This week I undertook a presentation in front of my peers and two members of staff. My presentation slot was between 9-11 am therefore, at 7.45 am I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I emerged from my house to the University of Stirling. While driving to the university, I played a rehearsed recording of me practicing my presentation. This enabled me to go over my lines and get some last-minute revision beforehand, putting my mind at ease.

As I arrived in class, all of the students were looking very formal as they were wearing smart trousers and shirts. Once everyone arrived, the module co-ordinator gave a brief summary of today’s plan. This required us to present our findings on a presentation regarding our work experience however when others were presenting, we had to fill out a feedback form. When referring to the feedback form, we had to inform the presenter of what they did well, what they should stop doing followed by a suggestion of what to keep doing or change.

After the module co-ordinator communicated today’s plan, she asked: “who would like to go first?”. My mind was playing tricks at this moment and time as I was saying to myself “no ill wait”, then I was thinking “oh no maybe I should go first and get it over and done with.” Unfortunately, I didn’t build the courage to go first, as a matter of fact, I was actually last.

When the module co-ordinator shouted “Lauren, you are up next”, I could feel the palm of my hands dripping with sweat, my heart was racing, I was terrified. All I was thinking about was the last time I attempted to speak in front of an audience and all I did was laugh due to nerves. However, I continued to think positively while saying to myself “COME ON YOU CAN DO THIS”.

At the beginning of my presentation I felt the nerves were getting the better of me as I was mispronouncing words while being reluctant to engage with my audience, however, as the presentation progressed, I started to become more confident enabling me to stand with a strong posture, speak with a loud clear voice and engage with the materials and my audience.

Overall, I believe my presentation ran smoothly. The audience seemed to enjoy my Powerpoint and stated that I shared some interesting facts while giving an effective self-reflection on my work placement experience. Due to this being my last EVER blog, I just want to share my opinion about this work experience module. This work experience module has taught me things about myself that I didn’t even know. Moreover, it has been one of the best modules that I have taken at the University of Stirling therefore, I am grateful to have been giving this opportunity.

Unfortunately, we have come to the end of my coaching placement at Raploch Primary School. Today, I assisted a lunchtime club, basketball session and a rugby session. For this particular blog, I have chosen to talk about the basketball session.

The aim of the session was to work on dribbling with the ball as I noticed from last week’s session the children were eager to pass but were reluctant to dribble. For the warm-up, every participant had a ball however, there were four catchers. All of the participants who had a ball were encouraged to dribble around the area without getting tug by the catchers. However, if they got tug, they had to hold the ball with two hands and separate their legs. To be freed another participant had to roll their ball under their legs.

Drill one required the participants to dribble in a straight line up to the cone directly in front of them while performing a shot into the basket. Secondly, the participants had to dribble in and out of the cones until they reached the end cone, where they performed another shot. Thirdly, pressure was added upon the participants where they had to dribble into the central area, beat a passive defender and then finish with a shot. This allowed the participants to get used to the movements required in a basketball game, enabling them to gain more confidence in their ability to beat a defender.

Finally, we played a conditioned game where the participants had to try and beat one defender before they could shoot into the basket. During the game, I noticed a lot of the participants were receiving the ball and standing stationary for a long period of time. Therefore, I added a condition that when a player received the ball, they had three seconds to pass it to a teammate if they did not decide to dribble. If a player held on to the ball longer than the allocated timeframe they where penalised and the ball was handed over to the opposition. Once this condition was added I noticed a huge difference as the game flowed continuously without any stoppages.

Overall, my time at Raploch Primary School has been amazing! I have met so many great people and have built strong relationships with both the kids and my mentor. I am very fortunate to have been given this opportunity to boost my skills and knowledge within a variety of sports. Furthermore, it was a privilege to work with such an enthusiastic group of young people and adults – I cannot wait to return next year when my dissertation is complete!

Sadly, this is my second last session at Raploch Primary School. I was invited to assist a primary 6 basketball session and a primary 3 rugby session. For this specific blog, I have chosen to speak about the Rugby session, as I feel that this session benefited me the most.

