Work experience – week five

during the last two weeks my work experience feels like it is coming together a bit, having  been involved in practical work experience and also my PVG has come through. Both experiences have been outside of my own sport which I have really enjoyed.

My work experience in week four was being an event assistant at the parasport festival in Stirling. All the children at the festival were split into four groups and my role was to assist the leader of one of these groups which involved taking them between several different sport stations and often joining in or helping at the stations. The sports included Boccia, badminton, swimming, climbing, athletics, football and curling. My past coaching experience has all been in my own sport, which is Rugby, so to help in sports which I have no experience was a fun challenge. I think that my lack of knowledge of some sports could have even worked in my favour because I was more excited to learn and join in.

In week five I assisted my adviser Craig in taking an archery class at Fallin primary school in Stirling, in what was the first week of four. Because this was the first class, I didn’t really know what to expect but fortunately Craig gave me a lift to the school and was able to talk me through the rough plan which helped settle some of my nerves. the participants were easy to manage but unlike other sports I’ve helped in I feel like I had to be much more aware to health and safety details and can imagine how difficult this could be to coach either a bigger or more difficult group.

I look forward to next week,

thank you for reading.

Finally, my PVG came and the process is complete. I am starting my first coaching session tomorrow,  with P6 students at Riverside Primary school, from 3:30-4:30. This will be running for the next 6 weeks. I am extremely excited for this to get going.

Speaking to Craig, I am going to be taking the warm up and then progressing into a little game, with the venue being a sports hall.  Clicking the first of the hours I need to complete my placement is lifting the pressure of the delayed start.  As well as this, I’ll be trying to do all the available hours that I can, with needing to concentrate on multiple things, I’m going to try and get them done as soon as I can.

I’m grateful for the chance to be able to do something I may want to take further in terms of employment once I finish my degree. And again am extremely optimistic and excited about getting everything rolling tomorrow.

Tom

Since my last placement on the 23rd October I haven’t had any opportunities since then however my mentor Craig has been emailing me back and forth with opportunities and is helping me work my placement hours around I university times and work times.

Craig has been communicating with me very well through email and has given me a few clubs and days so that I can start to make up my hours. I was given the opportunity to attend a Boccia session on a Monday night from 6.15-7.15 which I would be participating in as well as helping to facilitate with the sessions, however recently I have been promoted in my work meaning that I will need to be in work for open and close on a Monday night which unfortunately means I can’t make this session but Craig has assured me that there are plenty of more opportunities available for me to do this.

At first I was a little gutted that I couldn’t make this session as Craig told us that there may be an opportunity for us to receive our level 1 coaching within boccia but he has told me there’s nothing to worry about and that it’s okay to have other commitments. After discussing my problem with Craig about the Monday night I then received another email for a volunteering opportunity in a primary school where children from the ASN department and mainstream pupils come together to participate in sports together for 1 hour. I have agreed to this placement as it doesn’t clash with university or my work and I am very excited to be volunteering at this event as this is possibly a career job I want to do in the future.

I have previously done placement in an Autism Unit when I was in high school which was very challenging however it helped to show my potential as I had to be very hands on and adaptive during my sessions as a lot of kids needed 1-1 support more than others or found it difficult to pay attention for a long period of time. I am looking forward to my future placements as when speaking to Craig I asked to work more within the ASN departments leading sport sessions as this is something I feel very passionate about and look forward to doing in the future.

Past few weeks I have been a little worried of not being able to get my placement started and completed on time, since my PVG hadn’t arrived. I was away over the weekend and still worrying as nothing came through the post on Friday before leaving, but today when I arrived home it was there must of came through the post on Saturday. It is such a relief, I feel like a huge weight has been taken of my shoulders with it arriving.

Before my PVG arrived at the weekend I had been in contact with Shona regarding my PVG and placement over email. I asked her if she had heard from Disclosure Scotland as I hadn’t received PVG yet and also said I would contact them to see where my application was at. Shona got back to me to let me know I would here before she would and when it does arrive to let her know, so I can get started. Shona also said she was going to send over rough timetable of my placement hours  later on in the week.  I then contacted Disclosure Scotland to see what was going on with application as it’s normally quick to come through, the lady on phone checked for and said it was being worked on and should have it over weekend if not beginning of next week.  I emailed Shona to let her know and she replied saying to email her once it’s arrived and also attached the timetable.

As my PVG arrived over the weekend I have emailed Shona to let her know and Shona has said to start Tuesday and let me know what hours I can this week, so she can let the coaches I will be working alongside with know I will be there. I can know be finally excited to start but I do feel a little nervous but I guess that’s just natural.

My fifth week on placement involved me coaching the Smithycroft Secondary Basketball Team. I attended this club when I was a pupil at the school, so I was really looking forward to the opportunity to coach the current pupils and get to know the team.

When planning my session, I decided to focus the session on the lay-up shot. I considered the age and ability of the group – S1-S6 – and acknowledged that a lot of technical coaching points would be required for this skill in order to help the players learn. I felt confident about this as I have been coaching Basketball for a few years now and have several coaching qualifications in this sport.
The session went very well. I was able to identify the players who were struggling and walk them step by step through the skill but also, I acknowledged those who were confident in the skill so therefore challenged them to use their weaker hand. I feel this was very effective as all players were working on the lay up but at their stage of development and ability levels.

I organised a 5v5 match to finish the session. I highlighted to the team about applying what they had learned in the drills and practises into the game situation. To prompt the players to do so, I added a condition to the game – performing a lay up will get you 1 point and a scoring a lay up will get you 3 points. The reason for doing this was to encourage players to try the lay up even if they do not feel as confident or score from the skill. I believe that players will learn from their mistakes and will improve by performing the skill in a open/pressured environment.

