On 28th April, the Year 12 students involved in the Girls Active Enrichment programme travelled to Flitwick Football Centre to participate in the Bedfordshire and Luton Girls into Coaching Workshop. This was the final face to face County wide event, which followed a series of online sessions delivered by Team Beds&Luton tutor, Stuart Hunt, designed to help develop us as young coaches.

The day was a mixture of activities, all with different focuses. The first activity was focused on getting to know each other. We learnt each other’s names, which helped us understand the importance of knowing the names of those we deliver to and how this helps our participants to feel valued.

The second activity concentrated on putting what we learnt in our online sessions into practice. We formed small groups and were given the task to  deliver an activity of our choice to another group. It was definitely challenging to give instructions to our peers, but it was a fantastic learning experience and we all got to play each other’s games.

The third session was spent inside and was focused on leadership. We discussed different qualities a leader should have and thought of people we believed to be good leaders.

Overall, the workshop was a very useful and enjoyable experience. There were so many different people there, which allowed for unique perspectives and interesting ideas. It helped me feel more confident in my abilities and gave me a chance to focus on developing my skills without worrying about being judged by other people. I certainly consider it an  extremely valuable experience and I will be taking a lot from it going into any coaching opportunities I get.

Chloe Payne,  Year 12