Monday, November 06, 2006
Top Link
Monday, February 27, 2006
A national initiative teaching leadership through sport and sports participation is taking place in higher education institutions (HEIs) across the UK on 2nd March. Pupils and teachers from schools in Devon and Cornwall will be at Marjon for the Top Link event, improving their leadership skills and finding out how to run sports events.The Youth Sport Trust (YST) Top Link initiative has mushroomed since it was launched in 2000/01 when Marjon was one of six HEIs involved. This year 28 HEIs are holding events with Marjon one of four to be invited to host the event for two days.
Director of Sports Development at Marjon Harry Richardson says: “The training day at Marjon has grown in popularity over the past 6 years. We were oversubscribed in 2005, so to cater for the demand from local schools this year we’re holding two identical training days on 2nd and 7th March.”
Over the two days 40 teachers and 300 pupils aged between 14 and 16 will be taking part in interactive workshops run by 50 Marjon postgraduate and third year BEd students, making full use of the facilities and equipment available at the college. The workshops will see pupils finding out about organising and running sports events, looking at everything from managing teams to managing marketing, catering and training. A separate programme is being held for the school teachers.
Dr. Lance Doggart is Head of Applied Sports Science & Coaching at Marjon. He says: “We’ve had really positive feedback from school teachers and the Youth Sports Trust who fund the event, and from our students who do a fantastic job on the day. We’ll be giving our students special training before the event so they can pass this knowledge on to the secondary school pupils.”
The pupils will have to put what they’ve learnt into practice as they’ll be asked to organize a sports festival or event in their feeder primary schools. These mini-events are very popular with the primary school children who enjoy being taught by the pupils from their local secondary school.
Both training days will be opened at 9.30am by national sports champion Denise Austin, British Open Volleyball Champion in 2004, and local sporting hero Gary Stronnach, Plymouth Raiders basketball coach. All pupils and students taking part will be given a ‘goodie bag’ including a T-shirt and water bottle.
Marjon selected for national pilot
This year the Top Link training day will also see Marjon lecturers looking for 10-12 of their students to take part in a national pilot.
Dr Lance Doggart explains: “Marjon’s strong reputation for producing high quality graduates has led to the YST asking the college to pilot a programme tracking higher education students through their school placements.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the circle completed when our graduates come back to Marjon for the Top Link training day in 2007 as qualified teachers with their own pupils.”
The pilot project will be run through Marjon’s Centre for Research & Sports Development. Director of Sports Development Harry Richardson says: “The Youth Sport Trust is looking for a model of best practice. At the end of the pilot in April 2007 we’ll present them with a case study and model which can be rolled out across the UK. It’s a very exciting project for us and we’re delighted that YST have chosen Marjon to pilot this study.