For the warm-up, we played two rounds of toilet tig which was chosen by the participants. When referring to the drills, I split the kids into 4 teams (white, red, yellow and blue). The aim of the session was to focus on traveling with the ball with both hands. Firstly, we started with relay races, where the participants had to run with the ball using both hands while keeping the ball close to their bodies. They were required to sprint to the cone at the opposite side of the court, throw the ball upwards, clap their hands together and then run back to their line. Secondly, the participants were expected to do the same as above however, once they reached the far away cone, they had to pass the ball around their body. Thirdly, the participants had to follow the same sequence as above, however, when they reached the far away cone, they had to perform a figure of eight around their legs, working on their ball-handling skills.

After the drills, I decided to put this practice into play by playing a game dividing the hall into two pitches. I added a restriction were every 5 passes equals a goal. As I supervised the game, I noticed that the children were either; a) all running towards the ball, b) not running when they had the ball or c) running out of the court. During the game I decided to join in. I ensured that I went to the opposite side of the court and shouted for the ball. Lewis, who currently had the ball stated, “Lauren you’re too far away, I can’t pass to you?”. I replied, “Well what was the focus within the drills, run with the ball”. This is where I stopped the game and stated to the participants that; a) we have to spread out because if we all go to the ball then the player on the ball has no options and b) in rugby we don’t always need to pass we can run with the ball. Instantly, I saw an improvement which reassured me that the children were listening to the coaching points given.

Overall, I really enjoyed this session as I managed to encourage the children to stay on the move, gave coaching points when needed and assisted a rugby coach which pushed me out of my comfort zone as this is a sport that I don’t have a lot of experience in.

Today, was week 5 of my placement at Raploch Primary School. As soon as I arrived, my mentor informed me that the timetables had changed therefore, I would be assigned to two different physical education classes. Instantly, I thought oh no what if they don’t listen to instructions or what if they don’t like me?  I was pretty devastated particularly because I was comfortable with the classes that I took, as I had been with them for the majority of my placement. However, I realise that change can be important which tested my ability to adapt. Generally, this showed how strong my relationship was with not only the pupils I taught but the previous teachers that I assisted.

Due to the change of timetable, I was required to assist one primary 7 and a primary 3 class.  The primary 7s took part in Tennis whereas the primary 3s participated in fitness. For this particular blog, I have chosen to speak about fitness.

For the warm-up, we played tunnel tig which was chosen by the participants. When referring to the key drills myself and the teacher created a circuit that was related to fitness. These stations included; skipping ropes, relay races, hurdles, sit-ups, star jump’s and speed bounce were participants jumped left and right as fast as could. Participants had once a minute at each station. During the session, I noticed that a little girl had given up which resulted in her sitting at the side. My pet hate is when people state that they cannot do something as I reply, “there’s no such word as can’t”. One girl stated that she couldn’t do sit-ups. yes, I do understand because she is pretty young to be doing sit-ups, but everyone needs a challenge don’t they? So, when I saw her sitting at the side I went over and asked, “would you like me to help you perform a sit-up?”. Thankfully, she allowed me to help her. I pressed down on her toes and told her to push herself up while keeping her tummy nice and tight. Did she do it successfully? Yes, she did.

Similar to last week’s session I was able to put another smile on a participant’s face. Therefore, if I can bring a positive vibe and encourage kids to never give up, I have done my job.

Surprisingly, this is now week 4 of my placement at Raploch Primary school! Where has the time went? Today, I was invited along to take part in three physical education classes which included the following sports/physical activity; badminton, fitness, and football. For this specific blog, I have chosen to speak about the badminton session. This session was geared towards a primary 3/4 class. For the warm-up, we played toilet tig which was chosen by the participants.

After the warm-up, we played the traffic light game which worked on racket handling and movement. All the participants were required to have a shuttlecock and racket when taking part in this drill. The teacher shouted instructions that the children had to carefully listen to and follow. For example, if the teacher shouted the color green, the participants were encouraged to run while balancing the shuttlecock on their racket, if she shouted amber the participates were expected to walk while balancing the shuttlecock on the racket followed by red which meant the participants had to stop.

