During my second-year placement module at Plymouth Marjon University I am currently at Hamoaze House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation day centre. I chose this placement specifically as I already have experience within a primary and secondary school environment, therefore I wanted to challenge myself with a completely new setting.
Week 1 – 8/3/19
Today was my first day and first experiences of Hamoaze house. I was greeted with a very warm welcome and everyone already knew my name, which was a pleasant surprise. I received all of the relevant paperwork I needed to complete, along with getting the final touches on my DBS. Initially I was quite anxious about the new environment when I was being shown around the premises for a second time. However, once I had been there for a while and settled in I started to feel a lot more comfortable. I was taken to the second building on the site which is called Seymour. This is where the vulnerable teenagers and young adults go in order to have their tuition.
I was first introduced to the individuals who I would be working with and then they had their hour of education. Today we did a mixture of multiplications, simplifying fractions and some basic sentence structures. I was asked to assist an individual in particular which was a very good experience. Initially he was reluctant to talk to me, but when he knew I was there to help, he was a lot more open. following this, we completed a workshop finishing off healthy eating, then reflecting on what they had learnt and achieved over the week. then to finish off we had some activities time playing some pool, PlayStation and football outside on their astro.
To use the term ‘handful’ would be an understatement. But nevertheless I am very much looking forward to next week.
Week 2 – 15/3/19
Today my day was different again. I initially started off in Seymour House, working with individuals from ACE Academy. I took part in assisting a trampolining session, leaning basic jumping and landing skills. Secondly, I assisted in a gym session involving a group of individuals who were autistic, and some had downs syndrome. I was feeling more confident today, however, the individuals I was working with were different to the previous week.
It was very interesting seeing a trampolining session in the flesh as I have never experienced one before. Miguel, the coach was an inspiration to the young people who were involved in the session as was teaching them and showing them that every jump is a success, whether you land or not. This was some knowledge that I would like to take away and use myself throughout my coaching. I feel that this is a brilliant tool to use in order to boost participants self-esteem. I concluded the day playing volleyball in the afternoon with the service uses. This was a great experience as I had the opportunity to meet so many people from all walks of life, getting to know their life story.
Week 3 – 22/3/19
Today I started off my day by cleaning and checking all of the gym equipment to make sure it is all working sufficiently. I then assisted with a personal training session of two specific individuals with learning difficulties. This was an environment that I was slowly becoming accustomed to and more comfortable with. I was feeling more confident with these individuals this time around, and they were more comfortable with me, allowing the situation to feel easier. I then taken part in a drama workshop by some individuals who came from The Theatre Royal in Plymouth. This was a workshop in order to get people to open up about themselves and to make them feel more comfortable. Playing team building games and exercises. Following this we then concluded the day playing volleyball once again.
Week 4 – 29/3/19
Today I started off my day much like earlier on in the week, cleaning and checking of all the gym equipment. The two specific clients I was working with earlier in the week had cancelled, so instead, I assisted with another group of individuals in their personal training sessions in the gym. After this, I was assisting on a different aspect of Hamoaze House, working in the catering department. I was assisting some of the service users in the kitchen in making the lunch (vegetable curry), and tidying away after their art workshop. Following this, Miguel, the lead gym instructor, entrusted me in taking the D.O.V.E group of individuals by myself. We started of the hour session in the cardio room, doing an alternate circuit. We then progressed, after a water break, to the weights room. I then devised another basic circuit for them to alternate in. To finish off the session, the group members decided they wanted to have a game of Bowels in the corridor. When this group left, I then joined the adult team and played volleyball in the main hall. It was not a normal game of volleyball however, it was a conditioned game.
After todays experience, I fell as though I have more trust in myself, and Miguel, the lead gym instructor, has more trust in me as well. I feel a lot more comfortable and competent, in this environment than when I started initially.
Week 5 – 1/5/19
Today I started off my day by cleaning and checking all of the gym equipment. After this, I was joined by the two specific individuals who I had been assisting inworking through their personal training program. This was a better experience today as the clients had started to see results, and were therefore more motivated, meaning I could push them harder in order to succeed and beat their previous scores in the previous week. I have formed a particularly good relationship with one of the individuals, whom we were always having good banter throughout the session. Following this, I assisted in setting up the main hall for a group of medical students to come in and have a talk. Once the hall had been set up, it was just in time for the D.O.V.E group to come in. I was left once again by myself to run the session. We initially started off again by using the Cardio room, doing basic circuits in there. Secondly, we used the weights room again doing some basic circuits. Finally, to conclude the session, as it was nice weather outside, we decided to play Frisby Golf again. There was a really good atmosphere within the group today, I believe this could be due to the group getting more familiar with myself. To finish the day I joined in on a Pictionary workshop, playing some games and doing some art.
Overall today was a good experience, by far one of the best days I have had so far. I am very much looking forward to next time.
Week 6 – 3/5/19
Today I started off my day by cleaning and checking all of the gym equipment to make sure it is all working sufficiently. I then assisted with a personal training session of two specific individuals with learning difficulties. They were a lot more confident with me at this stage and I was getting a lot more involved with their actual training and I felt they were taking on board a lot more of the comments and pointers I was giving them. After this, D.O.V.E came in again. I was leading their session in the gym much like the previous week. this time to finish off we did some throwing games and played bowels on the astro. This was a great experience as it was a good activity to see progress within the young people.
To finish off today I played volleyball with the adult service users. Again this was a great experience as it allowed me to get to know different people, as not every week has the same participants.
Week 7 – 10/5/19
My placement at Hamoaze is coming to a close and I had been promised by the individuals from D.O.V.E that I am getting a card next week. Today I started off my day by cleaning and checking all of the gym equipment to make sure it is all working sufficiently. I then assisted with a personal training session with the two clients I had been working with in my time at Hamoaze. I encountered some of the young people from Seymour house today to whom are getting anxious about their exams coming up in the following weeks. I took part in an art workshop which is a form of expression. As Hamoaze believe in expressing their emotions in a controlled environment. This was an interesting experience as it was a good chance to get to know some more service users, and to find out the way in which some of the people were expressing their emotions.
To conclude the day, we finished off playing volleyball again, this time in fact I think I was getting better at the sport as well. This was making it a lot more enjoyable, and it was a great playing atmosphere.
Week 8 – 17/5/19
My final day at Hamoaze was a brilliant one. I started off the day much like before (cleaning all of the gym equipment). After this, I helped set up the hall for the young peoples exams (people from Seymour house). I then had the opportunity to meet some of the young people taking their exams and some of the teachers / adjudicators from ACE academy. I then went back to the gym and did a personal training session with the two individuals whom I had been working with in the previous weeks. Today they had made brilliant progress and we were talking about how far they have come since I first met them to now. This was quite inspirational to the individuals as I don’t think they really believed how far they had come themselves, so it was good for them to see the progress that they have made as this can be used for them later on in life. I then took a my final session with the individuals from D.O.V.E, who had made me a lovely card to which they had all signed to say thank you. We did our usual gym session, to then we finished off playing Frisby golf, as this was their favourite thing to play.
After lunch myself, Sam and Aaron (more staff) helped design a game of Pictionary to which was made for the service users to play. This was a delightful experience as it was good to play this with such a variety of people. To conclude the day after Pictionary, we played volleyball to finish off. Again this was a very competitive game and a lot of the service users had shown a great improvement of the sport since my first encounter. I received very positive feedback from all of the staff and service users for that matter, especially Miguel. This is definitely an experience that has made me feel more confident when coaching in general and I would definitely like to gain more experience in this field at a later date.
