On Work Experience

FROM WORKERS

“I feel that the experience improved my interpersonal skills, self confidence, communication, team leading skills and gave me a new sense of responsibility. The experience was priceless and I felt the responsibilities given to me were challenging but enjoyable. It was a great experience and I would love to do it again”
Montel Ottey

“BiG is different from other Work Experience schemes. It challenges many skills in an enjoyable and rewarding way. Lionel is keen to help develop the workers’ universal skills such as leadership and interpersonal skills and is excellent from a football perspective as
well. He has played and coached at a high level and this shows in his knowledge of football, but he is equally good with children, which I think is rare. He is easy to learn from and is the kind of coach I would want to become.”
Michael Howell

“BiG summer coaching program has helped build my confidence. By interacting with the younger children, I learnt new and different ways in which I can help them develop their football performances. Taking the responsibility of a session and meeting and greeting parents, has given me the confidence to take on more coaching outside of BiG. After I had coached a session Lionel would give me feedback on the positives and negatives of my coaching performances. After every session I would write in my log book what I had done during that session. I now have the confidence to do more coaching and I am currently coaching the year 8 squad at my school.”
Stef Micahel

“I found the course very useful and helpful, not for the opportunity given to me to be involved in the work experience but as a person. It has helped me to increase my level of skills such as leadership and communication. Particularly where I had to lead groups and create session plans, where I had to be creative and come up with a session plan that would help the participants in a certain key skill. Lunch times were also good because it gave us a chance to communicate with the participants in a more fun way, as we did quizzes and other interactive sessions. It was a good opportunity to put my abilities to test and see where and what I can improve and also where my strengths are; which will help me in the future.”
Jamil Stewart

“The BiG program has taught me a number of things which i have been able to embed into my everyday routines aswell as into other coaching regimes. Besides the fantastic opportunity to work with children of different ages and abilities, it has also taught me the importance of planning, organising and being flexible in my work and what i am able to offer as a person. I would recommend anyone who is interested in sport or who enjoys working with children to take the opportuinity to get involved and work with BiG as i believe its a great and unforgettable experiance which should help you in the future.”
Dylan Skinner “During my work experience, I felt that I really learnt some important coaching and life skills. I think I showed good leadership skills when I helped one of the kids to practice on his shooting. I also showed good organisational skills when I helped to set out the warm-ups. Work experience really made me want to do it again and made me think about my future.”
Liam Gordon “The BiG half term football programme was a great experience for me because I have learned lots of life skills such as communication, leadership, time management/planning and so much more as being a member of the coaching team. I was working with a range of different aged people and through doing this I was able to see the other side of football. I have been playing football from the age of five but I have never as part of the coaching staff. The experience was great from the first day until the very last and I would like to give a very special thanks to Lionel Best and the BiG foundation for this experience.”
Darnell Austin “As an assistant, I was expected to carry out tasks delegated to me by the senior coach, and to be adaptable, flexible, and punctual. I needed to be willing to put in a proper shift to help all the kids get as much out of the programme as possible, not just in terms of the new skills learned, but also in developing their teamwork and appreciation of the effort of others. Lionel was always happy to listen to any concerns, and was 100% committed to ensuring that not only do the kids have a great time, but that his assistants come away from the programme having learned a lot themselves. All in all, I felt that the week I spent volunteering with Lionel was an invaluable experience, and I’d highly recommend any budding coaches out there, or even anyone simply looking to broaden their horizons, to take the opportunity to work with Lionel.”
Fabian Godfrey “Hi, my name is Henry and I took part with Lionel and other leaders to help manage the BiG summer football programme. I felt the programme was very positive in how it helped harness my leadership skills with an audience of younger people. Above all, as well as being a role model to the participants, my role in the programme made me an approachable and understanding person to the younger people taking part. I gained useful organisational skills as part of the programme and by helping and giving encouragement, became a more confident individual. The BiG programme has taught me what I need to do in order to improve my assertiveness and organisation qualities even further for the future. It has been a very positive stepping stone to help me tackle similar roles in life as well as it being a very enjoyable experience for me.”
Henry Flynn

