Sky Sports Careers Project

On Thursday 19 January the Sky Sports Project Group assembled once again for one of their biggest treats yet. So far this year they have already had a session on PE teaching, a visit to Ashton Gate based on careers in sports business and a trip to a sports careers event in Surrey.

Sky Sports offer visits from professional athletes as part of their projects and normally one athlete is assigned to your project. We were lucky enough to welcome 3 professional athletes to St Katherine’s to pass on some key messages for success and help students to better understand careers in the ever growing sports industry.

The first part of the day saw the group gather to hear Kate’s story which is one with so many great messages. Kate told the group how she lost her arm in a freak farm machinery accident when she was just 2 years old and had to adapt in order to do all of the things that she wanted to do. Kate explained how she had to rethink even some of the simplest everyday tasks such as tying shoe laces & putting her hair up. Kate started to swim aged 4 and by the time she was 10 she was embarking on a career that would be full of highs and lows. Kate is proud of being a World Championship medallist who represented Team GB for an amazing 10 years. Despite her successes, Kate told the group how missing out on London 2012 due to illness and not winning a Paralympic medal really tested her character but how this sequence of events led to her being given an opportunity to work for television. Kate gave the group some really poignant messages about resilience, celebrating small successes and setting big goals.

For the middle part of the day the group were introduced to the 6 Keys to Success: mental toughness, hunger to achieve, people skills, sports and life knowledge, breaking barriers and planning for success. Kate, Claire and Philippa introduced the students to the keys through a series practical activities that all of the students enjoyed. Each of the activities had a real purpose to them and allowed the group to draw out which keys they had used and the links to transferable employability skills that could be used in any future employment.

Just before lunch students were asked to illustrate how they would like to be seen by others in the future and the group came up with some really thought provoking ideas. This was also a great opportunity for some high quality 1 on 1 time with the athlete mentors as they moved around the room to talk to each student individually about the way they wanted to be perceived by others.

Just after lunch Claire led a short assembly for year 10 and really held their attention as she told her story. Claire was actually born without a left forearm and again learnt to swim at a young age. She spoke about how at 16 she went to her first Paralympic games and had her eyes opened to a whole world of other people with disabilities who were not letting them stand in their way. She found this experience hugely inspiring and went on to achieve success at the top of her sport for 10 years medalling at every single major championships she went to. Claire had a very successful Rio 2016 Paralympics, winning silver in the 100m butterfly S9 before claiming her first ever Paralympic gold medal in the 4x100m medley. The students were delighted at the end of assembly when they were able to come down and hold Claire’s medals!

In the final session of the day students were told that they would be having a short interview with one of our athlete mentors. This was a fantastic opportunity to gain some experience in the world of selling yourself to potential employers. My main criticism of this group of students is that they don’t realise just how much they have to offer and are really self-conscious when it comes to telling others how great they are! It is a fine line to walk between arrogance and self-assurance and this mini interview opportunity really gave students an insight into how they come across. Students waited nervously inside ‘The Apprentice’ style holding room before being sent into the Conference Room to face their interviewer. Students were asked questions about themselves and the feedback from the three ladies was extremely complimentary as well as providing a few areas for improvement.

At the end of a tiring but hugely rewarding day the students all made a point of individually thanking Kate, Claire and Philippa for their time. I was extremely impressed with the quality of delivery and experience that all three ladies brought and it was plain to see the affect that having three incredibly strong female role models had on the Project Group and wider Year 10 cohort. On behalf of the staff and students at the school I would like to thank them for their significant contributions.

The Project Group have been fortunate enough to enjoy some amazing experiences already this year and this day certainly ranks as one of the top. There are still many more sports careers based opportunities to look forward to with visits from a personal trainer, physiotherapist and a potential trip to Cardiff to check out some performance analysis.

A brilliant day with a brilliant group!

The PE Faculty