Northumbria University hosted a four-hour volunteer and multisport coaching course on Saturday February 17th at Coach Lane Campus. 9 students and multisport coaches learned about inclusive tennis and schools programmes.
This followed a similar course ran last October, with the aim of giving students and coaches the opportunity to learn relevant knowledge linked to local based community opportunities, including Hat-Trick multisport sessions across Newcastle, Northumbria University’s NORTH coaching programme, along with growing participation across the North East.
The first part of Saturday’s session focused on inclusive tennis, where tutor Louise Assioun showed the learners a huge range of ideas to ensure every participant can succeed and enjoy tennis. For example, the group was shown different equipment including balloons, beanbags, chiffon squares and resources appropriate for different impairment groups.
Luke Simpson who is completing a placement with the LTA attended the course and highlighted: “It was invaluable to experience ways of adapting sessions to help deliver inclusive sessions. My background is football and all the ideas can be applied to other sports too, which was great for me to see.”
The next part of the session was planning an event. Northumbria University students planned the event that is taking place on the 18th March at Jesmond Lawn Tennis Club. ‘Let’s Play Tennis For Comic Relief’ will be an event open to University students and consist of three activities, which will provide all participants with a fun and entertaining opportunity to participate in tennis followed by free food! Hat-Trick multisport coaches planned a sports camp that is taking place in May 2018. Skills used by the team were planning effectively, organising equipment, staff, budgets and completing relevant health and safety requirements and each group presented their plans back to the others.
Following the event planning section, the last part of the course was how to deliver fun and engaging tennis to year 1 and 2 aged pupils within their school environment. The group got involved with things like tags and tails, throwing flying fish and learning how to run safe sessions in small environments!
Jo Cunliffe (Regional Tennis Participation Manager) was buzzing: “Saturday evening was one of those moments that you watch in awe. All students and multisport coaches were brilliant. Their energy from start to finish was incredible and their willingness to learn and grow second to none! I’m really excited to see and hear about their journeys from here!”