Platinum Profile - Bethan

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Club - Tiverton BMX Club

Q: What level are you currently at on the Cycling Award for Young Volunteers Programme?

A: GOLD.

Q: What do you enjoy most about volunteering?

A: It gives me a sense of achievement seeing people benefit from my help.

Q: How do you think being a volunteer has helped you?

A: It has improved my organisation and communication skills.

Q: Is there anything that you would change about your volunteering experience?

A: I would like to help out more at the club and try to do different disciplines.

Q: Where would you like your volunteering to take you in the future?

A: I would like it to help me to get to University and do Sports Therapy.
 
Bethan's blogs....
 

Blog 1: 3rd March 2012

Mini Race

The practice and racing went very well, and I felt the participants and parents enjoyed the session, and liked the fact that the opportunity had been put on for them.

 

My first task for the day was to set up the equipment for the race, and then I took a marshalling role so that the practice could get under way. I also helped riders with any questions that they had. For some participants it was their first time on a BMX track so I had to be patient in helping them.

 

To improve the organisation of the day I could have sorted out the roles before the day of the race. This would have meant everyone knew what to do straight away. I would also brief everyone before the event on what they would be doing, so that the event ran as smoothly as possible.

 

 Blog 2: 31st March 2012 

BMX Races for Novices 

I helped to set up for the day firstly by getting everyone signed on and registered. I then explained to the riders how the moto sheets worked, and set up the finish line table and result board.

One of the difficulties we had was that we didn’t have any number plates at the start of the day, to overcome this problem we told the riders that we would give the numbers to them later, and then printed some out. Next time I set up a race I will check at the start of the day that all the necessary equipment is in the right place.

 

I used organisation skills to assign volunteers with jobs as well as showing them what they needed to do. I had to communicate clearly with them to ensure they knew what they had to do throughout the day.

 

I liked how the riders and parents enjoyed the racing experience. The day went very well and I enjoyed running the race.

Blog 3: 14th April 2012

Club Race

Firstly I started with a demonstration for novice riders showing various skills on a BMX track and helped them to apply these skills themselves.

The riders took on board the valuable information that I was giving them, and listened to and used other aspects delivered like racing tips. I did have a few challenges, I was short of time in my main delivery, and to overcome this I extended the main part of the session and reduced the other bits. The next time I deliver this I would allocate more time to the main section.

Overall the day went very well and I felt great helping young riders to improve. Others also benefitted from the advice and you could see this in the racing that followed.

The main skill I used during my delivery was communication; I had to communicate in a range of ways to be effective and to help the riders’ progress. Next time I would like to allow longer for the main part of the session so that I can help all riders to improve and give individual help.

Blog 4: 15th April 2012

Coaching

 I helped to coach the riders by sharing my knowledge with them this helped to improve their starting in a BMX race.

There were a few challenges that I faced, one being that there were a large number of riders. If I was to improve anything it would be to have more coaches available for the session to help so we could have smaller groups of riders, giving them more time to ask questions.

I felt that the session went well, everyone seemed to enjoy it and the riders learnt new skills. I felt I communicated well with both the riders and other volunteers, I think it is important to communicate well so the riders can hear me clearly and understand what I am asking them to do.

Blog 5: 6th June 2012

Go-Ride Session

I started my session by setting out the equipment and made it into a course for the activities to take place on. Once I had done this I briefed the riders, explaining what they had to do, and how it would help them.

 

The activities worked very well with the group we had as they had the basic skills needed to take part. The challenge that I had, is that we had slightly more people than we had anticipated, so we set up an extra course to split the groups up. There was also a range of abilities so we had to use different practices for the different groups. Next time that I did the session I would check how many riders would be taken part before starting the course, splitting the groups if needed to avoid cues.

I felt like I communicated well during my delivery to tell the riders what they should be doing, I gave the positive feedback and when needed constructive criticism. Overall I think the session went very well and the participants enjoyed the activities they were told to do.