Week long Holiday Camps @ The Astro, 10am – 3pm. With trips to Sea Life and Hampden Park, there’s something for everyone!
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Beith Juniors Girls Football Team received their certificates after 13 weeks of long hard work towards their Play Maker award. The award consists of workshops, activities, projects and tasks to learn about how to be a successful, fair young leader. The girls completed projects such as a role model task in which they selected a role model and discussed what made that particular person someone to aspire to as a leader. A big congratulations to the girls and their coach Karen Millan for all their hard work, a very well deserved award!
After catching up on our sleep from last week we prepared for a fun filled exciting week ahead. This morning we started off with relay races leaping in and out of hurdles and weaving in and out of cones whist trying to dribble a ball which a few of us found super tricky! We then moved on to a popular favourite between us ‘Pop-up Dodge Ball’ we spent ages running about and popping up and down until we got so tired we had to go for a break.
We then decided we needed a rest so we grabbed the chalk and got to work decorating the slabs in the Astro with everything from water melons to elephants. After, we all moved on to the pitch and played football, splat and whats the time Mr Wolf all these games gave us such a big appetite just in time for lunch.
After lunch we had a mini hockey tournament which took us all they way to home time. We had so much fun but need some rest before it all starts again tomorrow.
Last night the Beith Juniors 2003’s football team started their PlayMaker award, the first qualification of the Sports Leader Awards. After being a little sceptical with huffs and puffs they really got into the swing of things and I might even have heard an ‘this was really fun are we doing it next week?’ This week’s activity was ‘What is a Leader’ – the boys had to form a straight line with the leader at the front. The leader would either run, jog or sprint whilst shouting commands that his team followed. Each of the boys took to the role pretty well and after everyone had a turn at being a leader we had a group discussion about what makes a good leader, what might have happened if they hadn’t done these things and what are the main leadership skills that we identified whilst doing the activity. The boys gave some good answers like ‘making sure everyone stayed in line so we didn’t crash’ and ‘project your voice so that everyone can hear what you are saying.’ They then decided on a couple of skills that make a good leader for example ‘making sure everyone is happy,’ ‘keeping everyone safe’ and ‘making sensible decisions.’
The PlayMaker award is a great introduction into leadership for pupils or students. The award focuses on developing leadership skills and I can already see some budding leaders in this course.
We had a great time at soup group last night! We started with a team relay race where kids were given letters and had to explore the garden to find items starting with that letter until the whistle was blown which was the cue for coming back to get the next letter, the team at the end of the game with the most correct items written down was the winner … but somehow the teams managed to tie! It was great to see the weird and wonderful things they came up with to gain extra points! We then played the magic welly game which involved getting the team from one side of the radioactive material to the other with only one pair of protective welly boots that couldn’t be thrown across, again it was great watching the kids problem solve and come up with different solutions to the problem. We then played a blindfolded game where the kids had to put their hands in a bag and feel an item, guessing what is was – an interesting game with some unusual suggestions! Thanks to Sara Harvey who made us some delicious soup which we enjoyed with some marshmallows and a fun game of sharades. Same time next week everyone!
Last night we were building on our further ‘young leader’ sessions. This is a progression from the playmaker award qualification that some of our kids have already earned and others are working towards. This session involved a discussion on safety … how a session leader would make sure the activity was safe including equipment, area and participants. We were very impressed with some of the answers the kids gave, showing their thoughtfulness and awareness on this subject has really developed through these sessions.
We then had some great fun in the garden, playing some searching games and then playing I spy around the campfire. We enjoyed some delicious vegetable soup kindly made by Irene Broughton which went down a treat.
Same time next week and spread the word for everyone to come and enjoy the session as we have a guest coming next week who is keen to speak to everyone involved In this project.
We had great fun last night at soup group! The session started with each kid being given a secret praise word which they had to integrate into the following games. This was a word of motivation or encouragement for other players and the aim of the game was to use the word as often as possible in context and then at the end the others had to guess what the word was. Rebekah impressively used her word 10x!
The first game was football, followed by an interesting game of the human knot. The first version was the normal game, but we then added some different elements such as one hoop racing the other with either prizes for those responsible for overtaking, or forfeits to the person with the hoop that gets overtaken! We then discussed how we rated the games on fun and why … with a strange result … the kids liked the threat of a forfeit more than the possibility of winning a prize, going against learning theory science.
We then split the kids into girls and boys and asked them to tell us what they think are the 3 most important things in a game. They came up with some great ideas like good sportsmanship, rules, understandable instructions and fun. Very impressive how tuned in these kids are!
We then made some cool arts from paper plates and then had some delicious soup on the campfire … thanks Alison Nobel, it went down a treat! And thanks also to Sara Harvey for the cake … and to Robert for serving it to everyone! The featured pic is when I asked the kids to show us their perfect smile!
See you all next week!
