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Name: Abby Taylor

I’m doing my placement Ravensclaw Regional  Sports Facility which is based in Wishaw, Motherwell. What does it entail? Within my placement, I am working mainly with the women’s elites section in gymnastics (ages 11-16 years old), delivering strength and conditioning training 2-3 times per week and helping the lead coach with programming for the gymnasts. I really enjoy working with high performance athletes and creating session plans based specifically on their skill development needs. I also enjoy working as part of a team with the lead coach and the athletes themselves.

The only part of my placement that I don’t enjoy is that I am limited to certain coaching aspects due to my lack of strength and conditioning qualifications which I am currently working towards. This results in a few limitations that occur within the sessions I take, such as; heavy lifting spotting of the bars are for the lead coach attends to. However, by gaining my strength and conditioning qualifications, I would be able to me even more involved in the sessions therefore making it a more enjoyable experience for me. There are a few opportunities that could arise from this placement, such as paid work for the gymnastic teams. This could include different teams such as; women’s artistic elite, floor and vault, Men’s Floor and vault - age range is 6-12 as well as Acro elite section - age range 6-18. All of which could be accomplished by gaining my coaching qualifications which I aim to do.

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For my placement this year, I’ve been given a development project. This project is to gain Balmalloch Primary School their gold sport award from SportScotland. My placement supervisor has been very helpful by signing me up for courses to help me achieve this but would like more hands on support with the project. This is my first development placement which has been very beneficial for my personal development. It has been very challenging due to the nature of the project. My main role is to gather all relevant evidence to show that the school deserves the award. Due to only starting this project in October 2018, has resulted in a shorter time scale. I would be under less stress if the placement started at the start of term. I have achieved a lot from this placement as it has enhanced my communication skills especially with teachers and pupils at the school. My weakness from previous placements was my organisation skills which has improved since undergoing this project. Overall, it has been a very stressful but enjoyable placement.

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Photo - Second Meeting - 12/03/19

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Photo - First Meeting - 05/03/19

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Second Group Meeting

12.3.19 at 12pm

length of meeting 25 mins

Present: Fergus, Mairi, Alana, Dylan, David and Reece

Absent: Melissa and Abby due to work.

Topic discussed: Carrying on from last week, we asked 2nd years to think about challenges they have faced and come up with suggestion to help overcome.



Suggestions: 

Teamwork - 
Commitment to team success and shared goals - team members are committed to the success of the team and their shared goals for the project. Successful teams are motivated, engaged and aim to achieve at the highest level. Scarnati (2001) suggests teamwork promotes group cohesion and people enjoy regular interaction with individuals who have similar interests and goals. 

Reference: Scarnati, J. T. (2001). On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management: An International Journal,
7(1/2), 5-10.

Positive Reframing -
Cavazos et al. (2010) suggests that the self-belief of an individual can be used to overcome challenges and efforts to retain positive cognitions. If an individual is low in confidence, challenges are often deemed much more difficult. We agreed as a group that confidence and self-belief is key as a coach when faced with daunting challenges as it is vital for individuals to internally believe they can overcome such obstacles. 

Reference:
Cavazos, J., Johnson, M. and Sparrow, G. (2010). Overcoming Personal and Academic Challenges: Perspectives From Latina/o College Students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 9(4), pp.304-316.

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Second Group Meeting

12.3.19 at 12pm

length of meeting 25 mins

Present: Fergus, Mairi, Alana, Dylan, David and Reece

Absent: Melissa and Abby due to work.

Topic discussed: Carrying on from last week, we asked 2nd years to think about challenges they have faced and come up with suggestion to help overcome.



Suggestions: 

Teamwork - 
Commitment to team success and shared goals - team members are committed to the success of the team and their shared goals for the project. Successful teams are motivated, engaged and aim to achieve at the highest level. Scarnati (2001) suggests teamwork promotes group cohesion and people enjoy regular interaction with individuals who have similar interests and goals. 

Reference: Scarnati, J. T. (2001). On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management: An International Journal,
7(1/2), 5-10.

Positive Reframing -
Cavazos et al. (2010) suggests that the self-belief of an individual can be used to overcome challenges and efforts to retain positive cognitions. If an individual is low in confidence, challenges are often deemed much more difficult. We agreed as a group that confidence and self-belief is key as a coach when faced with daunting challenges as it is vital for individuals to internally believe they can overcome such obstacles. 

Reference:
Cavazos, J., Johnson, M. and Sparrow, G. (2010). Overcoming Personal and Academic Challenges: Perspectives From Latina/o College Students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 9(4), pp.304-316.

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My name is David Murray. I’m doing my placement with Active Schools in Dumbarton and Balloch area. The coaching throughout this year has been focused on rugby and developing the skill and understanding level of the sport towards primary pupils, such as primary 3-7. During my placement for second year I found the experience to be of great value to my coaching practice. I was able to deliver and lead sessions which I enjoy due to growing participants knowledge and understanding of the sport. I don’t enjoy placement when  participants begin to swear and hold up the session. This is when my placement provider steps in and takes control of the situation which tends to lead to the participant sitting out of the session. I think to make it a more enjoyable experience for me would be if the schools can confirm in advance to my placement provider we are using the games all/ gym hall instead of a cantine area. If I get in contact with my placement provider they will be able to tell me about the volunteer placement.

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Reece Gormley

For my placement I am working as a sports coach for south Lanarkshire active schools. This involves both multi sports sessions as well as in specific football session weekly. I also work with the officer to plan and run events for their area.
I enjoy being able to use my own coaching ideas as well as working with other volunteer and the co-ordinator to further better my knowledge and skillset.
An area that I don’t enjoy about my placement is that at times the co-ordinator can be over bearing and patronising in the way he speaks which can be quite frustrating for someone with a large amount of experience. This can at times make it harder to communicate effectively with him.
I’d like to see myself be treated more at the level I am at rather than a new coach. I’d also appreciate if there was more opportunity for coaching qualifications as these would be interesting and widen my knowledge further.
In terms of progression I feel there are opportunities to progress however these require further qualifications than active schools can provide and are very costly to undertake by yourself.

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5.3.19 at 12pm

length of meeting: 30 minuetes

Present: Fergus, Alana,  Dylan, Mairi, Mellisa and David

Absentees: Reece and Abby due to work commitments (absentees were briefed on meeting topics and told to reflect and summarise their experience so far. They have contributed via padlet.

Topic(s) discussed:
Work experience via Active Schools. We spoke about their general experience so far (positive and negative points as well as things they would change). Also, we encouraged 2nd years to reflect and discuss if they feel their experience on placement is so far successfully developing them and suitable for their chosen career path.

Furthermore we briefed on what we will be going over next week. We asked 2nd years to think of different challenges they have faced so far and ways they can overcome them.

Overall a good first meeting and great to get to know everyone better!