Community Sports Leader Award
by Danielle Rouse
I am a sixth former at Imberhorne School, studying, History, German,
English, Economics and involved in the CSLA course (Community Sports
Leader Award). The CSLA course is about the following areas, organisational
skills, safety in sport, fitness sessions in sport, organisation
of events and competitions and 10 hours of voluntary work over
the year.
I decided to participate in CSLA because I thought it
would be a rewarding experience and a great opportunity for me
as a keen writer looking to get into sports journalism. Being
involved in this course has given me a great opportunity to write
up some
reports about several sports tournaments which we have hosted
and organised. The CSLA group I am part of took on the responsibility
of organising a netball tournament and a football tournament
recently.
It was a challenging task, but we all worked together to achieve
the best result we could.
Firstly, we elected a main leader for
each tournament and then we decided on which roles each of
us would all play for the day. My role was to inform the newspapers
of the
events and make them aware of when and where the events were
happening. In both tournaments, different papers came, the East
Grinstead
Observer/Courier came and took photos at the netball tournament
and the Meriden came to the football tournament to take photos
of the participants.
I then wrote reports for both papers about
the netball tournament. The other members of the CSLA group
took
on the responsibilities including, checking all safety precautions,
working out the results from each game played, umpiring/referring,
and being prepared with certificates and medals. All CSLA
leaders showed a lot of enthusiasm and commitment in working as
a team
and as individuals in their specific roles.
On Wednesday 4th March, a high 5 netball tournament was held at
Imberhorne Upper. Participants included years 4, 5 and 6 from schools
all around East Grinstead. All children were excited and full of
enthusiasm to start playing and compete against the other schools.
This annual event was a great success. Everyone enjoyed themselves
and showed a lot of passion to play their best in contention for
the best result. It was the first year we involved year 4’s
and it proved to be an excellent decision as they all competed
tremendously well, creating a wonderful atmosphere.
All teams worked
together admirably and supported their friends with great encouragement.
In the Year 6 tournament there was a tight finish at the end, all
teams displaying their skilful potential, producing enjoyable games
for the umpires and supporters; resulting in the emphatic triumph
for the winners West Hoathly, closely followed by Ashurst Wood
in 2nd place and in 3rd place were Crawley Down. The year 6 player
of the tournament was Sophie O’Leary, from West Hoathly,
who was identified as having outstanding potential. As well as,
this we awarded the school who we believed deserved the ‘Fair
play’ award of the tournament for year 6 to Ashurst Wood.
In the years 4/5 tournament the final was played between Estcots
and St. Mary’s
after both teams won in their league in their rounds. After a dramatic 3-3 draw
at the end of normal time, extra time was added and both teams worked with such
effort to get those crucial goals needed. The final result was Estcots 5 St.
Mary’s 4. The win featured the performance of Lea Raymond who was chosen
as years 4/5 player of the tournament, and the team in the years 4/5 tournament
who were awarded with the ‘fair play’ award were Estcots.
All children seemed to have capitalised on the experience, recognised
from their extreme enthusiasm throughout the day, which will hopefully
encourage them to
continue participating in sport and having fun.
Three weeks later on the 24th March we held a football tournament
at Imberhorne Upper which again was a great success. The participants
included year 5’s
from schools all around East Grinstead. I think the young children benefited
from the tournament because it gave them an opportunity to get involved in friendly
competitive games. It encouraged them to have more confidence and build up their
determination to keep working at their best, but also having fun with their team
members trying to work together to succeed.
This is important to many situations
not just in sport, so this was a significant experience they may have gained
from the afternoon.
The overall winners of the tournament were St Mary’s
followed by Estcots in 2nd place, and in 3rd place were Blackwell. As a CSLA
team we chose a player of the tournament, Freddie Cartwright, who played for
Felbridge. We thought he displayed a lot of enthusiasm and potential in his performance
and was one of many who took the opportunity to really get involved and have
fun throughout the day. We also wanted to reward good sportsmanship, and awarded
Baldwins Hill for their excellent ‘fair play’ attitude.
These events were a huge success and I would like to thank everyone
who was involved in helping throughout the day and for those teams
and supporters who produced
an exciting atmosphere and gave avid support for all their games. It was all
appreciated very much. These tournaments also gave organisers a chance to raise
money for Imberhorne’s Tanzania appeal, and they raised £80.
I am supporter of being involved in sport and creative activities
because it will help young children in particular to stay healthy
and it will benefit their
social life, allowing them to express their passion for sport and show their
commitment to their hobby. I enjoy working as a team, creating successful days
for the young competitors and taking responsibility gives you a rewarding experience.
I think being involved with CSLA programme will be a useful experience for
me to develop upon as it has enabled me to have gained some ideas
of analysing an
event and becoming more independent by taking on different responsibilities.
Danielle Rouse
