Sports leadership conference at Ridgeway School
What makes a great sports leader? This was one of the questions put to primary school pupils who attended a sports leadership conference at a Plympton school recently.
Ridgeway School held the event in their brand new state-of-the-art sports hall. Primary school pupils from across Plympton were invited along to learn new sporting skills and find out what makes a great sports leader.
The pupils will then take these skills back to their own schools to further develop their leadership skills with the aim of being real ambassadors of sports in their own school.
The event was run by Ridgeway School Sports Leadership Academy. Fifteen Ridgeway School students are selected for the Academy and their role was to make sure each primary school pupil felt welcome and fully took part in all the activities on offer.
The students also help with extra -curricular clubs in school and in local primary schools. The students range from Year 8 up to Year 10 and they are led by young sports leader ambassadors 17 year old Rebecca Hingston and 14 year old Jack Hill.
The sessions at the sports leadership conference were led by Rebecca who in the first session showed them what makes a good leader through different exercises like relay. The second session was all about acting on what they had learnt and creating group activities.
“Although it’s incredibly hard work, I actually really enjoyed organising the whole day because when it all came together it was totally worth it,” said Rebecca Hingston whose favourite sport is swimming.
”This is what I enjoy most about working in the Academy, I like being the leader and working with the other students as well as working with primary school pupils. They have very intelligent things to say and contribute and they are just a joy to work with.”
14 year old Jack Hill, who is also an ambassador, says he joined the Academy because he likes sport and wants to help others like it too. “I like working with primary school pupils because it’s fun and you get a better understanding of what it is like to teach.”
The role of the Ridgeway Academy students is to give each primary school pupil the confidence and knowledge to become a great sports leader. “And the idea is they take those skills back to their school,” said Richard Harvey, PE teacher who runs the Academy. “They will then encourage others to take up and enjoy sport.”
The Academy students have all signed a contract. “It says that in being part of the Academy they will not just work hard in PE but in all their subjects and they take this very seriously,” said Lisa Boorman, principal designate of the Ridgeway School.
