SPSU9W6 – Sports Work Experience (Spring 2020)

The past two weeks my placement has been much of the same. I have continued to monitor and run the 6-a-side league, spending two evening per week watching the leagues. My supervisor Amy gave me the task of collecting feedback on the leagues through distributing a survey. I have managed to get a lot of responses from people playing within the leagues. I was surprised how willing everyone was to answer the survey, as I had worried when Amy first asked me that they wouldn’t be interested in spending their time completing the survey.

I am now at the point in my placement where I am feeling very confident and comfortable doing the work given to me. This is a nice feeling being able to work more independently. I have developed my organisational skills during this module as I do not find it a struggle to complete all the tasks needed without it interfering with my other university and personal life. This will be a big help in the future when I am seeking full-time employment.

Moving forward with my placement I am more uncertain due to the uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus outbreak and the university closure. At the moment the 6-a-side league is still going ahead. This is good news to me as it means I will get more hours and closer to reaching the required 30 hours. However, I do feel like there will be more difficaulties this week with teams being unable to field teams and games having to be postponed or canceled. This is made trickier with my supervisor being on annual leave on Monday and Tuesday. I do believe that this won’t be a big issue though as I am still able to get in touch Amy and her colleagues, it will most likely mean that I will need to be more proactive in organising the Monday and Tuesday night games this coming week.

The past two weeks have been incredibly busy with a number of different clubs both continuing and also some new ones starting.

My time-management and organisation skills have definitely been tested but my placement provider Jordann has always been on hand to help out, as we both share the same experiences with university and active schools.

A new racket sports club has started up with primary 3’s and 4’s at one of my primary schools, which so far has been amazing although we are only 2 weeks in. If I had this club on my first or second week on placement then I feel it would have been one of the more challenging clubs however, my recent experiences have definitely prepared me well for these challenges. Other clubs for sports such as athletics, basketball and fitness have been running this week also and have been gradually getting better throughout the weeks which as a coach is amazing to see.

I am helping out at a sportshall athletics event on Thursday which will be a new experience for me but one I am definitely looking forward to as it will give me a new test of working as a part of a team instead of on my own which I have been doing mostly throughout the placement but it is definitely a challenge I am looking forward to.

I have also put myself forward for more shifts at the club 365 programme which I have mentioned in more detail in another blog post. My first experience with this programme was incredible so I can’t wait to be involved again as it really did show how sport could bring a community together which showed just how powerful sport can be in the right context.

My placement runs until the schools finish in June and so far I have enjoyed every experience and look forward to every challenge that faces me throughout this placement!

It is coming to the end of my work placement and I have learned so much! It has been very enjoyable but at the same time very intense. It has been so interesting to learn about all the different heigh performance sports in a lot more detail as well as learn how to programme for these different sports.

I enjoyed the last couple of work placement seminars which was based on delivering presentations, writing a good CV based on the job you are going for and how to have a good LinkedIn profile. During the seminar for presentation skills we focused on how to project our voice do done a lot of exercises as a group which was good fun. We also looked at how to grab the attention of the audience by using a opening statement. We got to go and pratcice writing this down then practiced doing it infront of the class. The seminar based around CV writing was very interesting and really beneficial. I thought my own CV was quite well structured until I herd what was said in the seminar and how we should lay our CV out and design it for the job we want! After the class I showed my CV to Annie and she was very impressed with what I had on it but advised me the structure maybe needed fixed. I then booked an appointment with Annie to go to the careers service and have her help me structure it a bit better. After the appointment my CV now looks much better. I have also made appointments to do some mock interviews in preparation for a full time job after I finish university.

I have my presentation for work placement this week and I am very excited to present what I have been doing throughout my work placement with members of staff and give them an insight into a day in the life of s strength and conditioning coach!

It is sad to be nearing the end of my work experience as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the school. This week most of the classes I was in were changing activities which was good as I got to experience more sports in the P.E environment. The first year class have now moved onto badminton and this is a sport I feel very confident with therefore I was able to help the pupils with their technique. To start some of the pupils could hardly hit the shuttle so for them to be engaging in rallies by the end was impressive. It gave me confidence in my ability to teach, as I was showing them how to play correctly as well as performing different shots. It was also very pleasing to see all the pupils engaging in the new activity and trying their hardest. The second year class have now moved onto tennis. The way I felt was the opposite of the class in the morning as I have not played a lot of tennis and have little experience in it. I was shortly put at ease though and was again able to help the pupils with their technique. This week we mostly looked at playing the forehand. The class ended with a game of king of the court where the teacher and I joined in. This was enjoyable and it gave a fun ending for the pupils. Over my time on my work experience I have also occasionally been in other classes such as health and fitness, and sport & recreation. These classes have also been good to observe in and experience as it shows the wide variety of options that the P.E department has. These classes can also help for future employment which is a huge bonus for the pupils. Overall I have enjoyed every minute of my work experience and this has cemented the career I want to follow.

