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

A: My level is Gold.

 Q: What do you enjoy most about volunteering?

 A: I enjoy helping other people to get better at cycling.

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

A: It has helped me to understand what I am capable of and I have realised that I am a good learner.

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

A: I wouldn’t change my experience.

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

A: I would like it to take me into coaching.

Blog 1: 27/07/2012

Mossley Go-Ride Coaching Session

My role was to help coordinate some of the session. I explained to the children how to do a team time trial, and then I got them onto the track and told them when they should be changing. The children did listen to what I said, but I could improve my communication skills because I had to explain the team time trial twice before they understood me.

My thought was that the kids are looking at me as a coach, instead of just a volunteer. I felt good that I could help them to improve, and help them to get a faster time during their team time trial.

One challenge was getting all of their names right; at the start of the session I got all of them to tell me their names to help me with this. If I were to do something differently next time I would like to get more involved with the warm up as well as the main session.

Blog 2: 28/07/2012

Go-Ride Racing

I did a range of roles at the Go-Ride Racing event including the sign on, giving out numbers and taking the money. I also took pictures of the racing and the coaching.

The signing on went well, however my thoughts prior to this were ‘I must get the signing on right’ and I felt nervous because I really wanted to get it right. I found this challenging, and to overcome my nerves I watched someone doing it first the week before so that I knew what I needed to be doing.

One thing that I could improve on would be to get to the event earlier and help with the set up, I could also improve by getting more involved in the racing as well as taking pictures.

Blog 3: 21/08/2012

Boys and Girls Team Pursuit

I began my part of the session by getting the boys in line and making sure that they were lined up in the correct order for the pursuit. Janice got the girls in order and then I told them both when to set off. The end result was that the boys’ team won and I felt good as this was the team I was responsible for.

From a coaching point of view, I feel I could have got more involved, and given them hints and tips to perform better during the race.

I faced challenges around communication and getting up in front of the group to talk to everyone at once. I overcame this by talking to riders individually and giving them the direction they needed. I feel that I have developed my communication skills, especially my speaking and listening.

In future sessions I would like to get more involved and help the riders by giving them more tips and coaching points, and hopefully build my confidence further when it comes to talking to larger groups.

Blog 4: 23/08/2012

Go-Ride Coaching

In the Go-Ride Coaching session I had responsibility for teaching the children what a team time trial was and how it workedIt was a challenge to communicate effectively with the children so that they understood what to do, but I used a practical demonstration to help with this.

I also held the role of timekeeper and recorded the time of each team’s attempt, which was one lap of the 1km circuit. I think I could improve by writing the times down faster onto the paper, a clipboard may help with this.

We were also practising track stands to start, and it was good that everyone stayed on their bikes and managed to perform a track stand with the help of myself holding them to start. I also thought that I needed to hold the bikes up straight, but I was happy that no one fell off.

I used a range of coaching skills during the sessions and felt I was able to develop my communication skills by talking to the group. Next time I will make sure I don’t get so nervous when I am explaining things, and show more confidence when I’m coaching.

Blog 5: 25/08/2012

Mossley Go-Ride Racing

My role in this session was Signing on Steward and Results Judge. In order to do this correctly I had to focus so that we got everyone registered and all of the results were correct. This was something that I was a bit nervous about as it’s really important to get the result right as people want to know where they have come and in what time and I didn’t want to let the children down by getting them wrong.

Another aspect that I found challenging was getting everyone signed on, as all the parents were trying to get signed on at once. I overcame this issue by asking all of the parents to line up in a single file so that I was able to make sure everyone had completed the process.

The racing session was a success as everyone managed to get signed on easily and once the races took place I managed to record all the results correctly so that all the children could see where they came. If I was to change anything the only thing I would change is that I would have liked to get involved in the racing more.