SPSU9W6 – Sports Work Experience (Spring 2020)

Since my last post I have began completing my placement hours. My first hour of placement was spent in the university sports centre office with my mentor Amy. On my way to the office I was feeling slightly nervous as I did not know what to expect, but once I arrived I immediately calmed down and settled in very quickly. Amy introduced me to everyone in the office and there were a few familiar faces of people that I had worked with before, which made it much easier to settle in. While I was in the office Amy showed me all of the admin work I would be doing to run the 6-a-side leagues, which included inputting scores, changing fixture dates and times, as well as managing referees. I found this all quite straightforward to understand and I am now very comfortable doing this work without any guidance from Amy. It is a nice feeling being able to do the work independently because it makes me feel like a more valuable member of the team.

The main part of my placement comes on Thursday nights where I am in charge of overseeing the matches being played. This initially seemed like a daunting task, organising roughly 8 teams to play 6 or 7 matches in two hours. However, due partially to the preparation I had done in the office and the help of the referees it was a much less stressful and exhausting task than I had feared. I have successfully run two Thursday nights now and I will be doing many more up until the end of the semester which will be an exciting process. What I have learned is to spend more time getting to know the teams and players in the league, doing this will make it much easier to resolve any conflicts and it also helps to be able to speak to people on a personal level when organising the night.

Probably the most unexpected aspect of this placement so far was when I was asked to referee a game. I was initially slightly concerned about doing this because I found out on the night that I would need to do this and I had never refereed any form of football match before. As soon as the game began, however, all my concerns left me and I was able to referee the match without any problems. I found it exciting getting put into a position that was out of my comfort zone, but still being successful.

I hope in the next few weeks I will find myself in more challenging situations which I am able to overcome.

My second day shadowing the University Strength & Conditioning coach  Josh Walsh looked even busier than the first one and I this is what made it even more interesting. Having a busy day planned does not scare me: I get excited to get involved in different activities and I feel like I have more chances to learn new things. The day started at 6.30 am at the performance suit, where we delivered an S&C session for the golf team. I was unfamiliar with the sport and it was interesting to find out about the rationale behind each exercise planned for the team. Although it was a new environment for me, I felt really comfortable throughout the session and I provided some of the athletes with some feedback on their lifting technique. which have been appreciated. I was really pleased with the positive attitude and reaction I’ve seen in some of the athletes after providing them with feedback, as I felt useful and valued. After the first session, we spent quite a few hours programming the next session for the swimming team. The main focus of the session was speed-strength and we tried to adapt the main programme to each athlete’s needs, considering the specificity of their swimming. This has been a good chance for me to apply my knowledge of human anatomy and physiology gained through some of the modules to a practical context. It also motivated me to do further research on a few topics we came across during our planning and discussion. It was then time to deliver the session for the swimmers. The session was led by Josh and Sam, a postgraduate student I got to know. It was a really busy session with many people performing different exercises at the same time. I was happy to be able to assist some of the athletes performing several exercises and motivating them during the course of the session. It was also interesting to observe Sam and Josh working in the same environment but with two different coaching styles. This made think about the importance of gaining further experience to develop a personal coaching style which has a major influence on the effectiveness of a session. The day was overall really enjoyable and the very early morning start gave me a taste of the kind of flexibility expected as an S&C coach. I am looking forward to starting a new busy and exciting day!

I have attended 2 three-hour placement sessions since my last blog posts. I have agreed with my mentor that over the next few weeks I will do longer hours in order to see a few full school days, and the variety of classes that visit in one day.

On one of my placement days, the department was understaffed. Three of the PE teachers were on a skiing trip, meaning some classes were sent out to other departments. I was given the chance to observe a National 5 PE class in the classroom. This involved looking at their volleyball training programme. I was able to go around the class and help pupils add in more practice drills. I enjoyed this as I took PE as a subject when I was at school, and it was good to be able to pass on my knowledge. However, next time I will try to be more open and more confident when helping the pupils. I was a little bit hesitant because I hadn’t thought of volleyball for a while. The pupils were then to explain to the class what they had added to their programmes and why. After this we watched some videos on how to perform the perfect pass in volleyball.  The next class played badminton, which I was able to set up while the teacher spoke through the rules of the game.

The next week all staff were back, meaning there were more classes participating in activities. This time I was helping in a 1^st year volleyball class. I collected the volleyballs they would be using and set up the net. This was their first-time trying volleyball. They started off with a few partner passing techniques, then began to pass over the volleyball net. It was good to help encourage pupils and make sure they were managing okay. The teacher spoke me through every drill and why they were doing it/how it would help them improved. I found this helpful as it allowed me to expand my volleyball knowledge even further. It also gave me an insight to what kind of activities are good to use when pupils are learning a new sport.

I started my second day of placement today, Tuesday the 11th of February. This is my second full day spent at Wallace High School and so far I have been thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Currently, my placement mentor Rachel is on maternity leave for the next four weeks, so I have just been working/shadowing alongisde the other PE teachers and coaches within the base, all of whom have made me feel extremely welcome. Today I have been in 2 periods of theory based PE lessons and 2 periods of fitness classes. The weather has been shocking today so much to some pupils displeasure classes have been moved inside.

