December 11, 2018, by brzmjb1

UoN Discovery Day welcomes 100 primary school children to David Ross Sports Village

On Friday 30th November, 100 primary school children descended on the David Ross Sports Village for the first Discovery Day of the academic year. In partnership with Widening Participation, Discovery Days aim to inspire primary school children about university while also trying new sports activities and learning about healthy lifestyles. Students from University of Nottingham Leadership Academy delivered sessions from their sports, American Football (Flag), Dodgeball and Table Tennis, before a nutrition session and campus tour.

On the day, current students from American Football, Dodgeball and Table Tennis ran tailored sessions to almost 100 children. Not only did each sports club have the chance to showcase their sport, the children got the opportunity to try sports they may have never even heard of! The children also had a nutrition session, learning about healthy eating and getting to try new foods, such as avocado, pineapple and kiwi, and headed home in University t-shirts.

Bryony, an American Football Leader said, “it was so nice to see that the kids were asking how to improve their technique to make their passes better and how genuinely interested in the game they were, I would definitely take part in another Discovery Day as I had a great time.”

Some of the Dodgeball Leaders commented, “I thought the day was a great success. The children had a fun time and it was easy to get the pupils of all abilities involved on the fun too which was the main point. Working with children is always good because of the instant gratification you get from them having fun.”

In addition, “working on the Discovery Day was such a rewarding experience thanks to the enthusiasm of the children we worked with. It’s always great fun to see young people engaging in a new sport, and as the day was well organised and smoothly run it was easy to put all our energy into make it a fun experience for the schools involved.”

Another Dodgeball Leader commented, “the Discovery Day was a fantastic event to be a part of. The children showed a great amount of respect to us and each other throughout and had a high level of energy and enthusiasm for trying dodgeball. They all seemed to very much enjoy it which must make it a success.”

Each sport session was aimed to not only show the children a new sport, but help them in developing life skills including teamwork, resilience and communication. With support from Widening Participation, the day also aims to raise aspirations of children in disadvantaged areas of Nottingham and provide impartial information about Higher Education.

There is a range of exciting opportunities coming up including our new outdoor Discovery Days with local Nottingham schools, so if interested in getting involved with Discovery Days or University of Nottingham Leadership Academy, find out more at https://uonsportleaders.com/vk/

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