SPSU9W6 – Sports Work Experience (Spring 2020)

This is now my 4th week working at Airdrie Academy alongside the PE department. During this time I have become more confident in overseeing different classes ranging from 1st to 4th-year pupils, all with different tasks and outcomes to work towards. As a result of this, it has given me the ability to be more diverse and be able to switch up my teaching style on demand.

This week I have started doing interviews for my dissertation alongside shadowing classes. My mentor has allowed me to tackle both my work placement and my dissertation in the school which has helped me out majorly. My timetable for a Tuesday consists of taking 6 classes over the 7 period day, therefore this means I am coming into contact with many different classes. This has meant that at the end of every period I am able to take some pupils out 5 minutes early to have a short interview with them based on some questions from my dissertation.

I have also been able to help some of the 4th year girls further prepare for their one-off performances which they will have tomorrow. The activities that the girls needed help in were gymnastics and basketball, therefore I was able to provide a helping hand and lend my expertise.

I look forward to continuing my current role within the department and hope to eventually lead my own class in the coming weeks.

This is now my sixth week on my work experience and I am getting more confident as every week goes by. By sticking to the same classes every week, it has let me get to know the pupils better which I have benefitted from as I can see the improvements they have made and that is a good feeling knowing that you have contributed towards that. The national 5 class this week were again working on their portfolios as they do not have too long to complete them. This week the work ethic was much improved and they were more productive which was pleasing to see. They were again rewarded with a period of practical after this where they chose badminton. I helped some pupils with their ‘one off performance’ preparation as they chose badminton as a sport to be examined on. Giving them support that was useful, gave me confidence that I have a good knowledge in sports that I do not participate in myself. After break, I was once again in with a first-year class on basketball. The last few weeks I have stepped away a little from correcting pupils who do not have a strong sporting ability, as I don’t want to look like I’m being harsh on them, but this week I came out of my comfort zone and tried to help them with their lay-ups. Although it was hard I feel like they came away from it performing the skill better which I was pleased with. The last two periods of the day were with a second-year class and it was their last week doing acro-gymnastics. They were working on big group balances which were complex, so I was very busy helping them support the balances. The teacher decided they would have a class competition which her and I would judge. This made me feel slightly awkward as I didn’t like scoring teams low if they performed poor. As the class had worked well during the block they got to try and perform a class pyramid at the end. This took a lot of planning as we had to direct everybody in the correct position. When it was finally pulled off after numerous attempts the class were delighted, which made me happy to see them enjoying the class. Next week the first and second year classes are moving onto different activities so I look forward to seeing how these can be taught and how I can gain experience other sports.

Over the past two weeks, I have started running three more clubs (mentioned in the second blog post). These clubs have introduced me to a new school which I was very nervous about as I had no prior experience of the school or the staff in it but was given a warm welcome from the start. The staff all introduced themselves and made sure I understood where everything was and the class I would be taking. This was a racket sports club which I am very familiar with which put me at ease and as the club got going I started to really settle in to the routine.

I have also started a club at a primary school I am familiar with in Golfhill which was an incredible experience the last time around. So far this club (athletics based) has been incredibly busy but also a joy to experience, as everyone was very welcoming and happy that I had came back to the school. This club however, has a twist as I am not seen as the coach but as the mentor of the younger coach who is running the club. Both me and the coach (did not want to be named) have a great understanding already of how we want to run the club and also have an understanding of our individual and collective responsibilities. This mentoring plan will be a great experience for me in the long run as it gets me ready for taking the next step up into being a co-ordinator rather than a coach which would involve a lot more of the mentoring programme also. I have no idea who was more nervous about the introductory meeting but although, this was our first week working together I am sure it will be the first of many as we both found this session very beneficial.

I am due to start organising events in the next coming week (weather permitting) so hopefully this next challenge will be just enjoyable as the others I have faced during this placement and I look forward to what the rest of NL Active School’s calendar holds!

I haven’t been to my placement in two weeks as the schools were off one week and then next I was on holiday to Barcelona. When it came to Wednesday the 26^th I was excited to get started again. I was especially excited for this as the lunchtime dance club was starting and I am part of the dance club at university. This clubs aim is to allow 4^th year high school students to lead dance sessions in order to complete a module to pass their class. One of them was actually my friend’s little sister which was a surprise! It was primary 4 pupils which were invited to the club. However, only 10 signed up but 20 came to the club. We couldn’t say no to them so the other 10 got added to the sign-up sheet.

This was the first week this club started so the young dance leaders started off with a get to know session. They started with an icebreaker game where they would go in a circle, throw a ball at someone and they had to say their name and what their favourite dance move was. The kids were actually very shy when doing this.