In Nat 5 PE earlier, I was going around the class and seeing if anyone needed assistance. I found that some pupils were reliant on the information you were giving them which is something that I am going to work on, helping them but not providing the answer. I found the difference in motivation and ability in the class really interesting, some pupils were straight to the task and took no time to finish whereas some needed much more encouragement and were not as self-motivated.

I also found the fitness sessions something I was able to get myself quite involved within. The girls football team had various challenges to take part in such as distance on the treadmill, to planks to wall sits. As fitness is an area I am particularly interested in, I found myself more able to offer feedback on assistance or form advice.

Whilst being here I have found it really interesting to witness all the different teaching styles and approaches teachers take to certain classes and tasks. The School of Sport is something I find particularly interesting at this school. Pupils are trialled in P7 for a school of sport of their choice, the options include; football, basketball, rugby, dance and swimming. If they get in, they get pulled out of core classes 5 times per week for additional training in their sport. I found that this is a scheme that many other schools could adopt to increase participation rates of sport in schools. Furthermore, it also gives the chance for children to develop their sporting skills and get more practice at their chosen sport, which will further develop their ability for years to come.

Overall, I have really enjoyed my first 2 days on placement and look forward to developing my confidence and leadership abilities further in teaching as the semester goes on. I am still looking into the possibility of a lunch time netball club.

My first day at placement (St Peter the Apostle high school) was spent with a variety of different groups which made the day 9am until 3pm go in really fast as I wasnt just doing the same thing with each group. I spent first period with a first year class working on their passing in netball. I mostly observed during this class but would go around providing the pupils with some coaching points and feedback as well as encouraging them and praising them for their efforts. We finished this lesson with 4 a-side games so they could put what they had learned into a game like situation.

The second period I was in with another first year class. This time we were working on dribbling in basketball. Some of the sixth year pupils that do sports leaders came into the class to help out. The class was split into 3 groups and myself and the sports leaders had a group each to take for a quick warm up. After this the class went onto doing some dribbling drills where we again went around providing some coaching points e.g. keep your head up and look where your going, try to keep other hand up to block opponents etc. We finished this lesson with 3 small court games. The main thing I found in the games was having to remind the kids that they could dribble the ball rather than just passing it. I had a free period next so I just helped out with tidying the store cupboards.

Fourth period I helped set up a circuit class for the first years but another sports leaders class was in charge of taking this – standing at each station and explaining the exercise and encouraging the younger pupils. I was observing how they got on and provided any help required.

Fifth period was another first year class for basketball but this time they where focusing on passing. They done three drills and I helped by partnering up with any odd numbers within the groups. The drills were good and had the kids really eager to get a game on the go so we finished with small court games with the rule being 5 passes within in your team before making a shot at the basket.

Lastly, for sixth period I worked with the the third year P.E studies group, the teachers decided to get all 3 classes into the games hall and have a volleyball tournament which the kids seemed really happy about. They where split into 6 teams and played 4 minute games against each team. The 2 teams with the highest points played again to see who the winner was. This was a great way to end a Friday. I observed from the sidelines but for third year I found they where actually really good at Volleyball.

Throughout the day I worked with 4 different teachers – some I already knew from when I attended the school and some new faces so it was good to see their ways of teaching. Overall, it was a good first day.

I started my second day of placement today, Monday 10th February. I was in Raploch Primary School for 3 and a half hours, and it was thoroughly enjoyable and I learned a lot once again. As I went in, I joined up with my supervisor Natalie who was taking a Primary 4 student in activities. Today I helped to assist with teaching how to play bowls, along with progressing the skill set by making the game harder. This helped to teach different skills and tactics within a game.

I then moved on to help with a lunchtime football session where all students from primary 5, 6 or 7 were welcome to join. We set out two teams and I refereed the game where 7 a side took part. More students then appeared and wanted to join in, this required me and Natalie to rethink the structure of the game where there would be too many for one game. The teams were split into 3 teams and a mini tournament of 2 minute games were played out. This helped me to realise that you may need to adapt or change in order to make the activities more safe for the students.

After lunchtime, I helped out and shadowed the new PE teacher of the school who’s first day was today. I sat in for two different PE sessions from two different classes. I learnt a lot from this, as I have gained lots of current experience within a Primary School setting I had only done so in a classroom setting. This opened my eyes that a PE session is much different than this. During the sessions it proved difficult to keep the students’ attention and keep them on task to what they had been asked to do. Upon reflection and conversation with the new PE teacher in the school afterwards, it was good to see how she had already started thinking on how to improve for the next session. This involved being able to challenge the pupils who found the skills too easy but also being able to work with any individual that needed help with the more basic skills.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my second day of this work experience and look forward to the next. I had a brief conversation with Natalie about possibly coming in more than one day a week which I was keen on, and will be helping out with the holiday scheme at the Peak next week as the school is off for half term. The holiday scheme will give me another diverse aspect of experience and is helpful to do so.

