Monday- Stew surprised me on Monday and asked if felt comfortable to be the lead coach for the day and I was absolutely buzzing with this. I chose to coach the youngest group as I’m used to coaching under 16’s so I wanted to be outside of my comfort zone. I had an assistant who was also on placement from city college, so we were in similar positions. In the morning I allowed the assistant to deliver the warm up for 10-15 minutes, after this I took the reign and delivered the children’s favourite game. The game is called numbers and the children split into two teams and stand in opposite corners. It was 7 in each corner so the teams numbered themselves 1-7 and I would throw a ball into the middle and shout a number and they would play in a 1v1 situation to try and score. I then made many adaptions such as calling out more than one number, restricting touches and adding goalkeepers to keep things fresh and keep them thinking. The afternoon was again a tournament-based afternoon which was broken up with penalty shootouts and crossbar challenges to give them a break from games and give them something enjoyable to play in. This was my first day leading the sessions and I really enjoyed it and when stew spoke to me after he said I did really well, and I should be proud of myself which filled me with confidence.

Tuesday- This was my last full day of placement and I was quite gutted to be not carrying on as I really enjoyed this whole experience. Similar to yesterday I was leading the group again today, but I was in charge of a different age group. I was working with the 7-8-year olds and I knew from experience they were very talented footballers which I was looking forward too. I planned a session which aimed to really push these players to their maximum. The morning session was all about 1v1 shooting and defending which was interesting as I knew they were all good attackers, but it was interesting to see how they defended in a 1v1 situation. This allowed me to go through how to defend 1v1 and how to show the player onto the weaker foot and push them away from goal which I feel benefitted them lots. In the afternoon during the matches I was putting restrictions on teams to make things interesting and we looked into how formations can be effective. For example, I set a 10-minute game but one of the teams started 2-0 down. The reason I did this was to see if the team would play much more attacking and see how they adapt in these game realistic situations. Another situation I made was that one of the teams had gotten a red card and the game was 1-0 to them but they had to play 10 minutes with one less player and see how they may change their shape or the mentality. I really enjoyed this day as it was the type of coaching, I want to do more of. I love coaching technical aspects of football and teach them tactics to help them when they become more and more competitive.

Wednesday- Wednesday was a very different day as I was only in for 4 hours due to it being my last few hours to reach my 100-hour mark. I wasn’t actually set to a group which I felt was strange but it’s because stew wanted to have a chat with me. We spent the morning watching other groups while in discussion about my future plans. He offered me to work on an immediate start as a community coach but due to university and a part time job it didn’t really suit me. However, he told me to contact him after I finish my degree and he would be more than willing to offer some sort of position at the trust. To say I was buzzing is an understatement.

Monday- After already completing a full week of placement I was feeling more confident in my delivery and I felt more than capable to deliver sessions to a variety of age groups. I knew this week was going to be similar to the last as it was still half term soccer roadshows. Monday morning, I spoke to Stew and asked if I could have some more responsibility as I wanted to get the most out of my placement opportunity. He was more than happy for me to step up and deliver more sessions. He asked my preference of age group and I told him I was more than happy with any age. We walked up to goals to deliver the morning session and I was put in the youngest age group which ranged from 4-5-year olds. My session in the morning was all about fun and I wanted to ensure the children all had a ball and got plenty of ball time and enjoyed themselves and felt comfortable on the ball to bolster their technical skills. For the game I played traffic lights which meant I had 3 coloured cones (Green-go, Orange-walk, Red-stop). I started by calling the colour too, so they didn’t have to look for me but once they got used to that I didn’t call the colour and they had to be looking up while dribbling around which worked to help their vision and special awareness. During the afternoon again we played lots of football matches which was good for the children as they really enjoyed the competitive action. At the end of the day I was once again feeling really happy and positive.

Tuesday- Tuesday was another day and another soccer roadshow so it was nothing that I wasn’t used to. The morning was the same as usual but this time I was with the older group with a lead coach I had never seen before. He didn’t know what I was capable of and didn’t want me to lead sessions on my own so for the whole day I was stood back watching similar to what I did on the first session. I was quite annoyed by this as I wanted to keep coaching and keep improving. However, it gives me a chance to see how he coached and how he controlled the session which was good for me to see. It was a good day all in all, I just wish I had the opportunity to do much more coaching.

Wednesday- On this day I was back with the youngest group for a multi-sports day. The timings of the day remained the same but instead of just football we were told to deliver some multi sports sessions. My role in the morning was to deliver a warm up. The warm up I planned involved lots of SAQ (Speed, Agility, Quickness). This involved lots of sections on the pitch full of objects and different obstacles. For example, I used ladders, hula hoops, hurdles and cones. The children had free rain and every so often I would stop them and ask a child to choose another movement (such as side steps, jumping etc). This was the same warm up as last week as it was a different group of kids so it wouldn’t have been the same for them as the week before. The afternoon was still match based, but we did lots of different sports such as dodgeball, handball, football and football rounders. During the afternoon I was in charge of officiating and as we had younger children there were A LOT of toilet breaks which I had to escort the children to and from.

