Employability

CDP

Inclusive Practice –

This is a University module that we took part in, in semester one of my second year of study. We did various workshops on learning how to teach sport in an inclusive setting that will be able to do for all ages, all ability and all people. This includes learning more in depth about disability sports, sports and activities for the elderly and sessions for all types of people. We had an hour a week seminar which explained what we was going to learn in the two hour practical after the seminar. We had sessions on parachute games, sitting down games and games which included light materials. England Rugby League also came in to give us a session on wheelchair rugby and how to conduct a session when different kinds of people are only limited to certain movements. This included three different workshops with a seminar, wheelchair rugby league and an inclusive practice for standard rugby league sessions. We also had wheelchair basketball come into show us how to conduct a session on that which was a great insight into how to variant our practice.

I believe that in this module I learned many different ways on how to coach and plan for all kinds of abilities. It’s taught me that when planning for a session I must take into consideration the fact that they may be a disabled participant taking place or if its in the community, there may be an older person involved that needs different planning for. It really opened up my eyes to what it’s like to coach in the real world as adaptations really do happen and that they need some content of planning for, its also taught me to be more compassionate as not everyone has the same privilege but they have the same opportunity which is what we have been taught.

I feel as though I will definitely be more employable after taking this module, this is because I have become more confident in coaching disability students which has improved my understanding and planning skills which can be very positive if seen by an employer. I believe I am more employable now that I have taken part in the module due to the fact that I have taken part in these sessions that i would be teaching therefore I’ve had a real first hand base of experience which can be seen as very useful from the employer.

Mentoring

Level 4 Mentoring at Festivals –

The level 4 students take part in a coaching festival where students from local schools come into the University and participate in sessions that the level 4’s plan and then deliver. Our job is to observe their coaching styles, behaviours and the structure of the session, we first did this by meeting with the Level 4’s prior to them delivering the session to look through their session plans and there learning objectives, we asked them what the purpose of the session would be and how they would go about approaching coaching the session.

We then observed their session that they had planned beforehand and took notes on their practice structure, coaching behaviours, the player engagement and the session objectives to see if they was put into action. This was all based on the Coaching Planning and Reflective Framework (Bob Muir, 2012), we had sheets that we filled in what we observed in the different sections. After the session had finished we then had a small meeting with the group and asked them how they thought the session went and we then gave feedback to them on what we thought about the session, what we thought went well, what they could do next time to improve.

Personally, what I learned from mentoring the level 4’s was that it gave me a good indication of how i have improved as a coach over the year since I was last in their position. I learned more specific things from observing and mentoring them too such as to always plan and have an in depth knowledge of what i’m about to coach so you can prepare for any outcome that could happen in a session to prevent the lack of engagement from your participants.

I feel as though I am more employable now I have had a go at mentoring the Level 4’s because i believe that my communication and observation skills have improved from the in depth analysis I have taken from their coaching and tried to put it back into what the theory has taught us to then give back to the level 4’s as feedback. Speaking and communicating with them has also improved my confidence which I can bring all of them skills into employment.

Community Engagement

Leeds Beckett University Club Captain of Lacrosse (AU Sport)

When starting my second year of study at Leeds Beckett University, I was selected as the Club Captain of Lacrosse. This holds a lot of responsibilities including the running of the entire AU Lacrosse Club, organising events for the members within the club, organising new kit for new members, collecting money for trips/events, re-arranging fixtures, organising referees for all home games, player liaison with the university, contact with international scholars and negotiating sponsorship deals.

I have learned a lot from my time being Club Captain for the AU Lacrosse club, it has made me a more organised person as I had not only responsibility for myself but I’ve had to have responsibility for a great number of people which in a way has forced me to become more organised therefore I got myself into a routine, so it has definitely helped me in the long run. I have also learned that communicating with other members of the committee is very vital in the running of a club, it taught me to listen to others and take other peoples opinions and outlooks to come up with the best outcome to a certain situation that we may have come across. Such as we only had a certain amount of tickets for Leeds Varsity that we could sell as a club, therefore we all got together as a committee and worked out the best way possible to come up with a plan to accommodate as many people as possible.

I know that I will be more employable after enduring this role due to the fact that i am more organised and punctual. I am more employable now than I was before taking on this role as I have become more experience with a lot of new skills such as: confidence, organised, punctual, leadership, team work and compassion. I believe that this role really has given me these traits and strengthened the ones that I already obtained. I hope that an employer in the future will consider me as I have self-belief that i have grown into a more mature person due to being in this role.