I thoroughly enjoyed the session and I observed that the players displayed excellent behaviour, effort and attitude. Next week I will be attending a meeting with Glasgow Rocks Basketball Club with my mentor, Fraser to discuss future opportunities and partnerships with the school and the organisation. I am really looking forward to this!

-Stephanie.

Christina

Today’s placement sessions were a lot of fun.  The first session today I worked again one to one with 3 year old Josh.  This week his dad brought him along and again he was reluctant to leave him.  But I took his hand and we walked around the hall having a look at what was set up.  Josh was not very interested in doing the tasks set out and so him and I played with a balloon a ball.  I thought that considering this was only the second week Josh had actually been in a session without one of his parents that it was better for him to be there doing something even if it wasn’t anything that was remotely planned.  I did notice that when the other coaches talked to Josh is didn’t shy away as much as last week and even spoke to one of them which he hadn’t done before.  I believe that by giving him support and encouragement he is slowly becoming more comfortable in the session.  I hope that he will soon be able to participate in the games with the other boys and girls.
The next two sessions were a busy and there was quite a lot going on in them.  I feel very confident in working with these children now and am getting to know them better each week.  I enjoy working with the other coaches, I believe that I have built up good relationships with them in this short time.
The last session today was Dodgeball.  I basically observed this session and Tony was the lead.  Dodgeball is another sport I know very little about so it was interesting to watch.  Also frustrating at times as some of the players spent most of the session messing around, not paying attention or listening to instructions.   I have a certain admiration for people that coach children.  I am throughly enjoying my placement but I honestly do not think it is a job that I could do on a more permanent basis!  Maybe my thoughts on this will have changed by the end of the month!
I am looking forward to next week!

I unfortunately was not able to make it to placement this week, the train tickets to get to Armadale and back are quite expensive and so nearing the end of last month I made the decision to not attend placement this week due to financial issues.

So on that note I have decided to blog about our seminar this morning on presentation skills. I thoroughly enjoyed this mornings seminar, I was slightly hesitant prior to attending as I have sat through seminars of a similar nature in the past and they have all included a lecturer standing and talking to us for an hour; this however was nothing like that. The guest speaker was so engaging from the get-go and made the session really fun and enjoyable.

I was also hesitant as I have had many different experiences delivering presentations and speeches, one even being at the House of Lords in front of members of parliament and honestly at the beginning of the session I didn’t believe I would learn anything new! I was completely wrong and actually came away with so many different tools and resources that I can’t wait to use. I was also told that I have a ‘Glottal stop’ which means I don’t pronounce my T’s clearly, this was something that I wasn’t fully aware of previously and is something that I will be more aware of when delivering presentations in the future as well as in interviews.

I believe seminars like these are so important to us as students, they provide us with a skill set that future employers will be seeking and give us resources to be better candidates. I’m looking forward to next week and returning back  to placement, it will be great to get back within a school setting.

 

I contacted Craig earlier this week to ask if he knew anything about how much longer my PVG was going to be as I was starting to get worried about making up my 30 hours. He then got back to me and he contacted Disclosure Scotland for me. We then found out that my check had been approved and my updated PVG would be with me in a few days. I have since then received my PVG. Im finally excited to be able to start my placement in the schools.

Craig has been good with emailing me with many opportunities. I am going to be attending 2 clubs within schools next week. One of the clubs is an Archery Club at Fallin Primary School and is aimed at primary 6/7. I am looking forward to assisting Craig at this club as archery isn’t something I have ever been able to take part in. So I am looking forward to seeing how it is done. Theres also another club which is a multi sports club at Raploch Community Campus. This involves children playing sports such as football, Boccia, athletics and many other sports.Im also looking forward to this opportunity as ill be able to assist in giving the children something to do during their lunchtime. This may also allow for children to take interest in new sports and try new things.

Also next Friday I am attending a Boccia Festival at the Peak as an event assistant. This is being run by Scottish Disability Sport and Active Stirling. This event is on for 4 hours so this is a good opportunity to get a good few hours in. Im looking forward to this event as I enjoyed having a taster of Boccia at the previous parasport event.

I look forward to writing more next week once I’ve got out into the schools and helped at the event. Im just so glad I can finally start. Better late than never!

Hello,

 

I am so glad to say that I have now started my placement. I had my first day on Tuesday and it went very well, the staff working in the school were very helpful and wanted to ensure I felt comfortable and settled in on my first day.

 

As my mentor was previously my PE teacher we already have a good relationship, she was very helpful in any way possible, she introduced me to everyone straight and showed me around the school. I feel that I am able to go to her with and question I have or if I need any help at all, this made me feel a lot better about going into placement on my first day as I knew she would be there if I needed her.

For the first period I was in with s3 boys badminton shadowing the teacher, period two I was again shadowing a teacher in badminton but this time with s4 mixed core class. Period three I was supposed to be in a theory period with a NAT 5 class however they ended up short staffed for their Nat 5 dance class, my mentor knows that I am a dance teacher and therefor asked me to take the class while the cover teacher watched. I was excited to take the class and do some teaching on my first day however I was nervous that that dancers didn’t enjoy their lesson as I wanted them to have a positive experience in my first class. However the dancers walked out excited and asked for me again next week, I was glad they enjoyed the class. Period 4 I shadowed in an s4 core basket ball, I was off period 5 and period 6 I was in with s3 gymnastics which I really enjoyed.

 

Over all all I am glad I’m not started and everything is going great.

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.