International sports mentoring scheme introduced in Ghana
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IDEALS students with their BILD Buddies in Ghana this summer
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UK Sport International 21 August 2012
Students from Edge Hill University (UK) are the first to pioneer a new sports mentorship scheme in Ghana, which has been designed and introduced as part of the International Development through Excellence and Leadership in Sport (IDEALS) programme, from UK Sport.
The successful BILD Buddies scheme was introduced in 2012 and involved the pairing of sports students from the UK with the Ghanaian students who they will be working with over their IDEALS placement. This year, the introductions began over the internet long before the placement commenced, allowing both sets of students to focus on building friendships before they began working together.
This new mentorship scheme has been introduced to help facilitate and maximize the cultural and professional exchanges of sports coaches and students during their placements.
The Buddies are young students involved in the Beckwith International Leadership Development (BILD) programme, which builds leadership skills through sport. The BILD programme independently works through universities and has been delivering leadership skills through sport young people in Ghana students since 2010.
Luke Davies, a UK student from this year’s IDEALS group comments on the impact of having Eric, his BILD Buddy, to mentor him throughout his placement in Ghana: “As a group we had all started to build good relationships with our BILD Buddies. Throughout the induction we had shared many jokes together and it was a great end to the day teaching and playing small games together.
"It was at this point that I had realised how welcoming our BILD buddies and the Ghanaian people were. They had all been so friendly right from the beginning and throughout the induction and this made me sad that back in the UK people are anything but friendly unless they know you.”
Luke reflects on his experiences as skill enhancing and full of cultural exchanges: “IDEALS has provided me with a chance to develop my coaching, leadership and communication skills in a totally new setting with new challenges to overcome.”
Jennifer Ward, Paul Carey, Ayla Gowling, Emma Fletcher, Alex Winstanley and Luke Davies returned from Ghana just in time to see the Olympic Games in London.