For the second drill, the participants had to try and keep the shuttlecock off of the ground by taking “small touches”. During this drill, I stepped in and made numerous coaching points to help a group of girls that I noticed were struggling. I encouraged the girls to aim for the centre of the badminton racket when trying to hit the shuttlecock as they were hitting the sides. After given the coaching points I stepped back and let the girls try it themselves. Most of the girls were screaming “I CAN DO IT!!”. This put a huge cheesy smile on my face as not only was I improving the children’s technique, I was also making them feel positive about themselves!

Finally, we went into a rally where the participants were asked to pick a partner and hit the shuttle back and forward to one another. A few of the children ran up to me and asked can I be your partner? This again made me feel valued. Overall, I would say this has been one of the best sessions that I have assisted during my time at Raploch Primary School. The children listened, showed excitement and most importantly, enjoyed the session! – Lauren

This should be Week 3 of my placement at Raploch Primary School however, the school was closed for the October holidays. Therefore, I have decided to write about another session that I assisted during week 2. This session was directed towards primary 1-2 children were an external football coach named Hamish came into the school to lead a football session. My role during this session was to support Hamish by setting up drills while managing children’s behavior.

Firstly, we started off with a warm-up playing disco tig. Once the children were warmed up, we then decided to go into a shooting drill which all of the children seemed to love! Myself and Hamish split the children into two teams e.g. a red team and a blue team. Both teams stood in a straight line behind their cone facing the goals. The kids were expected to run out to a cone that was placed to their right or left – touch it with their hand and run straight back to their starting cone. Once they got back to the starting cone, both groups were expected to race for the ball which was situated in the middle of the court and try to score into one of the two bottom corners. My first thought was this is going to be challenging as I felt that the kids would lose concentration however, I was wrong!! It ran pretty smoothly.

After we added some additional parts to the shooting drill, we progressed into a game that was very entertaining. Due to the children being so young they were either all running for the ball at the one time or they couldn’t work out which way to shoot. Hamish decided to stop the game at one point and explained why we need to spread out as well as informing each team which way they were supposed to be shooting, as some of the participants were trying to shoot into their own goal. Once he explained to the kids which way they were supposed to be shooting the game flowed a lot better.

Overall, assisting a session with younger participants has shown how challenging it can be to not only manage children’s behavior but plan sessions that are within their capabilities. This session has shown me that all kids learn differently, some have better concentration spans than others and that all children are at different levels in terms of ability.

Today, was week 2 of my placement in Stirling at Raploch Primary School. As I arrived my mentor asked – do you have any suggestions of stations that I could use for this session? Yes, of course, I felt under pressure as I was put on the spot but I had a perfect idea! The aim of the session was to incorporate Shapes and Mathematics into Physical Education for a primary 1/2 class and I believe myself and Natalie did just that! The pupils where split into 4 stations however, at each station there was a shape such as; triangle, circle, rectangle, and square. Within each station, the participants had to perform a particular exercise. For example, triangle = star jumps, circle = running on the spot with your knees up, rectangle = skipping, followed by a square which required the children to reach up to the sky and touch their toes. Once the children where set and in their stations the coach threw a dice and depending on the number it landed on, the child would go on to complete the exercise the amount of times that was shown on the rolled dice.

For the duration of this session, I ensured that I got involved by joining in during the exercises, shouting out the numbers and shapes while encouraging the children. I was ecstatic as all of the children were participating with huge smiles on their faces! However, I noticed that some children where disobeying instructions by standing on the cones that were located at their stations. One strategy that I used to overcome this was I stated to the children that the cones where hot lava, therefore, if they stood on a cone, this meant they had to fix it and stand still for 5 seconds.

Overall, I believe that I have developed a strong relationship with both the participants and my mentor as they listened and valued any ideas or opinions that I shared. Furthermore, I have learned a new skill by incorporating other subjects into Physical Education classes providing a platform to support and develop the children! For next week’s session, I would like to support an external football coach and potentially referee competitive games.

Lauren