December 5, 2023, by Habbi Liton
Leader in Focus: International Volunteer Day 2023
Every year, UoN Sport is greatly committed to making an impact in Nottingham’s local community through our many volunteering opportunities. We aim to support children from local schools by educating them on health & wellbeing and helping them develop different sets of skills through sports. Our work would not be possible without the amazing student volunteers that dedicate their time to make an impact and share their passion about their sport. Leader in Focus is here to celebrate all our volunteers, and this term there were three people that really stood out in their role.
Congratulations to Daisy Ngo, Toby Strawson and Tallulah Thomas!
We asked our winning volunteers to share what is like to volunteer with children, so here is a little bit about what they do, why they got involved and what benefits they get.
Toby Strawson
Toby is a Sport for Good volunteer, a programme that uses the power of sport to drive social change in the local community. “In our team we run fun and engaging sports sessions for primary school students with the goal of keeping the students active whilst developing important skills they can carry into secondary school.”
He got involved in the Sport for Good programme to not only develop his professional skills but also to try to make the sessions as enjoyable as possible, with the aim to show the pupils that taking part in these activities can be fun regardless of whether they usually enjoy it or not. “Although at times there may be challenges, I benefit a lot from this programme by seeing the students develop and enjoy their sessions, which is very rewarding for me and the team.”
Daisy Ngo
Daisy is the President of UoN Thai Boxing, volunteering for both the Just Play Thai Boxing sessions and Secondary School Discovery Days. In these sessions she teaches the basics of Muay Thai in a fun and engaging way, trying to encourage discipline and control whilst the students learn a new sport.
“I started getting involved in volunteering as I found so much joy in seeing members of our club improve and fall in love with the sport. I wanted to try spread this even further through introducing the sport to school children when they are at an age where they may be looking for new hobbies! Volunteering has also led me to meet so many amazing people that I would have never met and has also helped me improve on my communication, leadership and mentoring skills!”
Tallulah Thomas
Tallulah is involved in our Sport in Schools programme – teaching primary school children about American Flag Football. As many have not heard of the sport, the session introduces the basics like the rules, positions and skills.
“I’d never heard of flag football before I joined university this year. I was trying something new so when the opportunity for flag in schools came up, I thought it’d be nice to introduce it to others too. By teaching others about the sport, I thought it would also boost my own confidence in my ability to play.”
“Trying to get a group of young children to listen quietly for an amount of time can be difficult, so this experience has really pushed me to develop my leadership skills and confidence when speaking in front of groups. I look forward to the sessions every week because I love the energy the children bring – it’s nice to see them making an effort to engage because it shows they really care about learning the sport, so it feels good to know I’m teaching them new things!”
Get Involved
Our Sport in Schools and Sport for Good programs have been especially beneficial to children within the local community. If you would like to get involved and volunteer through one of our programmes, join us for term 2!
Check out the Leadership Academy Website as well as the Sport for Good Page.
No comments yet, fill out a comment to be the first
Leave a Reply