Experiencing a career in sport

This week has been Work Experience week for the 11 College of Further Education students currently studying Sport.

‘It’s really important that the students get a real-life experience of working in a professional sport environment,’ said Jenny Murphy from the Guernsey Sports Commission who also lectures on the course.

‘The students have been working across a range of employers this week and we’ve been able to provide some placements here at the Commission too.’

Amiee Price has spent the week with us and shares her thoughts:

‘Hi, my name is Amiee Price; currently I am on work experience with the Guernsey Sports Commission. I go to the College of Further Education and am studying Sport Level 3. This week I have been into Vale Primary school, this includes assisting with their PE lessons. For example I have helped with; setting up the equipment, encouraging the children to try their best, give feedback to others and applying that feedback for themselves to improve.

‘Throughout the week, I have helped to deliver some sessions to all year groups from Reception to Year 4. The different age groups need different adaptations to the activities to make them appropriate to their ages. Such as, making them easier to understand and making the activity easier to practice their fundamental skills. I have learnt that you have to be very clear in your instructions to younger years and not to talk for too long as their attention span is short. Also I have learnt that questioning the children with the rules or regulations after explaining helps them understand and remember the rules. From observing the lessons delivered by Kerri Brown who is a PE Sports Development Officer, I have learnt some children understand instructions differently such as some children understand from listening and some understand from demonstrations. This means you need to apply both for all children to understand. I have also gained confidence throughout the week to be able to lead a part of the session to different year groups.

‘Finally, I have had some experience in the Sports Commission office where all the admin is completed. I have completed several jobs such as; helping taking the rubbish out, organizing stamps, sorting out the stationary box and keeping it organized, checked and read the website to check for any errors or improvements and researched about squash and the rules to allow myself to have more knowledge of the rules before observing some coaching.        

‘I have enjoyed my week of work experience. It has provided me with some experience of what the Sports Commission do and how they teach children certain skills. It has also given me an idea of what my career path will be after college.’

Amiee is pictured with Martin Watts from Guernsey Squash