UK Sport

IDEALS Tanzania kicks off to a flying start

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UK Sport 24 May 2010

International Development Through Excellence and Leadership in Sport (IDEALS), Tanzania started a few weeks ago, connecting Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) staff and students with the National Sports Council of Tanzania and the Beckwith International Leadership Development (BILD) programme for a learning exchange unequal to others.

This partnership has kicked off to a flying start with four SHU students, all in the second year of degrees in sport development, coaching or PE, joining the Beckwith Leaders participating in the BILD programme for a week long training course in Malya, Tanzania.

The students worked alongside the Beckwith Leaders, sharing knowledge and experiences to deliver a final sports festival to over 100 pupils at a local school.

The sports festival consisted of 10 stations and SHU took a lead role on two of the stations, conducting fun activities such as relay races and target throwing. These activities worked really well and the children co-operated positively. As Ben Elston pointed out, “we believed the activities were beneficial as limited resources were necessary and could be adapted within the schools improving fundamental skills. It was amazing to see that it is possible to take a 2 hour coaching session using just 3 pieces of equipment (paper, water bottles and some sticks).”

Megan Jacobs took a lead role in conducting relay races and led the different groups successfully. She commented on one of her main challenges “...as the language was a barrier in explaining my station I used non verbal communication to combat this, for example demonstrations and gestures were used in order to put my point across. My non verbal communication has improved although I sometimes find it difficult and I hope I am able to improve this further overtime.”

Natasha Amess added: “The main challenge for me was the language barrier, but having spent the week building relationships with the BILD leaders, we were able to work together to successfully deliver a relay station as part of the bonanza.”

Dan Farman said: “The highlight of the week was the bonanza organised by the BILD leaders, where Ben and I lead one of the stations. This was a great experience and it was fantastic to see how much the primary school children were enjoying the event. It has also been great to see how sport is being used for development in this programme. All the leaders have shown fantastic initiative, motivation, leadership and passion, and that is down to the work being done at the BILD project. The main points I have learnt from the leaders this week has been how to coach with minimal equipment and also some basic Swahili.”

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