After this we asked if the kids wanted to play musical statues or dance tig, and they picked musical statues. During this game they were also very shy, which was unusual as they weren’t like this in any of the other clubs which has taken place previously. However, we played dance tig after this and that was when they all came out their shell. Can’t wait to see what happens next week!

I really enjoyed my placement this week. The PE teaching block had changed, meaning all classes were starting new activities.

St Maurice’s are a school of sport and have specific classes for different sports. I was given the opportunity to help in the school of aesthetics class. In this class, the pupils take part in general PE, as well as specialising in dance, gymnastics, trampolining and other movement-based activities. I was asked if I would take the pupils for a cheerleading class, and I jumped at this opportunity. I am a qualified cheerleading coach, so was really excited about being able to share my knowledge in this class. Many of the pupils had never done cheer before, so we started off doing a little introduction. I also taught them a short routine and we practiced some stunts. I think I did well when teaching them considering we had to go back to basics, as well as being my first-time teaching cheer to a school class. I also liked the fact I was put on the spot to take this lesson; I believe it gave me a good challenge. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and I am looking forward to continuing with cheer next week and seeing how the pupils progress.

The next class I was in were starting an invasion games block. This class consisted of learning to create space within a game. By the end of the lesson, the pupils were able to play a mini ball game, allowing them to work on their movement and spatial awareness, as well as passing and defending. The hall was split into two and I was refereeing one side of the hall. This allowed me to interact with pupils a lot more than I have the past few times on placement. I felt more open and comfortable encouraging them and helping them out as it was a smaller group of people. I was also able to talk to the pupils to find out what they had learned from their lesson.

Next week I plan on gathering information to allow me to start my project. I have chosen to investigate what activities pupils like to do in PE. I will make a questionnaire and I plan to gather information from some 1^st, 2^ndand 3^rd year classes. This will help the PE department effectively plan for the next teaching block.

For this week, and the next few weeks, my tasks are office-based as the kids camp does not commence until April.  I have started to help my mentor with what goes on behind the scenes in preparation for the beginning of camp.

I met with my mentor in his office and was introduced to his colleagues; they were all friendly.  I was shown how the booking system for the camp works.  This seemed quite straightforward and is a task which I will be over-looking in the coming weeks.  We also went over how the camp is split up and how this works within the booking system; junior group, senior group, half-day, full-day etc.

The task I was given was to create a facility overview for the camp; slotting in which courts etc were available to use during the hours of camp.  I also had to create a register template, with the following columns; forename, surname, booking type (Full Week, Full Day, Half Day AM, Half Day PM) and sign in/sign out for each day of the camp, as well as creating a template for the summer camp facility overview.  This was easy enough to do, however, using excel can be frustrating and so I tended to make some mistakes that I had to fix which made it quite a time-consuming task.  Nevertheless, I completed the tasks and they looked of a high standard.  It was good to actually have a template to look at as it helped me envision what it would be like.

At the moment I am enjoying my placement however, it is quite boring as the work to be completed is office-based.  This doesn’t bother me too much as it needs to be completed in order for the camp to be a success and it also hones my computer skills.  Of course, coaching in the camp will be a lot more enjoyable but going through the processes needed to make the camp a success is beneficial as it gives me an insight into what my day to day job would be if I take the career route of Sports event management.

Last week was reading week and this gave myself a break from my work experience placement for the module and allowed me to focus on my dissertation project. I carried out interviews and transcribed them allowing me to make good progress in my project. I was also involved in my own work experience with Rangers performance analyst team again. This week I was in twice; one day to code a game and another to video from a gantry. This is a valuable bit of experience for myself as it is something the university do not offer on the sports studies degree and would be highly valuable for myself going into primary teaching. Coding and analysing games along with interacting with young people are highly transferable skills which would be used everyday in a teaching environment and will help me for any difficult situations in the future where I would need to analyse review and code my or others performance in or out the classroom.

With reading week being over we have another seminar on Thursday which focuses on presentation skills. this will be a very valuable for myself with there being a presentation as an assessment on the course and also for helping me developing my presentation skills for teaching.

Looking forward in terms of my placement hopefully this week I will have emailed companies looking for sponsorship and began a student engagement plan looking for volunteers for both the Dumyat Hill Race and the Campus 5K, so if you are reading this and are interested please get in contact with me at ajd00011@students.stir.ac.uk. Graeme my mentor has let me know that he is very busy this week so there may be little chance to secure hours however he says I am not to worry as there is plenty more to pick up and having already completed 15 hours he is very happy with my progress.

My second day at my placement I started first period with a first year class doing dance. This was good as it was a mix of boys & girls learning ‘the haka’ a routine performed by Rugby players to intimidate their opponents. I thought this was interesting as it seemed to make dance more inclusive as I always remember when i was at school and had to do it it was mainly girls who took part as boys didn’t want to but rather than making up dance routines this s an easier way to get everyone involved meanwhile still seeing their creative side as they learned the haka and then added 16 counts of their own in small groups and then finished the lesson off by learning the words to go with it. It was really fun and i went around each group to see how they were getting on with their 16 counts, most groups where doing fine but one group of boys where really struggling so I tried to encourage them to come up with something simple and easy to remember which they eventually worked together to do so. The next time I see the class they will perform their routines so I am looking forward to that.

