident in their ability to strike the ball. In the same lesson, you could also have another small-sided game which has a metal standard baseball bat and regulation baseball for the students who are already sufficient in their striking. This way all students can learn how to play the game at the same time but develop individually for their own specific needs. This means no student gets left behind or feels undervalued.

Maximum Individual Participation (MIP)

Small-sided games means all students are active participants as they can’t hide away or not be involved due to the small number of players in the game. Everyone has a role and is required to be highly active for the game to run effectively.

As P.E. teachers we are trying to get our students to be as active as we can within the limited time in which we have them for. Small-sided games do this perfectly.

Increases Motivation and Self-efficacy

When students have more opportunities to play the sport they are learning, can find areas in which they are successful and are challenged but not defeated in every lesson, this creates self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. Students start to build confidence in their ability and believe genuinely they are good or at least have the potential to be more successful and ultimately this creates a happier and more confident HPE student. This directly will in turn ensure success in the student’s grades for HPE but ultimately as a P.E teacher that is not my only goal for my students. I want my students to come to P.E., build and foster a love for being active and healthy and importantly feel confident and safe in our learning environment so they can grow and develop their skills.

Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. Intrinsic motivation: is a term used to describe the incentive we feel to complete a task simply because we find it interesting or enjoyable.

What Does Evidence Say?

Increased Player Engagement and Participation: Research indicates that smaller-sided games lead to higher levels of engagement and participation among students. In a study by Capranica et al. (2001), it was found that smaller teams (e.g., 3v3 or 4v4) result in more touches on the ball, more passes, and more scoring opportunities per player compared to traditional larger-sided games. This increased involvement helps all students actively participate and develop their skills, rather than a few dominant players controlling the game.
Enhanced Skill Development: Smaller-sided games provide more opportunities for individual skill development. According to a study published in the “Journal of Sports Sciences” by Owen et al. (2004), players in smaller-sided games experience more frequent decision-making situations, leading to improved technical and tactical skills. The higher frequency of ball contacts and decision-making opportunities helps students develop better ball control, passing accuracy, and overall game understanding .
Improved Physical Fitness and Activity Levels: Smaller-sided games tend to increase the intensity of physical activity during P.E. lessons. Studies have shown that these games result in higher heart rates and greater distances covered by players. For instance, research by Hill-Haas et al. (2011) demonstrated that smaller-sided games promote greater cardiovascular and muscular fitness compared to traditional larger games. The increased intensity and continuous movement in smaller-sided games help students improve their overall physical fitness more effectively .

Helpful Resources:

Sources:

Capranica, L., Tessitore, A., Guidetti, L., & Figura, F. (2001). Heart rate and match analysis in pre-pubescent soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 19(6), 379-384.
Owen, A., Twist, C., & Ford, P. (2004). Small-sided games: The physiological and technical effect of altering pitch size and player numbers. Insight, 7(2), 50-53.
Hill-Haas, S. V., Coutts, A. J., Rowsell, G. J., & Dawson, B. T. (2011). Generic versus small-sided game training in soccer. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 32(8), 600-605.