Thursday & Friday- Thursday and Friday were the exact same as last week and was basically identical days. The morning of both days consisted of shooting drills to test their shooting ability and give chance for the goalkeepers in our group to have a chance at saving some shots and improving with some guidance from us coaches. The afternoons were tournament based and we kept the same teams for the two afternoons but introduced transfers. This is where the children can choose to change teams or try and sign other players from other teams. This is good for giving them a break from continuously playing and gives a more competitive edge for them to enjoy. I really enjoy these days as I love to coach shooting drills as I find it extremely satisfying watching some of these young players striking a ball at a very high level and some of the keepers are so good which is fantastic to see. This was the end of my second week of placement, and I was up to 80 hours at this point, so I only had 2 and a half days to go.

Monday- This was my first day on my placement and I was feeling particularly nervous. I knew what to expect as I used to work with Plymouth Argyle, but it had been a long time since I had coached children of a young age. Throughout the day I was faced with many different tasks. To start the day, I was stood outside the stadium directing parents and children to the meeting point. This wasn’t too big of a deal for me as I am a confident character and I never have an issue with talking to new people. Once the children were all signed in Stew gave them all the breakdown for the day and had a chat with them all about the do’s and don’ts. We then walked them up to Goals (the local football centre) where they would be split into equal groups dependant on age. I was based with the youngest groups which was children between the ages 5-6. My lead coach explained to me that because it was my first day, he wanted me to examine how he dealt with things to try and show me some tips of how to deal with such a difficult age group. However, I have previous experience in coaching children between ages 3-6 so I felt quite comfortable straight away. The morning session was built up of little games which worked on key aspects of football such as controlling the ball and moving with the ball. The morning session went very fast and we then walked the children back to Home Park where the children would sit to eat lunch. This was a difficult hour at times as lots of children finished their food early so, they were bored which started causing silly behaviour and lots of noise. More authoritative figures dealt with these situations and before I knew it, we were back up to goals for the afternoon session. This was full of lots of games, penalty shootouts and tournaments. Overall the day was very enjoyable, and I certainly felt more confident going into the week after this day.

Tuesday- Feeling more confident going into Today I was expecting a very similar day as this was a two-day course so in theory the same children should attend meaning the groups and coaches would stay exactly the same. However today when we walked to goals, I was told I was going to be swapping with another placement student and I was going to be helping to coach the older group. This group consisted of footballers aged between 12-15. Similar to Monday, the coach didn’t know me, so he was confident in allowing me to deliver any sessions I had planned so I was willing to watch and learn. Also, this gave me a chance to compare how coaches work and act when coaching a younger age group to an older age group. The morning session was filled with fast, action packed drills which included lots of shooting which the participants seemed to really enjoy. The afternoon session again was just one big tournament for our age group and the HUGE difference I noticed was how competitive the older group are, and they would do anything to win. This is a good quality to have but alongside this you had children who were getting upset and frustrated when they were losing which is sometimes a hard factor to deal with it. At the end of the day we had to give out 2/3 prizes per group and the coach asked if I was happy to choose a participant to give a prize during the presentation, which I was more than happy to do. All of the parents of the 100 participants parents/carers/guardians arrived so I felt really nervous in talking in front of such a big group of people but once I started talking it came naturally and increased my confidence in public speaking.

Wednesday- On Wednesday Stew made us clear that we were going to be starting to have more responsibility during the days. On this day I was back with the youngest group for a multi-sports day. The timings of the day remained the same but instead of just football we were told to deliver some multi sports sessions. My role in the morning was to deliver a warm up. The warm up I planned involved lots of SAQ (Speed, Agility, Quickness). This involved lots of sections on the pitch full of objects and different obstacles. For example, I used ladders, hula hoops, hurdles and cones. The children had free rain and every so often I would stop them and ask a child to choose another movement (such as side steps, jumping etc). Once the session I had handed the group back to the lead member of staff and during lunch he told me he was very happy with my drill and gave me some feedback, this filled me with confidence and made me feel good about myself as my session was deemed successful. The afternoon was still match based, but we did lots of different sports such as dodgeball, handball, football and football rounders. During the afternoon I was in charge of officiating and as we had younger children there were A LOT of toilet breaks which I had to escort the children to and from.

