Team talks

Before every competition, there is the team talk!

Motivation, encouragement and reassurance: three vital components for our young people before they compete.  More often than not, I'm the one taking the photos.  Very rarely do I appear on them, so to see this photo (taken by one of our very supportive parents) reminded me how important it is for the school adults to connect with their students.  The moments before competition are very important for several reasons.  You relax the children, reminding them that their best is always good enough and enjoyment is the key thing in sport.  (Without it, children eventually turn away from sport.)  You remind them of their previous performances and how good they were.  You energise them so they're ready and raring to go for the upcoming event.  The team in the photo went onto win the event, after tremendous effort, with huge smiles on their faces.

They then showed how great sports they are. One young man from another school's team was finding it challenging.  He was very tired.  He'd kayaked over 100m and still had more than 100m to go.  Our children found out his name and started chanting it to urge him on.  They gave him a huge cheer when he had finished.  

Needless to say, we are very proud of them for this, more so than them showing how great they are at kayaking.

Well done team WS.