SPSU9W6 – Sports Work Experience (Spring 2020)

Since my previous blog post, I have been at my placement 3 times since then. One day consisted of doing interviews for my dissertation and the other two were taking a number of classes that were on my scheduled timetable.

Last week I sat with the head of the PE department and discussed what I wanted out of my placement and what he could help me with in regards to my dissertation. My placement provider has been really helpful as he has allowed me to kill two birds with the one stone by carrying out my 30 hours placement but also allowing me to gather data for my research project whilst doing so. We sat for a period of time, looking over what pupils had dropped out of PE and in particular what pupils to target to interview later on in that week. We gathered a list of 11 pupils who dropped out in third year, however, these pupils still needed to partake in core P.E. This allowed me to grab some of these pupils for a chat at the end of the lesson and ask them a few general questions about what would motivate them to partake in P.E and what their reasons were for dropout. By doing a quick interview at the end of the lesson it allowed me to still be able to teach and gain experience from shadowing the class that day but also gather data.

The information that I have gathered has not only helped me with my dissertation but it as also provided the P.E department with valuable information on what pupils want out of their lessons and the reasons behind them dropping out. Incorporating my interviews into my work experience was apart of my project plan at the start and both me and my placement provider were aware of this.

Next week, I have been asked to be a judge at a dancing competition at St Ambrose High School for Active Schools as part of my placement. This will give me a different opportunity and will give me an insight into a different career path. I am looking forward to it and hopefully gain more experience in the sporting field by doing so.

I have been to my placement twice since my last post.

4^th of March

At the lunch time club, the young dance leaders started teaching a Contempory dance to the primary 4 girls. However, they started with a game of musical bums to warm up. Only 15 pupils turned up that week as there was a confusion if it was on or not because it was dance week at their school.

The after-school club this week was a new block of primary ones. We had to adapt our usual multi-sport games as they were finding some of it too difficult. Most the primary 1s behaved themselves but there’s a few troublemakers in this class so I had to take that into consideration when deciding teams etc.

11^th of March

At the lunchtime club, the young dance leaders played tik tok songs for the kids to dance to for a warm up as that’s what the kids requested. They then added on to the Contempory dance they started last week. The pupils that missed it last week were already taught the dance by their peers which made me quite happy to see they are enjoying it.

At the afterschool club this week, we played a few games of tig to get them warmed up; tunnel tig, disco tig and alphabet tig. We then played a few relay races and by that time the hour was done before I knew it.

Can’t wait to see what happens next week!

Since my last blog post I have been to my placement twice.

On one of my visits I took ‘fit for life’ classes at thePEAK for the first time, I was worried as I had not worked with this class before.  The classes are usually taken by my mentor, so I felt like I had big boots to fill. Once I started taking the class I calmed down and it was fine, I think my experience personal training and coaching came into play here. After the class everyone was friendly and said thanks and well done.

My second visit was to Kippen parish church where I helped staff with an ‘Otago’ class, this focuses on strength and balance and the participants are mainly the elderly or those with injuries. I had to drive out there myself, so I was worried about getting lost and being late. My maps on my phone took me to the wrong place I had to jump out of the car and ask where the hall was, this is out of my comfort zone slightly. I have never done this before, I quickly realised I was overthinking a simple task. I ran into the hall with 2 minutes til starting. The staff member didn’t know I was coming, which was awkward but he was welcoming, I already had worked with him before so I just followed his lead. After the class the participants have a coffee morning which was nice to get to know them and what their impairments were and learn about living with them.

After this class I followed the staff member to our next class in Fintry which was a ’lower limbs’ class. This class focuses on strength mostly which is something I am interested in and that particular class was new to me. I found it interesting and it had a large variety of ability, I thought the class was planned well and I could see progression routes I would take If it was my class. After the class the staff member had a 1:1 supervision I would have liked to stay and watched but I didn’t ask as my mentor had not said anything about this, maybe I should have just taken the initiative.

I think these classes are a great addition to communities as they are very far away. I have attached photos to show how rural these areas are.