Thursday and Friday- Thursday was the start of a two-day roadshow so similar to Monday and Tuesday we would have a group for two days and give awards out at the end. I was an assistant for the middle-aged group which were children aged between 7-9. I was looking forward to the two days as throughout the week I had only had the youngest and oldest groups, so it was new challenge for me. Once we had arrived at goals, we split off into our age groups and began our warm ups. I was not leading the warm up today which in some ways knocked my confidence as I wanted to keep delivering to boost my levels of knowledge and experience. The morning session ended so we headed back to home park for lunch and I had a chat with the lead coach from the middle-aged group. I spoke to him and asked if he wanted me to plan any sessions for either the afternoon or the following day. He told me the afternoon was going to be tournament based and that I can plan a warm up and shooting session for Friday which I was buzzing with. The afternoon went really fast as we were just officiating matches and I was amazed with how talented some of these children were. Friday morning soon came around and I had shown the lead coach my session plans and he agreed they were good and once we got to goals; I started my first full morning of coaching which was a great experience. The warm up was a game of tom and jerry. This session is when, in pairs, one person dribbles around the area with a ball and when I shout turn, they would turn and pass the ball back to their teammate and so on. The shooting drill after I was really happy with the outcome as we had two outstanding keepers and some really high talented strikers of the ball. The session was designed on controlled chaos so there would be lots and lots of shooting in short spaces of time as this would enable the keepers to improve their reactions. During lunch time the lead coach spoke to me and gave me some positive feedback and told me the session went really well and I was very confident while delivering. His only constructive criticism was that I need to allow sessions to go wrong sometimes and not try and babysit them to ensure it goes right. I was really happy with my feedback as I was confident within my session. The afternoon consisted of a tournament and mini sided games which was enjoyable for the children and the session went very fast. Once we had got back to home park, we had to deliver our awards from our group, and I had chosen mine for being an outstanding sport and he was extremely helpful and a credit to coach. I didn’t feel nervous delivering my speech as I was on a high and feeling confident, so it didn’t faze me. This was the end of my first week of placement and almost half of my hours were completed.

As part of my placement module I was required to choose a work placement and complete a minimum of 100 hours. My first choice was to complete my placement with either a primary or a secondary school or split my placement into two. However, this was not possible due to unforeseen circumstances which I will go into more detail in my reflective essay. Plymouth Argyle Community Trust offered me a placement which was a huge bonus as I was let down last minute from my first-choice school. The job role at argyle I would be volunteering as was a Community Coach, this involves coaching grassroots sport. A community coach can either coach in schools such as curriculum physical education sessions, afterschool clubs, half term soccer roadshows and so much more. Due to my lack of availability I chose to complete my hours during half terms, and I did this in 3 weeks. The breakdown of my reflection will be in 3 different weeks.

In my second year I will be taking part in a placement module. For my placement I would like to attend a primary school, the reason for this is I am looking to become a primary school teacher with a speciality in sport. This will also give me an idea if it is the career I want to pursue as to become a qualified teacher I would have to do my PGCE once ive completed my sport development degree.

I am an extremely hard working individual who works exceptionally hard to ensure that everything that I do is completed to the highest standard. I relish the opportunity to constantly learn and push myself to achieve bigger and better things. With good work place experience I have developed strong employability skills enabling me to communicate at all levels as well as work under pressure both independently and as part of a team. 

I am a very active and sporty individual with my main interest being football. I am currently attending Marjons University studying Sports Development. On top of my academic studies I also play for the university football team and am a member of the gym. To relax I spend time listening to music or being with my close circle of friends and family.

1. My first course I attended which I believe bolstered my CV and increased my desire to work in sport was my FA level 1 Coaching Qualification. The reason for this was I had always loved playing football but I realised I was never going to be a top level player. This is when I thought I would become involved in sport and football in a different way and different role.
2. My next qualification that I think it is equally important in my progression is my BTEC level 3 sport. I received a triple distinction throughout my two year course. This then gave me the stepping stone to become a university student to obtain a degree in something I love.
3. My 3^rd course I feel was beneficial to me was First Aid at work. This gave me a good understanding on helping minor injuries and knowing what to do if ever a major incident came up.

Study Skills page

In this section I am going to find 10 key hyperlinks which have helped me to improve my work and give me a greater understanding of my subject.

1.  This hyper link benefitted me during my sport foundation in sports development module because it gave me an introduction into what Plymouth argyle community trust offer.                     https://argylecommunitytrust.co.uk/what-we-do/education/football-academyfutsal/
2. This helped me understand the goals and aims that we were taking as a country.  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486622/Sporting_Future_ACCESSIBLE.pdf
3. This was on an online book I found to help me with my Sport Foundation in Sports Development module as I learnt about the government’s policy and different opinions on that. http://www.sportdevelopment.org.uk/index.php/rgsd/56-rgpolicy
4. This link gave me an understanding of what strategy Sport England had in place and where funding would be distributed. https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-features/news/2016/may/19/sport-england-triples-investment-in-tackling-inactivity/
5. This next link gave me a greater understanding of the discipline needed in sports management. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c9e8fd42-e010-4d92-80f1-655621c81fb7%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=19298979&db=s3h
6. This book was extremely useful in giving me a wide range of knowledge on sports management which benefited me within my essay in my sports management module. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stmarkstjohn/detail.action?docID=1924435
7. This document helped me to understand and review UK sport which was beneficial in preparation for my essay. https://moodle.marjon.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/768398/mod_resource/content/1/UK_Sport_AR16_tagged.pdf
8. This hyperlink was helping me to understand sport in general within the EU. https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/sport_en
9. This document was beneficial in giving me an understanding of the issues in sport and how we can look to help change it. https://www.itrustsport.com/sports-corruption/good-governance/

This was arguably the most influential book I have read so far, the reason for this being is it gave me an overview of sports development as a whole. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stmarkstjohn/detail.action?docID=1181076