Since becoming one of the Kidz R Fit and Hoopstarz team in September I have always had the lush company of one of the other team members when setting off into schools or heading to festivals and it gave me a great insight into what sort of sessions I would be teaching and a fab opportunity to shadow some of the sessions and get some experience in!
It was always lovely having the safety net of another person there but I knew the time would come when I had to brave it alone and although it did scare me a bit I couldn’t wait to start taking the control of planning and delivering my own sessions in schools.
Last week was the week!
My week started with a Hoopstarz day in the school I used to teach in for 3 years while being a primary school teacher. I was very excited but I could feel the nerves setting in the night before and on the morning my mind was buzzing with thoughts of the different games, tricks and songs I was going to use for each class. My mind was instantly put at ease when I started driving through the school gates and I saw the caretaker, a friendly face always helps! As I was setting up my music and hoops in the hall, my nerves had vanished and I was ready to start! The whole day was amazing and I was on such a high after it. The children and staff loved every session and we had so much fun. I don’t think I could have picked a better school to have gone into for my first solo session as I felt so comfortable there and it was lovely to catch up with all the children and staff. I was also able to stand back and think – “yes this is definitely what I should be doing!”
I did another two Hoopstarz mornings which, again, I loved doing! I was a bit less confident at the start as I felt like it was my first day again. It was a school that I wasn’t as familiar with so I didn’t have that as a ‘comfort blanket’. Tracey came to observe me on these hoop days so again this added to my nerves a little bit more as I wanted to show her my absolute best! I was so glad she came as she was able to give me some tips and advice which made the following day even better and I got great feedback from the children and staff!
My week ended with a staff meeting and office day. Office days were something I was definitely not used to doing and although I didn’t know any of the systems at the start (so I felt like a rabbit in headlights) I now really look forward to them. I have taken a role of promoting the companies on social media so I am always busy with that as well as contacting schools. It’s also a great chance to catch up with everyone which I will benefit so much from since I am also going out to schools solo now too! This week I was able to discuss the new project I have helped create for November called ‘Move-ember’. I have loved being put in charge of a project and being able to get creative with it, such a great feeling to be trusted with something so important!
Overall, it has been an amazing week, I loved every second of teaching and I can’t wait to teach more Hoopdayz, Playground Starz and hopefully some PE sessions in schools! I love being part of such a brilliant team and being able to deliver such fun, uplifting and active sessions to children is something I’ve always wanted to do so really feels like a dream come true!