This week I attended my work experience placement at Dunblane High School on Thursday afternoon. I worked with two class groups during the school day and assisted in running two afterschool clubs.

The first class group I worked with were a sports leaders group learning how to deliver tennis to different age groups. I assisted in this class by helping the teacher demonstrate skills and practices and by offering feedback and advice to individual pupils throughout the lesson. Having not coached tennis before, this session gave me an understanding of how the sport can be adapted for different ability levels. Also, it was interesting to see how this lesson differed from other PE lessons as its aim was to develop sports leaders rather than to specifically develop sporting skills and techniques in the performers.

The second class I was involved with was a second year group doing outdoor hockey, as a hockey player this was an environment I was much more familiar with. This made it easy for me to offer feedback and coaching points to the pupils in order to help improve their performances. During this session I helped set up practices and referee games, I also had to continually encourage pupils to remain focused and involved as, due to the adverse weather conditions, some were quite reluctant to part in the activity.

Directly after school I was left to run the badminton club which was attended predominately by first and second year pupils. This was a far more relaxed environment than the curriculum classes during the school day and gave me an opportunity to engage with the participants and develop more of a rapport. I supervised the activity and again offered feedback on their performances to aid their development both while observing and competing against them.

Following the badminton club there is a floorball club which is run by Tony, an independent sports coach. I worked with Tony to deliver this session. Floorball is similar to indoor hockey, so again was an activity I felt very familiar with, allowing me to give appropriate feedback and encouragement to the pupils and to effectively referee games.

I really enjoyed my placement this week as it gave me an opportunity to experience different types of PE lessons and different activities. I am hoping my placement can continue over the next few weeks as I still have quite a lot of hours to complete for the module.  However, concerns were expressed by the staff that schools may be required to close in the near future in response to the increased spreading of the coronavirus. This is a situation I will need to monitor carefully going forward.

This week on my placement has been quite enjoyable.

My mentor and I started off with doing an equipment itinerary to make sure that all of the equipment we needed was there and that we had enough of it for the kids incase we had to order more for the start of camp.  We did have enough equipment so we were saved an extra job of ordering more!

I then had to form an email that would be sent out to parents who booked their children into the camp.  I had to make sure the email contained all of the relevant information; camp timetable, information booklet, and consent form.  This was to make the preparation for camp easier for the parents.  This task was simple but I enjoyed it.

After this, I then had to update the registers with the kids who have booked into the camp.  I had to put the kids who booked in for a full week on every register etc and make sure I included everyone so that the register was up to date.  I had no idea you had to manually enter the names I assumed that when a booking was made their name and the type of booking would automatically go onto a register.  However, I completed this task and it was easy to do and non-time consuming.

My tasks for this week were all simple but they are all necessary for the camp to go ahead on time and successfully.  I’m nearing the end of doing office work which I am looking forward to as it means I’m closer to camp and getting the chance to coach.  I am enjoying my placement so far and know that I’ll enjoy it more once I’m helping in the camp, so I am eager to get to the first week in April.

I am still really enjoying my placement with coach my sport. My mentor and other coaches have been a great help in making me feel more confident. Each week lesson plans are sent out b my mentor so that I am able to see what sessions were going to be taking place that week.

This week I helped out with the red, orange and green groups. The red group started off by warming up and working on their coordination. The task involved jumping from hoop to hoop with both feet and clapping at the same time. As this group are aged between 3 and 4 years old it was challenging for them to get the hang of at first. After a few practice turns, they were all able to do it. After this they moved on to a game where they had to use their balance and coordination again. A ball was rolled towards them and they had to open their legs and let the ball pass through. Again, this was challenging to begin with but with practice, all of the group were able to do it. The games were adapted and made more challenging when the group were ready to move on.

The orange group were next, the first task involved them using team work. Using two polls, they had to pick a ball up together, walk to the next hoop, drop the ball and then catch it once it bounced using the polls. They then had to go to the next cone and balance the ball on the top. Once everyone had a few practice rounds it was turned into a competition. This motivated the children to all work harder so that they could be back first. They then moved onto another team work activity which allows them to build skills working with others. At they end they played a competitive game where they had to move hoops around using a poll, when the ‘secret word’ was shouted they had to run to the coach who had shouted it. The last person remaining won the game. The children all enjoyed the competitive element in this game. The green group followed this session afterwards but it was adapted and made harder.