This morning we had a new breakfast club recruit and the kids had great fun showing Andrew the ropes!
After our usual Tuesday morning breakfast chat, sharing all of our exciting stories from the weekend (and the kids guessing Claire and Lisa’s ages just to ruin our day) we made our way out onto the pitch to play some energising games! The favourite game of the morning was cats and mice … a game where the cats have to chase the mice and catch their tails. This was exciting and competitive with Callum demonstrating his impressive speed, outsmarting all the cats!
Despite everyone being puffed out we still had the walk to school to tackle and as always this walk is no ordinary walk. Today’s challenge was to weave through the railings and still make it to school on time … and as you can see from our picture this challenge was happily accepted.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s fun …
This morning we were graced with beautiful weather for our weekly nurture group session. I collected the kids from Beith primary at 9.30am who were super excited to come and play in our dens and explore the garden.
The walk down to the astro involved some counting challenges with Dean earning a prize for getting the answer right through his dedication to the challenge and stern concentration. When we reached the gates the kids were given 5 mins free play and then we made our way onto the pitches to play some exciting games. One of the games we played was worms which involves the ‘birds’ collecting worms to take back to their nest, dodging the crows who steal the worms!! Everyone was a good sport and did well but I was even more impressed with the next game which involved kids passing a ball to each other through cones on their head. They demonstrated great team work, brilliant cooperation and impressive concentration!
After all that hard work we made our way back to school … in a different fashion. We made a human train through hoops and I was so pleased with how the kids worked together and concentrated on the task the whole 15 min walk to the gates! Everyone then enjoyed a well earned sweetie to say well done for their efforts before heading off for playtime in the sun.
Congratulations to Taylor Mackie for earning her playmaker award last night. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this award, it involves kids taking part in sessions that develop good leadership skills, building up to the planning and delivery of a session independently as the session leader.
Taylor has ben planning her session carefully for a few weeks and was excited to get her chance to explain it to the others. Taylor did really well dividing the group into teams and providing them with their team bands and took time explaining the rules of the game. The rules are a bit similar to football with a few twists like the goalie being in their own teams goals to help the goal get into the box and turning the box up to prevent the other team getting it back out.
Taylor did well in remembering all of her leadership skills including effective communication, inclusion, fairness and confidence. She delegated responsibilities well too such as setting up equipment which was essential for the success of the game. This session was very creative and everyone enjoyed it.
Well done Taylor!
Congratulations to Derren Robin who earned his playmaker award last night with his interesting game of ‘kickball’. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this award, it is connected to the Sports leader award and involves kids taking part in several sessions learning good leadership skills, progressing on to learning how to plan and deliver a session to a group independently as the session leader.
Derren’s game started with a similar set up to rounders, with players at different bases throughout the playing field. Derren selected teams fairly and directed them to their allocated areas, one team were kicking and one team were fielders ready for the fun to start. The idea was to kick your shot far enough away that you and the other players could make it as far around the field as possible, or even better … get a home run. Derren explained his game well, gave clear instructions and was keen to take feedback at the end. Derren did very well settling disputes over foul play and kept scores in an organised way, he was fair, consistent and inclusive, skills which he recognises as good leadership qualities.
Well done Derren!
As you all know some of our wonderful kids have been developing good leadership skills, including planning sessions, delivering sessions and using feedback in a constructive way to develop skills and earn their playmaker award! Last night it was Courtney’s turn to shine and she did a great job!
Courtney gathered all the equipment she would need for her game and then she split the group into 2 teams. She explained the rules of the games which were:
In teams of 5, start at one end of the pitch, throw the ball to a team member who must be ahead of you and continue with this until your team makes it to the other end of the pitch. If the ball is dropped then the team must go back to the start.
This game was great fun, well organised, promoted both teamwork and competitiveness and was fast paced, exciting and hilarious!
Courtney then did very well asking for and responding to feedback on the game which was all positive! Well done Courtney, you will make an excellent leader 🙂
Soup group was blessed with glorious sunshine again last night which put everyone in good spirits. We started by tackling a very relevant issue for kids of this age … bullying through a game called ‘lend a hand’ where each child is given a scenario and the others offer to lend a hand by providing a possible solution. We covered some of the main reasons for bullying including race, class and disability and I was very impressed by how open minded our kids are and how progressive their thinking is on this subject, giving answers like “tell someone you trust” and “include the person being bullied in you group of friends so they are not lonely”, lovely to hear.
