I have coordinated around 50 children playing cricket in term one (and just starting up another 57 for term 4) and coordinated 80 children playing football in terms 2 and 3. I also coordinated the interschool sport competition- more of which I will go into later.
Dealing with outside agencies such as Central Football and Taranaki Cricket has been on the whole quite easy. Aroha and Mick at Central Football have always been ready and willing to help guide me through the role of organising such a large number of children and their parents and whānau. I have always engaged in professional conversations with these people and I have met with them on various occasions to deal with various issues. I attended the pre-season meetings at Sport Taranaki offices at Yarrows Stadium along with other sport coordinators from around Taranaki. I have met new contacts through this which has widened my knowledge of how things are run.
Early in term 1 I attended the Taranaki Cricket pre-season information sessions for coaches and sport co-ordinators. This was hugely beneficial as I was about to lead my first independent management of a code. I found the staff at TCA to be helpful and always ready to answer my millions of emails querying how things we done and what happens next! One of the parents in my class is the draw convenor so I have always felt comfortable contacting him regarding grading and team placements. This professional dialogue has continued through to this term as I lead the second season of cricket for 2014.
Other professional relationships developed over the course of this year include sport lead teachers during the winter season of interschool matches. I liaised with teachers who were in our first division pool; namely co-ordinators from Oakura, Bell Block, Welbourn and Woodleigh Schools. Also I had to coordinate with referees who would oversee our home games. These people included Ray Hopkins (rugby), Bruce Sutton (rugby), Dominic Barry (football) and Katie and Charlie (netball). A number of parents were also included in the mix, namely Corina and Donna (netball). This was quite a stressful process as I did not know the rugby refs beforehand and it was quite difficult tracking them down (retired so often away and playing golf). I feel much more confident about contacting people now (I detest phoning parents) as there was no option but to just get on with it.
I want to try and find out who potentially might take up the sport unit next year so I can be sure to hand over any contact information to make the changeover as easy as possible for the next person. Also need to inform the new unit holder which parents may need extra support or guidance.
The final football breakup was an interesting event- I had contacted the person who ran the breakup last year to find out how it is usually run and what awards should be given. I wanted to appease the parents whilst also putting my spin on things as I believed it could be run more effectively. I got the trophies collected and engraved, new POY medals made and contacted all 9 coaches/Game Day Leaders to find out POY, Most Improved and Fair Play names. Because I didn't want to take up too much of everyones Saturday morning (and my own) I decided to change the format. It was difficult on the day as the person who ran it last year turned up just before the breakup started and basically told me I was doing everything incorrectly which stressed me out. I kindly explained that this was the way I was running it this year. I was worried that perhaps I had messed it all up but the next few parents that arrived were hugely supportive of how I had decided to run things which was a really positive result. It really helped me see that actually I am doing a good job and to stick with my decisions. It was a great success and the children really enjoyed the event.
I have found dealing with parents the most difficult aspect of the role. It is always struggle to get parents or whānau to offer to coach and help our budding sport players grow and succeed. I understand it is a time issue sometimes and we really do appreciate the support many parents give- usually it is the same parents who keep putting their hand up to help.
When I have made it along to the games (mostly the cricket and football games held at school and First Kicks and Fun Football at Western Park and some of the basketball- I attended the netball in the 2013 season) the children have always commented on the Monday how awesome it was to see me there supporting them. It is a valuable thing to do but also it is difficult to get around all of the teams and often I have other things to do also. A reminder for the next unit holder will be to put the draw up in the staff room to try and encourage other staff members to head along to some games. I often had a thank you email from parents thanking me for showing up too which is a positive.
Indeed a parent of one of the football children had spoken to a friend about me just this weekend past and told him to tell me that I had so far done an excellent job being the sport co-ordinator this year and that he felt supported and well unformed throughout the season. It is this kind of feedback that is encouraging and reaffirms why I do this job.
Indeed a parent of one of the football children had spoken to a friend about me just this weekend past and told him to tell me that I had so far done an excellent job being the sport co-ordinator this year and that he felt supported and well unformed throughout the season. It is this kind of feedback that is encouraging and reaffirms why I do this job.
The sport unit is definitely not something to be taken lightly as there are many hours put into it. At the beginning of the football season I found I was meeting to spend much more time on sport stuff (organising teams, devising permission forms and newsletters, ringing parents, sorting equipment etc) than on my own class which I found rather frustrating and very tiring. I think that next year if I was doing the sport unit it would be much easier as I would be able to tweak the notices I already have etc to save time. Also it was all new learning. Again I want to be able to help guide the new unit holder through this but this may not be decided til after the summer break in which I will have moved on. I will put all of the information onto the server in one folder to try and help that way. Jan 2015: All information I had gathered from the two years as Sport Co-ordinator I have put together in one file and sent to Central School's principal to hand over to the new co-ordinator. This should be of help when implementing sports code of conducts etc for 2015. March 2015: I have spoken to the new co-ordinator and he has said the information I shared was beneficial to the start of the year and he is slowly finding his feet in the role. He has my cellphone number should be require support.
