Broad Focus, Narrow Focus: Warm-Up on Cue

A ball warm-up in which the teacher alternates cues calling for broad attention (reading the whole space) or narrow attention (a single detail), based on Nideffer's attentional styles. It prepares the group to shift focus the way real games demand.

How to play

1. Hand out one ball per pair and explain the two focuses: broad, to read the space and other players, and narrow, to lock onto a single point (1 min).
2. Free dribbling around the space; on the cue 'broad', each student calls out how many red pinnies they can see without stopping (2 min).
3. On the cue 'narrow', they stop and pass to their partner trying to hit a small cone 6 meters away, looking only at the cone (2 min).
4. Alternate the cues every 20–30 seconds, faster each time, and add 'internal': notice three breaths without stopping moving (3 min).
5. Ask which focus was hardest to get back to and when each one is used in a game (2 min).

Rules

• Dribble with your head up to avoid collisions.
• Passes are only made on the narrow cue and with the ball stopped.
• A third of the group wears red pinnies and swaps them now and then so the count can't be memorized.

Variations

Adaptations

• Visual impairment: broad focus means locating classmates who clap by sound, using a beeper ball.
• Hearing impairment: cues are given with colored signs.
• Limited mobility: dribble with the hand or the wheelchair and pass from 4 meters.

Learning goals

• Distinguish broad, narrow and internal attentional focus.
• Shift focus quickly during a motor task.
• Connect each focus with specific game situations.

Equipment for a class of 25

• balls: 15
• cones: 15
• pinnies: 10

Teacher tip

Soccer balls or handballs both work. If the group is very large, split the space in half.

More activities like this

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