Teaching Striking Skills in Elementary Physical Education Using Woodball

Object control (OC) skills are a part of fundamental motor skills and basic functional skills, which work as a prerequisite to becoming a skilled performer in many sports. Of various OC skills, striking is one of the most difficult to master due to a variety of interrelated movement components. A form of vertical or underarm striking is a more advanced level of striking and is a key movement pattern for sports such as golf or field hockey. Children can have opportunities to practice this skill through physical education (PE). Woodball, a target sport, provides effective PE content for elementary students to learn striking. This article focuses on the teaching of woodball and includes its history, rules and equipment. In addition, various tasks are introduced to show how to practice different types of striking skills in woodball and ways to assess skills.