I made a promise to myself during our various lockdowns - that I’d step outside of my coaching comfort zone as soon as the opportunity occurred!
I found myself agreeing to coach in two primary schools in September (absolutely out of my comfort zone!) and honestly my experiences could not be further ends of the spectrum from each other.
Perhaps, with hindsight, the writing was on the wall from the start. School A approached me, firstly informally with enthusiasm & positivity and then followed up with an invitation to visit and a more formal chat about expectations.
In contrast, I approached School B and was met with the kind of response reserved for Theresa May at a Police Federation Conference. (Google it!)
My decision to pursue junior opportunities was not just born out of self development.
I am very passionate about giving children opportunities to fall in love with sport - any sport, any child. Particularly after the last 20 months or so. The research and evidence is overwhelming - healthy children, who engage in physical activity regularly, become healthy, engaging, adults.
I started Coaching the after school club at School B on the Wednesday. 24 hours later delivered for the first time at School A. With such a quick turnaround and a whole term of that timetable, it’s natural to compare the experiences.
Geographically the schools are a couple of miles from each other, inner city. School A is a Junior School, School B a recently amalgamated Primary School. There are many similarities in the general day to day running of the schools but in terms of my experience the differences are stark.
Perhaps the easiest demonstration of this extraordinary difference is best explained in bolts!
We had a problem with a bolt on one of the netball posts at School B pretty much from day 1. It had rusted solid & I couldn’t unscrew it to make the post taller - meaning our two posts were different sizes. 3 emails later, a direct conversation with the caretaker as well as another with the netball teacher and it still wasn’t fixed.
It didn’t need much - I suspect some WD40. Five weeks later I sent another email mentioning those dreaded three words ‘Health & Safety’. Would you believe it, the next session I delivered, the posts was the same size!
In stark contrast at School A, the posts that I had managed to acquire & donate to the school was missing a bolt after a couple of weeks. It had worked itself loose and a curious child had probably pocketed it as ‘treasure’, who knows!?!
I mentioned the missing bolt after one session, no emails needed, it was fixed for the very next week.
The list of contrasts is endless though.
School A required a donation to use the facilities (2 brand new netball posts and a donation of sports books to their library was the least I could do for such a fab welcome & experience!) Whilst School B quoted £15 a session.
This is more than any non-floodlit netball court in my area - for a playground that isn’t even level! (to be fair I haven’t visited many playgrounds that are!) £15 is more than double the court I regularly use in the same area.
School A let me borrow their netball equipment no problem.
School B also let me borrow the kit but reserved the two full sets of 7 aside bibs for the ‘other’ school-run club! We were left with the old ‘High5’ and no letter bibs!
I only realised they had ‘proper’ bibs when I ran into the School B older year netball team at a school tournament I was umpiring at!
Obviously I took my own sets of bibs in to give these juniors the best possible experience.
Which leads me to a disappointing conclusion.
The whole point of taking myself out of my comfort zone was to give children the best possible first experience of netball. The intention to start them on a path of an active & healthy lifestyle with all the benefits that brings, as they grow up.
Unfortunately, despite best intentions, I feel I have failed with School B. I have taken the decision not to continue with the session in 2022. I did everything I could to improve the communication and circumstances I delivered in, but I have learnt over the years you do sometimes have to admit defeat! It’s a bitter pill to swallow.
Spending days dreading coaching a session is not conducive to a positive experience for anyone. I feel like I have given the children the best possible experience in the circumstances, but definitely not up to my normal standards. I have done everything in my power to give them alternative opportunities and will follow up as appropriate.
I am clear in conscious that everything I could do with School B was done!
Happily, School A has invited me back to deliver in the Spring term and I have received sincere thanks from the school and parents / carers.
It’s a session I look forward to each week, the staff at the school are super enthusiastic & supportive which definitely transfers to the children.
I just really hope my experience with School B is the exception, rather than the norm.
I realise schools and teachers have had a really difficult time of it and absolutely deserve some slack. Surely, there is a responsibility to pupils wellbeing and future health though and if School A has taught me anything, it’s that encouragement and support for activity can be done in the most challenging times, to the highest of standards.
