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Today was my last on the job so I took it upon myself to do some reflection on how this experience has affected me throughout the week. My supervisors have consistently provided positive feedback and constructive guidance throughout my time at the swimming club and given me tips on how to deal and interact with the kids in order to gain their respect through understanding and authority.

Beyond teaching swimming techniques, my work at the swimming club has also emphasized the importance of life skills such as discipline, perseverance, and teamwork. Through consistent practice and encouragement, the children learn to set goals and work diligently towards achieving them. The sense of friendship that develops among the young swimmers is fun to see as they tease each other and play around.

I felt that being apart of this sort of atmosphere which accepts mistakes and errors fosters a positive and inclusive community. Overall, I would say my experience has been very effective both professionally and personally, as I was taught and shown the true disciplinary nature of a work environment as well as playing a part in helping kids grow and thrive through the joy of swimming.

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Today I was moved to a different venue to work with different coaches and different people in a new environment/setting. I helped kids learn technical skills such as, turns, dives, and body positioning in the water. I learned different hand gestures to show to the kids as they swim to help remind them to either kick faster or prop up their hips or keep their chin down. Working with these kids was a really great opportunity for me as I had to make myself gentle, calm and understanding while also being authoritative.

Today there was a boy who really did not want to swim and was complaining about a small cut on his hand. He was crying to the coach and saying he couldn't swim as his cut was making it too painful and difficult. I decided to step in and hear the little boy out. I asked him ''whats wrong?'' as he kept clenching his hands into fists and he said his hand really hurt. I asked him to show me but he wouldn't and I said ''hey buddy, you cant keep clenching your hand its gonna make it hurt even more. I then managed to get him to try putting his hand underwater which then made him realise it wasn't painful at all. After the coach was struggling to get the boy to stop crying and screaming, I managed to get him to behave and calm down just by being empathetic and understanding.

So I learned today that being with kids requires you to be more in touch with your emotional side and you need to get down on there level so they know you are only there to help them.

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On my 3rd day, I worked with different coaches and different kids with varied skill levels. I worked with younger kids learning the very basics of swimming and safety and talked with the coach/supervisor about how they conduct the lessons and how they respond to the children if corrections are needed. I got involved by explaining and demonstrating the drills.

Another group I got involved in was a level higher than my first group which focused on instilling good habits into the kids and prioritising technique. As I chatted with the coaches I learn that they really emphasise the idea that these kids shouldn't be taught to go fast or do sprints, and they talk about how important the technique is for the swimmer within the early stages.

I also worked with slightly older kids (12yrs old) and I helped them get warmed up and talked about the importance of stretches, pulse raisers and teamwork. I conjured up some sequences for the swimmers to get warmed up and not stiff while getting them to partner up and work together. Controlling this large group was quite the challenge as I really had to project my voice and assert my authority to gain their attention and cooperation, this took some time.

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On my second day, I worked with the same group of kids as yesterday which helped as I was able to have a sense of familiarity with my team which led to easier interactions and overall just a more comfortable atmosphere while working. Today I created a dry land programme by incorporating my own knowledge and tips from my supervisor, where I experimented with exercises and stretches to help the kids warm up and prevent injuries.

As I would assign these exercises to do, I would walk around and make any corrections as needed (e.g. form, effort, efficiency). The second part of my work was pool work where I helped with announcing the training session and its contents to the kids and helped them break down what was expected of them.

I worked with these swimmers from 5-7:30pm as I walked along to pool correcting their form and being of help to my supervisor. After this session had ended, I helped my supervisor by taking care of timings, splits, and recalls (all using a stopwatch) for the older swimmers (ages 16-18). I helped out my supervisor by explaining the set to the older swimmers and using a stopwatch to time their splits and tell them.

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Today was my first day on the job as an assistant swim coach for kids ages 8-11. My supervisor made a great impact on my understanding of my role by constantly stressing the importance of correcting their form during training sets. He also made sure I was able to be authoritative, confident and loud when giving instructions and pointers. I did find this quite challenging at first as kids can be rowdy and playful, especially when they see someone who is young (like me) so they wouldn't take me seriously at first.

After I attempted to connect with some of the kids on a one - to - one level by getting close and gently telling them what they are doing wrong and what they need to focus on, I felt that they started to listen the me better and see me as a figure they could come to for questions, concerns and anything else. My supervisor was really helpful by letting me take control in some situations and testing me with questions like ''what is that kid over there doing wrong?'' and I would have to identify how to correct them.

I had some kids come to me with problem like broken goggles, empty bottles, ripped caps, and it was nice to see that they wanted to speak to me and I was able to help as well.