Next we had a search across the whole outdoor area for some hidden clues that spelt out a 10 letter sentence … it was neck and neck with both teams demonstrating brilliant cooperative working to eventually spell out “we love soup” … but they hadn’t quite worked up an appetite for the campfire yet … so next on the agenda was football, races, the cooperative stand up in pairs and in a group, which I think actually resulted in more cooperative falling down he he! And since everyone was on the floor already we had each child arrange the others into a giant shape … though I think we made some shapes up which we will have to add to the mathematicians’ lists J
The session ended with delicious soup made by Papa Lees, thanks very much!!! … and some marshmallow toasting which is always a favourite J
Today I had the pleasure of speaking with the Beith Trust’s Sport Development Instructor, Mark Gray, he has been a dedicated member of Beith Trust for the last year. Mark said that he loves working in Beith Trust because of the people that work in the offices and the people that come into coach. He also loves working in Beith Trust because he gets to work with the local community and meet new people every day. Mark’s favourite things about Beith Trust is the staff because they are the ones that keep him entertained during the day when he is not coaching.
I was wondering what plans mark had for the future involving Beith Trust. He said that he was planning on starting some new and existing clubs; Multisport that will include various different sports, Netball and Family Fun Friday that will involve the whole family in a range of fun and active activities. Furthermore I asked mark about his sporting background and he replied by saying he used to play for a Linwood football team he also used to manage a team in Linwood and go running to keep fit.
Mark coaches or helps with the Majority of sports and activates held within Beith Trust. He helps with Astro Balls, Girls Football, Astro Parties Astro Tots, Disability Football, The play Scheme Club, Summer Sunday Sessions, Walking Football, Footie Five and Breakfast Club.
Beith Trust have been shortlisted for the Sports Leaders UK Young Leadership Trophy which will be presented at their annual ceremony, Give More. Become More at the House of Lords.
Sports Leaders UK are celebrating the success of organisations who promote Sports Leadership by awarding the Young Leadership Award. They will be recognising the work of young sports leaders nationwide and the successes of their Leadership Academy programme.
To apply for these awards we had to create a video showcasing the hard work and efforts of all of our young sports leaders – click here to view the video.
Here at Beith Trust we have provided volunteering opportunities for home grown community sports leader participants by running a football tournament, the Corey cup which brings together children from across the Garnock valley, running the anti-sectarian festival and putting on summer and Easter sports activity camps.
All the young leaders involved felt like they learned how to work together in a team but also be a leader in their own right, they learned how to keep the attention of a group of children with fun and engaging activities.
Sean, 17 says “Sports leader has helped me to get a job as it showed me leadership skills and has enabled me to coach other teams at Beith Development Trust”
We are delighted to be in the final for the Sports Leader Award it would not be possible without all the young leaders and our coaches from the Garnock Valley and the wider region.
Play Schemes has come to an end but it really was a fantastic two weeks! The kids all looked as if they had a blast and went home each day with giant smiles on their faces!
On week one we got off to a fantastic start where the kids got to play Frisbee and dodge ball and even do some quizzes with questions like ‘Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?’ and they would each have to run to the corner with the correct answer…..safe to say no one got that question wrong.
Day two started with a game of rounder’s followed by a very intense game of pop-up dodgeball which the kids absolutely loved and went on even longer than expected because they were having so much fun!
The kids got to join in on a Scavenger Hunt on day 3 where they were given a list things they had to find the search took place in the Beith Trust Garden and the kids managed to tick everything off their lists.
Week 2 didn’t begin so well with some rainy weather but we didn’t let that stop us and we went indoors to our eco lodge to play some fun games like hot potato, pass the hoop, Chinese whispers, crafting daisy chains and colouring in.
Once the weather brightened up we went outdoors to play some pop up dodgeball again as it was such a success last week!
On day 2 we kicked off the day with some outdoor games as the weather was much better. We played Hockey, Golf, Dodgeball and some more football. The kids also all got a chance to make their very own key rings to take home – there were some awesome designs!
On our very last day of play schemes we brought out the bouncy castle and the kids spent the morning bouncing around and playing tennis and some more dodgeball!
During the afternoon they all got a chance to play Tug-of-war and do some group building games which they all loved!
All in all everyone had a fantastic week and there were happy faces all round! We can’t wait to see everyone again for our next round of Play Schemes so keep an eye out on our facebook page for more info!
This Monday the 6th of April is International Day of Sport for Development and Peace and at Beith Astro we will be celebrating this day of annual sport recognition. We believe that an integration of sport in the community is a social and economic asset to our local area. Down here we are around sport every day but not every community has local access to sport facilities and for low income families they are not able to afford transport to their nearest sport facility.
This newly adopted day of recognition signifies the increasing recognition by the United Nations of the positive influence that sport can have on the advancement of human rights, and social and economic development.
Monday marks the 2nd International Day of Sport Development and Peace and the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace is organizing an open video contest with the intent of showing off the works of organizations all over the world that committed to uplifting their communities through sport.
“Sport has become a world language, a common denominator that breaks down all the walls, all the barriers. It is a worldwide industry whose practices can have widespread impact. Most of all, it is a powerful tool for progress and for development” – Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General
#sportforbetterworld
#IDSDP2015