My third day at placement I spent the day working with classes I’d previously worked with. I started off with a first year group finishing off their block of netball. I lead a warm up with the pupils, split them into teams and then just played games so that the teacher could monitor their progress. The 2nd period was similar but this time we had a first year group for basketball and some sports leaders in to help. We split them into six teams and had a tournament with three small court games going on so noone was sitting out. Winners got 3 points, Draw equals 2 points and a loss 1 point. The kids seemed to really enjoy this and I noticed some of the kids getting really competitive and eager to win. I had a free period third so just helped to pump up some basketballs and netballs and sort out the girls netball strips. Forth period I was supposed to take a circuit class but the kids ended up going into the fitness suite so I went in and watched the dance group perform their Hakas that I had observed them learning previous session. They then finished off with a dodge-ball competition, This was a good laugh cause the kids always enjoy this and I even joined in which took me back. Fifth period was again end of the block for first year students so we done mini games for a basketball tournament again, the teacher was going around observing to mark their performance. My last period was the same straight into basketball games so they could be marked on their performance and communication but this time for a third year group.

Prior to this day I met with Romie for the mid semester meeting which was a quick meeting we all had to see how things where going. It was good to have a chat with her one to one to see how she thought I was getting on and overall positive as I seem to be on track which put me at ease especially with working around my dissertation and job because as I realised in one of our seminars where we self-reflected sometimes I do not prioritise things I should.

I attended my 3rd day of placement on Tuesday last week (3rd of March). After discussing with the head of PE, he agreed that I could come in this Friday coming instead, which is great as it suits my university timetable more since it has changed after reading week.

I experienced lots of different classes on Tuesday. One of the first classes of the day I helped one of the teachers set out and perform a bleep test with her students. There were two pupils in particular that blatantly refused to take part and then the teacher had to discipline them accordingly. They agreed to come back in at lunch time to do it again, and I agreed I would also come in then with them to bare witness that the teacher was being completely fair and the pupils both agreed to take part again.

I also shadowed a fitness session with the school of basketball team that focused on balancing. Which is obviously an important aspect of their sport. I also helped out with the girls school of football and the higher PE class which focussed on theory. The teacher had to take it back to basics as some of that class seemed to be sturggling with the basic concepts used within their portfolios.

At lunch, I went back to help the teacher with the bleep test of the two pupils who refused to take part earlier and they came along. Both pupils done really well and both the teacher and I tried to convince them that no one in the class is interested in how anyone does in the test and tried to portray to them that it is in their best interest to just complete the test in class time as opposed to having lose time out of all of our lunches.

After lunch, I asked head of PE if he minded if I asked about interest in a netball club. He agreed that the next time I was in he would put out an intercom message in the morning to see if there is the interest to come along at lunch time. Paul from Active Stirling was also there at the point who organised Stirling Netball Club leading a primary club in Bridge of Allan and he emphasised that pupils had been at him for a while now to get a netball club started at Wallace, so fingers crossed next time I’m in, the interest is shown at the meeting and I can get it started.

The day started designing specific programmes for the swimmers, adding specific additional work for people lacking mobility. We then delivered the session in the performance suite. It was a really busy session, where the athletes performed complex lifts (snatch, drop snatch, clean and jerk) which needed a lot of assistance and feedback. It was our job to make sure that everyone could work safely in a clean and safe space in the gym. A few athletes asked for my assistance when they performed core exercises. I was happy to help them and to motivate them to finish each set with intent. During the session, a GB representative I have never met before was observing the athletes training. He saw that  I was really proactive and trying to help the athletes whenever they needed any assistance and towards the end of the session he started chatting to me. He was just curious about my position and pleased to hear that I had the chance to do a work experience alongside my degree programme. I was pleased to see that he was genuinely interested in my experience both as a student and as an S&C intern for the past two years. While helping to coach, I have been exposed to a new environment, where I had a chance to meet new people and broaden my network in an area I am determined to pursue a career in the future. After the swimming session, we had another session with the golf team. Some of the athletes were still recovering after a tournament played over the weekend in Dubai. The session was supposed to be a high-volume and low-intensity one. Although most of the athletes were physically really tired, at the beginning of the session Josh stressed the importance of getting some qualitative work done. Some of the athletes were struggling with some technical points when performing the clean and I was happy to provide them with a few technical cues. They seemed happy to take them and they put them into practice in the same session. I was pleased with their effort and improvement during the course of the session. Seeing the athletes listening to feedback and improving after having put them into practice made me feel really good.