At the end of each session a ‘player of the week’ trophy is given out, they get the chance to take that trophy home for the week, I think this is such a good way to encourage them all to do their best every session.

 The past two weeks have been great in my work placement, I have managed to experience a wide range of different aspects of the Active Schools remit. I have managed to volunteer at two new events, observe a new club I hadn’t attended before, and help out at the regular P2 football club every Friday.

 The first event I helped out at was the Primary 6 and 7 Central Badminton Championships held at the PEAK in Stirling. This event brought together the best players from the Stirling Council area, and Clackmannanshire Council area to compete for places at the national finals to be held in May. On my way to the event I did feel quite nervous as I never knew exactly what I was going to be doing. However, I soon discovered my role during the event was to be a court co-ordinator, where I was responsible for two courts. On these courts, I had to place players on the correct court according to the schedule, oversee each game, and collect the final score.

 The more challenging aspects of the day included a few occasions where the players could not agree on the score, or whether the shuttle landed in or out, as they were refereeing their own games. I felt confident diffusing these situations, either through replaying the point, or eventually the players came to an agreement on the score. I thoroughly enjoyed my day at the Badminton and would definitely volunteer at similar events in the future.

 At the start of this week, I assisted my mentor Craig in delivering “Come and Try” sessions for Primary 1 and Primary 5 pupils on consecutive days at Riverside Primary School. In the P1 sessions, I lead a station on jumping, working on the pupils’ Fundamental Movement Skills, including balance and coordination. The pupils were generally well engaged, and appeared to be enjoying the relay race-style format, which I found very rewarding.

 In the P5 sessions, I again lead a station, this time working on the pupils’ ball skills and hand-eye coordination in a relay-race style. The pupils seemed to relish the competitive aspect of the station, however I was keen to stress the importance of improving their skills, over winning.

 Overall, I have had a successful and enjoyable couple of weeks, and hopefully can continue to enjoy my placement work in the coming weeks.

The 2^nd year school of aesthetics class are taking part in a dance competition in a few weeks time. They are entering into the hip-hop category. The past two weeks on placement have been spent with this class practicing for the competition. The class had already made up three quarters of the dance so spent some time perfecting it. There were other PE classes available for me to go to however I thought it would be a good idea to stick with one class for a length of time. By doing this, it allowed me to get to know the girls more. This made it easier for me when I had to encourage and help them as I felt more confident knowing their names and a little bit about their personality. The teacher asked me if I would be able to make up the last quarter of the dance and teach it to the class. I don’t have a lot of knowledge in hip-hop, so I had to go home and research it by watching videos of other dances on YouTube. Through this I was then able to make up a section of the dance to the chosen song. It was easy enough to teach the dance to the class, and the teacher really liked what I had done. This made me feel good as I had reassurance that what I had made up was good enough for the dance. The girls were then able to put the full dance together. It was really good to see the dance completed. I am looking forward to seeing how much the class improve between now and the competition day.

I also made up my questionnaire based on what sporting activities pupils like in PE. The PE department and I decided it would be best if three 1^st year classes took part. This would give us a good range of pupils from the same year group, allowing the department to easily plan for the new 1^st years. As I had already been in these classes, I found it easy enough to communicate with them. All pupils were very keen to take part. I was then able to analyse the data and pass it on to the PE department.

This week I received my offer for my first choice to continue my studies in Northumbria to do my PGCE in primary teaching. I also had another full day on Monday in Raploch Primary school taking the PE classes throughout the day. This again has allowed me to gain more valuable experience within a primary school which has benefitted me for my interviews and now will be very helpful for whenever I start my postgraduate course.

This Monday was very mixed for me. It was a tough morning but a very rewarding afternoon. The two classes that we took in the morning were extremely distracted and were struggling to listen to instructions being given. This made it very difficult for me and the PE teacher to keep the children on task and to follow the lesson that was planned before. This taught me that all lessons can be planned but they will not always run how they were planned. This required us to be able to adapt and be flexible to try and engage the children more so that they got something out of the lesson. After changing activities, and organising groups to work the end of the sessions went slightly better.

However the afternoon was really enjoyable and the children really enjoyed the sessions that we took, which I had the chance to help deliver as I now have my PVG. Being able to help the children to progress their skills in PE was a very rewarding experience for me.

This was a very valuable day for me as it highlighted that there are going to be difficult times in primary teaching although also very rewarding times. I am still really enjoying my time in Raploch Primary. I have almost completed my 30 hours also and am keen to go past this as I find my time spent within this work experience is very helpful.