“The BiG project has helped me build my confidence and developed my leadership and interpersonal skills. As the week went by, I gained in confidence and as a result I felt more relaxed, which helped me improve my interpersonal skills. My leadership skills have developed by speaking to a group, explaining instructions, and ensuring these were carried out. Another skill I have developed is asserting my authority; I have done this by leading sessions and showing the group that I am in charge. I also learnt the difference between being a leader and a participant and not being too competitive. Overall I enjoyed the week and would love to do this or something similar again.”
Kai Richardson “BiG was a great experience for me as I’m looking to be a football coach when I’m older. it taught me different techniques / skills i didn’t even know about and also showed me how difficult coaching can be as from what i saw from that week you need a lot of confidence to be a football coach and Lionel has increased my confidence already. BiG is an amazing programme for kids to improve and understand the whole game itself. Very glad i was involved with this programme , it has showed me a lot.”
Montel Adams “I participated in the work experience opportunity for the BiG Summer 2013 football programme for 2 weeks during my summer holidays. I found it to be very beneficial as it assisted me to look at coaching from another angle, i.e. from the coaches’ point of view. I am now considering coaching as one of my future career options. I learnt a lot from Lionel. His teaching methods taught me patience and ways in which to illustrate sessions to people with different levels of skill. I would recommend his programme to anyone considering a career in coaching.”
Jordan Hart

FROM PARENTS

“My son was fortunate enough to be selected and offered the opportunity to assist Lionel with his training/mentoring programme during the half -term this October. It was an experience he thoroughly enjoyed and actually looked forward to participating in. He loved the interaction with the children and found a new – found confidence when speaking to their parents. He enjoyed the responsibility given to him and the positive results from the children. He found Lionel to be an amazing coach/mentor,extremely easy to talk to and would do it again if the opportunity presented itself”
Jackie, Montel’s mum

“Lionel took as much care in preparing and monitoring the progress of our son’s Work Experience scheme as he did in preparing the football sessions for the children being coached. He provided a very rich learning experience and gave constant feedback and encouragement throughout the two-week programme. He is the type of football coach that our son would himself like to be – concerned with helping children to develop very sound football skills, but at the same time also caring about their well-being and their broader character development. During his Work Experience, our son was able to practice and develop his coaching and leadership skills and he grew in confidence with working with children of diverse ages and football abilities. He also enjoyed it very much!”
Karen, Micahel’s mum

“My son was offered an opportunity to be involved in a two week work experience at very short notice, so we wasn’t really sure what to expect. I am pleased to say, that my son felt immediately comfortable fitting in and slowly building up his courage to take on the tasks which were given to him. My son begun the programme as a very quiet and kept himself to himself type of child, but by the end of the two weeks, had remarkably changed into a young man who had matured (as much as one can over a few weeks), was discussing different aspects of life and where he could see himself, to the point where he was learning and enjoying himself so much on the Programme, that he was offered the chance to complete another week, to which he jumped at. Overall, I am very happy with the level of interest Lionel showed and taught my son over the short time, I know he has walked away with valuable work and life skills. I also want to say how professionally run the programme was, with every bit of detail from punctuality, appearance, team coordination and many other aspects which were carefully thought out and seen through by Lionel. I wish him all the success he deserves going forward!”
Nicole, Jamil’s mum

“Working with Lionel has given Paul a good head start in life for example more confidence, keeping time, planning, learning more skills, communicating, leadership skills, being his own boss, teaching skills to younger ones and all types of physical educational and football skills.”
Caroline kalu, Paul’s mum

“I would like to thank Lionel for giving my son Darnell the opportunity to work as part of BiG staff during the half term holiday. Darnell has thoroughly enjoyed working with Lionel and his team. I believe this experience has improved Darnell’s socials skills and given him a real insight to life outside his regular comfort zone”
Russell Austin, Darnell’s dad

“Liam thoroughly enjoyed the programme and is using the knowledge he gained in his PE lessons, which he has chosen as a GCSE option. Lionel has been very encouraging and a great inspiration to him and he is looking forward to taking part in the work experience programme in 2014!”
Sharron Gordon, Liam’s mum

“Lionel took time and trouble to make sure my son, who was helping him as work experience volunteer, benefitted just as much as kids. The thoughtful guidance, feedback and encouragement to develop his skills was evident in a very short space of time. My son grew in confidence as Lionel gave him the right balance of responsibility and support.”
Abi, Fabian’s mum