Since my last post, I have organised to and have met my mentor. It had taken a while to organise a date and time that worked for us both but we finally found one after a few weeks of communicating. I went in to the school during a lunch time on a Monday as that would mean I got time to talk to him when he wasn’t with a class. I was nervous to meet him as I hadn’t seen him in nearly 3 years, and didn’t know whether he would have changed or not. I didn’t know what to expect from the PE department or the school in general, so therefore felt more excited than nervous while walking there that afternoon.

When I walked in to the school, the office directed me to the PE department. Walking through the school made me even more excited as it brought back good memories from being there before. When I met my mentor, he was just finishing off with a class. He was so welcoming and made me feel very comfortable in the staff room with all the other teachers. This made me feel at ease and all the worry that I once had was gone. This made me realised that I will no doubt have a good experience carrying out my work experience here.

We sat down and had a discussion about what my responsibilities will be when I attend my placement and how I should prepare for these. This has allowed me to have a clearer understanding on what I should currently be doing, and what I will be doing in a couple of weeks when I start placement. I very much enjoyed the visit as I got reacquainted with my mentor, as well as got comfortable in the environment I will be working in. the only thing I wish I had done while there was take notes. I was too interested in what was being talked about and learning what I will be doing to remember this, unfortunately.

On Wednesday the 5^th of February I attended the same schools I did last week. Bothwell Primary at Lunchtime and Muiredge Primary after school.

This session I found out the main aim for this lunchtime club is to allow primary 7 sports leaders to develop their coaching and leadership skills and that is Active School’s Coordinators role to assist them in doing this. The primary 7s set up a game of disco tig to get the primary 2s warmed up and ready to go. After which they set up to play a massive game of dodgeball. I helped to get the kids sorted and into teams but tried to allow the primary 7s a chance to take control and tell them the rules of the game. The main thing was that the kids were active and were getting some exercise.

This was the last session I will have with this group of children as their 5-week block is over. The next block for the lunchtime club is primary 1s, and there will be 25 pupils max in this class as they are slightly younger. At the same time as the primary 1 lunchtime club, there will be a dance class starting where S4s will come into the primary to teach P4-5 a dance so they can complete a module for their class at school. I am especially excited for this as I am part of the university dance club and I loved dancing when I was little, so I would hope to spread the passion I have for that to the kids. The dance class begins the 26^th of February.

The after-school club was the last week for this set of primary 4s so we allowed them to choose what they wanted to play. Have a guess what it was… dodgeball of course! In this afterschool club there is 2 other university students helping my mentor out (different university), the kids wanted us to join their team to increase their chances of winning, so we split the adults up equally and the kids and played big game of dodgeball. It certainly looked like they all enjoyed it and at the end there was a lot of red faces (including mine) so they definitely got some exercise that hour.

The schools are off Wednesday the 12^th and they week after I’m on holiday to Spain, so I won’t have a chance to do any work experience until the week beginning 24^th of Feb, which i’m pretty upset about but there is a lot planned for March.

During my placement this week instead of doing my usual timetabled classes within the school, I helped run an active school event. This event was for primary three’s across North-Lanarkshire playing football. The main aim of this event was to get younger school kids more involved in activities and get them used to being around groups of other kids from different schools. It was also to get them more familiar with a high school setting and allow them to experience something new.

By partaking in this event, my mentor has given me the opportunity to get experience in different aspects of sport and it has opened my eyes to the different paths I can take after I have finished my degree. By working alongside some of the Active Schools co-ordinators, it has made me question if I really want to become a P.E teacher rather than a coach. Therefore, I am glad that my mentor is allowing me to experience both what P.E teaching and coaching entails.

Schools are off this week due to it being the February break, therefore I won’t be at my placement this week. I have however been offered a potential job opportunity through Active Schools due to my work last week and I will be meeting up with one of the co-ordinators later this week to discuss it further.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of my placement provides for me in terms of opportunities and experiences. So far it has been great and I hope this continues.

This week I’m not going to my placement to allow time for data collection for my dissertation as I wanted to get 5 sessions done. My mentor is happy to let me come in whenever suits me which is helpful as I can plan to do more hours in March after data collection.

Following my placement from last week I have looked at getting my exercise referral qualification and hope to do this in April.

The class session on Thursday was interesting and forced me to reflect on the past which is something I don’t ever do alongside giving me time to implement a rough plan going forward after university which is something I’m worried about and do not feel confident about. Following Thursday’s class session, I decided to book a careers appointment to look at options as I have seen a job that I like the sound of but feel it is maybe aiming too high and just want some guidance.

I am going to update my CV and write a plan for the application before my appointment and hope to have a more solid plan after getting some advice.

I am going back to my placement next week to shadow two classes and an exercise programme. I’m excited to get involved with new classes and see how exercise programmes may differ to ones I’m used to doing at my current job. I am a fitness instructor so used to working with common conditions but my placement is with the exercise referral scheme so conditions and severity of complications may differ.