Period 2 I had a first year class that I have previously worked with. We were working on dribbling in basketball last time and this time focusing on shooting. The kids where split into pairs and went to a basket each around the hallto practise their shooting. Me and Ms Dent went around providing some feedback and coaching points e.g. working on their balance, looking towards the basket – aiming for the backboard, bending elbow and flicking their wrist etc. We moved on to some other shooting drills and then finished off with some mini games.

Period 3 we brought two third year classes together for games of netball. First of all the girls played against the boys but we then mixed they teams up. I spend most of this session umpiring the games.

period 4 we took a third year class for volleyball. The lesson was spent playing games as this was a core P.E class therefore I just went around the hall providing any coaching points I felt may help. We tried to get the pupils to focus on their volleys rather than digs but had mixed results on their performance.

period 5 I helped to take a 2nd year class for boxercise – fitness session. This was great and something different. I helped with the equipment, do demonstrations and again provide the pupils with some feedback. This was a fun session and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Period 6 I had a free period. Period 7 I helped take a forth year class for wheelchair basketball as a big part of the schools curriculum is inclusive sports. They played a few games and I refereed, we didn’t need to go over basic use of the wheelchairs or skills when using them as they had done this the previous week.

Throughout the day I worked with a mixture of the P.E departments teachers and year groups. As well as participating in a variety of sports which helped break the day up and make the placement more enjoyable.

My third day of placement has been busy and even more exciting than the previous ones. It started at 8.30 am at the gym office, where Josh, Shannon and I adjusted the programme to every swimmer’s needs before leading the session in the afternoon. It was interesting to discuss with Josh how the exercise selection varies depending on the training phase and upcoming competitions and how it always aligns with the specificity of the sport. Some of the athletes had an easy week (regeneration week) before an important national competition happening the following week, while others had a heavier week with a specific focus on upper body strength towards the end of the week. We discussed also some potential additional exercises for people lacking mobility after having noticed that in a few people during my first day of placement. I, therefore, understood the importance of having a plan of periodized training beforehand but also the importance of adapting the programme depending on the week, on how the athletes feel, and new things may be noticed as a coach during the sessions, which may need to be addressed in the short term. After programming, we headed to the swimming pool, where I had the chance to assist to Josh’s meeting with the swimming technical coaches about two different groups of swimmers. The meeting was meant to discuss further training programmes and making sure that the gym programmes were well balanced with the pool training. It was extremely interesting hearing how many technical details and considerations have to be taken into account when planning some of the athletes’ programmes preparing for the Olympic trials. I’ve also understood the importance of regular and effective communication with the technical coaches as an S&C coach to make sure that the athletes get the best chances to improve performance in their sport. Before starting the session with the swimmers, I had the chance to chat with a few observers from team GB who came in to watch the session and seemed to like my enthusiasm and approach to the programme and asked me what it was about. I was pleased to tell them about it and chat about the content of the session they were unfamiliar with. It was a nice way to expand my network and get to know even more people in this sector.

My placement was slightly different this week. I went with the community fitness instructor to help with three classes done in the community. I was nervous as this was different to previous weeks as I was working with a new staff member I didn’t know but upon arrival she was welcoming which calmed me down. We went to head office and took a company car then proceeded to the venues. I was firstly surprised at how far away they were, the first one was around 45 minutes away into the rural parts of Stirling. I now understood the need to go to these communities as they were small villages and the travel may be hard for those without cars.

The class members were so nice and extremely grateful we had come to them to help and in particular were interested in me and what I wanted to do. They made me feel welcome. As the classes went on, I helped those who needed assistance and participated where appropriate. In the second class there was a lady who suffered from MS and her whole lower body had become so weak she couldn’t walk without sticks… I found this hard to manage as I hadn’t worked with someone like this before. I was worried about offering too much help and patronising her but also didn’t want her to think I wasn’t offering my help. She managed well and knew her own limits which helped but I still found that a challenging part of my day. I found that although she suffered the worst out of the class she also tried the hardest and kept going when others didn’t which was lovely to see. We helped her to her car after class and I found it fascinating she even drove. She had a hand control for her pedals, without this I imagine the lady would have been very isolated.  The third class were more able and the class was bigger so I helped lead this one as I had shadowed the previous two. I found this easy and surprised myself at how I just jumped into it.

On our way back to Stirling I managed to chat to the staff member about her work, she gave me good advice as I had an interview on Friday for a similar post which helped me prepare.