During my third week at placement at coach my sport, there was a rotation in activities for all age groups. My mentor provided me with the updated lesson plans, so that I was prepared in advance. This week there was a series of different courses to complete, each one getting more advanced as the age groups progressed.

The first group was the red group and the warm up focussed on agility and and co-ordination. The game played was called ‘safe house”. This involved two tents being placed at the back of the hall, which was their ‘house’. One of the kids were placed in the middle of the hall with pool foam noodles, and as the other kids tried to get in their houses the one in the middle would try and catch them with the noodles before they reached their house. This was difficult to manage as not all kids were the same speed so it meant that the same kids were caught. However, we quickly overcame this issue by changing it from one person in the middle to two, this made it more difficult and therefore more inclusive for everyone.

The second group was the orange group. This consisted of many different activities laid out in an assault course. The first was two thick long ropes, that children had to balance on top of. From the beginning to the end without falling off, if they fell off they would have to repeat it until they made it to the end. Once they got to the end there was a hoop and a ball, they had to stand on a coloured matt and through see if they could through the ball in the hoop. The next section consisted of a wooden bench and three cones at either side. They had to slide themselves along the bench, while transferring a ball from one side to the other in a race against the opposing team. This was all very fast paced, but enjoyable. The kids had to be monitored at all times to ensure that all activities were performed safely.

The last group was the green group. As they were a bit more advanced, they were able to participate in a series of different games. They were split into two games and went head to head. The first game was indoor curling. A target was placed in the middle that had different points on it, the group to gain the most points would win. This added a competitive element to the game, which meant that the kids worked a lot harder.

This weeks placement was an enjoyable session as the kids appeared to have a good session. With different groups learning different skills, I was able to learn a variety of different things which improved my knowledge greatly.

On my 2^nd day of placement, I managed to help out in the higher dance class. I have been dancing since I was 4 and I am part of the university dance team, so I felt like I would be a great help to the pupils here. The pupils were finishing off their choreography for their exam, which allowed me to go around groups and give them ideas. This made me feel like I had done something worthwhile, as the advice I was giving them allowed them to progress further in their routine. The accomplishment I felt when they thanked me was great, and it helped me to become more confident in my abilities.

There were some tough pupils in the classes later on in the day, which meant I had to help them focus and encourage them. I felt as though a few of those tough pupils benefited a lot from having me there, as it allowed them to get the individual help they needed while the teacher gave small amounts of time to all the pupils. There were 3 different classes that all had the same type of pupils in them, meaning that throughout the afternoon I had gained some experience on dealing with them and mean that I was more experienced by the end.

On the 3^rd day it was mostly lower school classes I was helping out in. due to them not being as focused as those sitting exams, it meant that the teachers and I had to work extra hard to ensure there was no messing about. One of the first-year classes was taken by a student teacher from Edinburgh University, which gave me an insight as to what it will be like when I do my post grad. Due to him being a student, the pupils didn’t listen to him in the same way as they would their usual class teacher. Although this made me nervous about how classes might react to me, it allowed me to see learn how to deal with these obstacles and gain experience for the future.

Over the past week I have finally got my emails out to potential sponsers for both the Dumyat Hill Race and the Campus 5K. I have heard back from two of the emails which were both not willing to sponsor the race however I remain hopeful of gaining a few positive responses in the coming week. Furthermore this week I have been involved in trying to get stewards and volunteers organised for the campus 5K. This has gone alright so far however I am still looking for several more, so if interested please email me on ajd00011@students.stir.ac.uk. This opportunity would be good to put on your CV and will help to take your mind off any exams or dissertation work.

Last week I had a catch up with Graeme to see how I was getting on with everything, which I was happy so far with. We also spoke about what I can expect to happen in the coming weeks and he also reassured me of obtaining my hours for the course as both events will take 10 hours of my day therefore more than passing the 30 hours required. This catch up was useful for both of us to express any worries and what has been going well.

Looking at my other work experience at Rangers. Last week I was in on Thursday and got to prepare the under 18s team to face celtic this coming week. This involved me looking through the previous game they played against them and looking for there patterns in play and where they did well and did not both in possession and out of possession. This was a throughly enjoyable experience getting to work with a bunch of highly talent young athletes. Before this I had only been working with the 11s and 12s who only require positive details of their games. therefore going into more detail with the older boys really brought out competitive side of wanting to win. This week I am going in on Tuesday to code the games from the weekends.