Beckton Summer Festival 9/07/2011

This is a Sports Showcase Activity at the Beckton Festival 2011. As part of the event we put on a series of fun cricket matches and drills for local kids aged between 8-15 years. The wheather help up well on this day. Although there were few drops in the afternoon.

Sumo Wrestling from UEL Sports

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young batter hits a sly shot towards the side of the wicket

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young fielders get ready for the big hit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run Fun Starz's Professional Multi-Sports Coach  gives Bowling Tips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see more pictures at Twitpic.

Kids Pound-A-Play Session

We have two exclusive Kids Pound-A-Play Sessions (aged 8 to 13 years) at Queensbridge Sports and Community Centre on Monday 27th 4.30pm - 6.30pm and Friday 22nd July 4.00pm - 6.00pm. Only £1 for each hour session. All kids have to do is turn up with trainers and kit. Snacks will be provided for kids. Sports involved in the sessions range from Floor Tennis to Cricket, Athletics, Basketball, Badminton, Gymnastics, Football and Adapted Sports like Boccia.

The only way to find out is to attend on Monday 27th 4.30pm - 6.30pm and Friday 22nd July 4.00pm - 6.00pm:

Queensbridge Sports and Community Centre, 30 Holly Street, Hackney, London, E8 3XW

Bring your kids and/or inform the parents of children within this age group. Inform young people you know, they are welcome.

All Professional Multi-Sports Coaches are CRB checked and hold a Level 2 NGB qualification with first aid training. Equipment is provided.

Hammerson Community Games 2011 - Day 1

Today for the first time we were part of delivering activities at the Hammerson Community Games 2011 at the Britannia Leisure Centre in Hackney. This event was hosted by SportInspired. Approximately 200-300 young people aged 9 to 10 participated in 9 different sports. We were the only organisation that offered two sports in Cricket and Floor Tennis. It was a fantastic day as the young people were so enthusiastic.

Upon arrival of our team of coaches and manager the Sports Hall was quiet and the environment was relaxed. The Event Manager introduced herself to us and welcomed us. We were then chauffeured to our designated areas of sports. Over the far side of the hall was marked 'Cricket' and adjacent to it a small area said 'Floor Tennis'. At that moment I felt immense pride that we were offering an activity that the children would most likely never have heard of. And is essence this is what Run Fun Starz Group is about. Countless times I could over hear people; young people and adults alike asking 'What is Floor Tennis'?.

Indeed they found out what Floor Tennis was throughout the morning and afternoon. They seemed to  have really enjoyed it. Equally the Cricket matches were so competitive, fun and LOUD. I have never heard so much cheering in an event like this. And that is saying something. The  sheer volume of energy and support these young people showed each other was so electrifying it passed on to the volunteers. Despite the negative weather forecast and the usual inconsistent weather conditions the young people brought class and joy to the event. It was all inspiring. In the end this is what the host wanted.

This was Game 1 of a total of 3 Games that we will be taking part on: June 24th and July 15th. Stay tuned for the next entry of the Hammerson Community Games 2011 and watch out for latest photos coming up. Bring on the 24th!

Fran for the Flame! Williamson launches torch bearer campaign

Cambridge based Paralympic swimmer Fran Williamson began a campaign to secure nominations to be a bearer on the Olympic Torch Relay, which passes through Cambridge on Saturday 7th July 2012.  Williamson is seeking to secure as many nominations as possible from the people of Cambridgeshire & the South East (In fact all over!).

She seeks to represent the area as a long serving athlete on the GB swimming team and medal hopeful in the London Paralympic games.  Fran recalls the progress of the torch in the build up to the Paralympic games in Athens and Beijing as “iconic.”  She added:

“Everyone knows about the torch relay, and it would be an amazing thing to be a part of and represent Cambridgeshire.  The progress of the torch is something that will capture the imagination of the nation”

Nominations for the torch relay open today, Wednesday 18th May at 11am, and can be made online at http://www.london2012.com/games/olympic-torch-relay.  Fran is looking to enlist the support of the community as she strives to be a torch bearer - the ‘Fran for the Flame’ campaign.  She hopes that support from the people of Cambridgeshire & the South East will mean that she is able to be a part of the relay, and would like people to vote for her.  Fran said:

“I really hope people will nominate me – the support of people in Cambridge is really vital in my quest to be part of the torch relay, and I’d be so grateful for all the nominations people make”

So, in short, Fran needs you.  Nominations are open for a period of 42 days.  Back Fran for the Flame!

Kind regards,

Adam

GB Sports Coaches

Coaching children towards their targets - Part 1

Firstly, a big thanks to Run Fun Starz Group for inviting me to guest blog!

For this blog, I've chosen a topic that's close to my heart. I've worked with children for over 20 years – teaching, mentoring, and more recently coaching. But I don't mean coaching in the 'sports coach' sense, although the style of coaching I use is derived from sports coaching (see Tim  Gallwey's “The Inner Game of Tennis”).

The link you could add here could be:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Tennis-W-Timothy-Gallwey/dp/0330295136/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299001907&sr=1-1 (which I've used from Amazon)

Having coached teachers and head teachers for several years on areas of personal performance at work, I was intrigued by how the performance coaching tools and techniques used with adults could be applied to children and their school targets.

School targets

All children have some sort of targets to work towards, whether these be end of year targets, termly, half-termly or weekly ones. These are usually curriculum or behaviour-based. The ones I was initially interested in were behaviour targets, which led to a pilot study with a group of teachers.

The study

A group of 6 teachers, who I'd trained in coaching skills, used these skills as part of their work with children who had been identified as having special educational needs for behaviour.  Some key things to mention here:

1.    The aim of the study was to support the children towards:

- greater self-awareness

- taking accountability for their own behaviour / learning

- developing their own solutions to problems

2.    The children were encouraged to come up with their own targets using coaching techniques and models – even if they originally had been given targets for the term by their class teacher. This resulted in greater target ownership, and accountability.

3.    The coaching approach was never intended to replace the teacher's existing methods for helping these children, merely to enhance what they were already doing.

The study provided us with positive results and measurable progress over a 2-term period. The work continues, but I will leave you with a few starting points if you're interested in maximising children’s performance towards their targets (curriculum or behaviour).

Getting started ...

Ask the right questions

Encourage the child to come up with their own target, using questions such as:

·         What would you like to get better at this term?

·         What would be a good target for (maths / your behaviour, etc.) which would help you over the next 6 weeks?

·         If you could pick a really great target to work on, to help with your (co-ordination skills / literacy work), what would that be?

The last question is more advanced and perhaps better for children who are more familiar with the concept of personal targets.

Create a picture

Help the child to visualise what achieving their target will look like.

·         How will they feel when they achieve it?

·         What will people notice about them that will be different?

·         What could their friends / other teachers be saying about them when they've achieved it?

Set time scales

This will depend on the age of the child, the size of the target and what else is going on for the child. Share with them your thoughts on when would be a realistic deadline and why you think this is the case. For example, there may be class targets to achieve by the end of the year / term, which are linked with their target. Or you may believe they have set themselves a small target that could be achieved quickly. However, my experience has shown me that children will often go for big targets!

Happy target-setting, and let me know how you get on!

By Debbie Inglis

Director
Square Two Development Ltd
01629 706 100
0779 161 0215
www.squaretwo.co.uk
Twitter: @squaretweet (businesses)
Twitter: @TeachersCoachUK or @HTcoach (schools)