Our Drop in coaching sessions have remained popular over the 16 years we have been open and if anything have become more and more popular as time has gone on. Our Midweek sessions have doubled in those years to now running sessions 7 days a week with the youngest session starting from 18months old to our latest session we have added for 12-15 year olds. So we ask ourselves why our drop-in sessions are such a big hit with the local community.
Children's participation in sport is contributed by 5 primary key factors: enjoyment, competence, confidence, understanding and knowledge. When younger children start out in a sport the emphasis is always on inclusivity and participation no matter the ability – this is a motto we live by in all our sessions, everybody is included. The goal in the early stages of sports is getting active, learning new skills, teamwork, fun and enjoyment which are all great for children's mental and physical health. Team sports do allow children to belong as a part of a community, social group giving them a sense of belonging. However it is natural that as children do get older competition and winning can become more important which then can potentially have a negative impact.
Competition is essentially focused on separating winners from losers, those with a sporting ability from those who don’t have a sporting ability. The pressure to perform, in some children, can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety which can, if not managed correctly, can takes the enjoyment out of the sport and can cause a sense of negative anxiety and nervousness. This can lead to some participants to have the fear of failure in the back of their mind or feeling like they are letting their team, coach or even their parents down, especially those who can tell that they themselves are of less ability than others.
With drop in sessions these pressures are completely taken away, mistakes are there to be made. Instead our drop in sessions want those initial mistakes to be made so they can be rectified, but rectified in a fun comfortable setting. Positive reinforcement is continuously given out to all players to keep their interest. With those pressures taken away in drop in sessions, children can then perform to their utmost best ability as they know they won’t be getting judged and instead they are in a relaxed comfortable setting.
However to remove the negative aspect of team sports, lets reiterate the wonderful advantages that come with taking part in team sports for children:
- Increase in Self- Esteem
- Building strong relationships
- Teach respect and fairplay
- Develop Social Skills
- Build Confidence
So to conclude, our drop in coaching sessions are ever popular, as alongside those competitive team sports our sessions are completely relaxed taking away all those pressures. this then helps the children's game which then helps benefit those competitive team sports that they are a part of