SiS 2008

STUDENTS STEP INTO SPORT BY BREAKDANCING

(amongst other things!)

Seventy-two Surrey students gathered at the University of Surrey Sports Centre on Thursday 27 March 2008, to attend a conference where they learnt more about how they can support community sport as volunteers!

The conference formed part of Step into Sport, a national scheme to encourage and involve young people in sports volunteering, leading to a life-long involvement in community sport. The attendees were all aged between 16 and 19 and from the following schools and colleges across Surrey:

Bishop Wand CofE School	Epsom & Ewell High School
Fullbrook School	George Abbot School
Godalming College	Heathside School
St Peters Catholic ComprehensiveSchool	Salesian School
The Ashcombe School	The Priory CofE School
Therfield School	The Winston Churchill School
Tomlinscote School	Woking College

During the conference the participants were given a variety of active sessions designed to open their minds to new ways of delivering sports sessions. Whilst they all learnt about multi-skills, how to encourage participants to develop their agility and speed and how to ensure their young participants are safe, they had a choice of attending workshops in injury prevention, managing groups and in adapting activities for disabled participants.

Overall, the day was a great success, with a particular highlight being a class demonstrating how dance can be used as a warm-up and cool-down activity courtesy of Laura Robinson, the CampusDance Manager, every student got moving to all sorts of tunes, learning some new dance moves and some breakdance routines!

John Woodroffe, Sports Leadership and Volunteering Development Officer for Active Surrey Sports Partnership, was especially pleased with the event: "For 2008, as with any year, we wanted to run a day which was instructive and had new ideas for students to consider in their volunteering. However, this year we were especially concerned with delivering an experience which was engaging, active, fun and, most importantly, memorable! With the wide variety of workshops we put on offer we certainly achieved that, and it was great to receive some fantastic feedback from the students, who told us how much they enjoyed themselves and praised the practical nature of the day. The next challenge is for these students to log on to the Step into Sport Volunteer Passport, so that they can record their volunteering hours online and we can recognise their fantastic efforts in helping sport happen in Surrey.

Next steps

After attending the conference the students will be encouraged to use their skills through linking up with local sports clubs and volunteering over the following year. With the help of the Active Surrey Sports Partnership, their teachers and local sports development officers, the young people will be looking for volunteering placements within quality-assured local sports clubs, where they will be looked after by club volunteer coordinators and will join the many other people who give up their time to support local sport. While they volunteer they will also be encouraged to record their volunteering hours on the Step into Sport Volunteer Passport, an online system which will recognise their time in issuing certificates for completing 50, 100 and 200 hours in helping their sports clubs and other organisations.

The Active Surrey Sports Partnership would like to thank British Blind Sport, CampusDance, The University of Surrey, the participating schools and colleges, and all the other groups and individuals who helped make the day such a success.

For advice with regard to involving sports volunteers or for more general information about volunteering, please contact John Woodroffe:

01483 518943 or john.woodroffe@surreycc.gov.uk .

*** This is not the only volunteering opportunity for Surrey's young people!

Training courses are run throughout the year through Surrey's Young Coaches and Officials (SYCO) Programme, which is open to all 14-19yr olds, and there are many volunteering opportunities for all ages at local accredited sports clubs and events such as the P&G Surrey Youth Games in June 2008 ***