How do the Sports Sessions Work?
The sessions are facilitated collaboratively by TP volunteers and Fijian Youth in small groups and are delivered to the rest of the group involved in the project (18-35 year olds).
Logistics
Time commitment – 2 hours per day, Monday – Friday for the duration of the project
Numbers – 1 project
- Team of 18-22 International Participants on the TP Team
- 3-4 TP leaders
- x20 Fijian Fijian Youth
x20 Youth are given $20 each day to attend the session as standard with any youth programme in Fiji (as they may be giving up time at the farm/fishing/households/daily life to attend). This is to be organised with the Turaga ni Koro who with the leaders, will arrange a register for those attending each day/week and make those payments weekly.
Process
- Planning and Prep
An integral part of the process of delivering a sport session effectively, there is structured time during the week for you and your group (5-6 members) to sit down and really think about what you are going to deliver and how. There will be guidance provided to you by your leaders about what may need to be included in your sessions, but ultimately you have creative licence with your group! The discussion here is important and allows you to be fully ready to deliver when the time comes.
2. Purpose and Intention
You and your group must be able to comfortably explain the purpose behind each drill, warm up, cooldown and session as a whole. This is a fundamental part of planning an activity and a great skill to practice. If you are particularly passionate about sports coaching and have experience, this may be an opportunity to go into the science, specifically what skills are you exercising and how will participants be developing. Other than this, what would the use of the session be beyond delivery within the community, what other reasons have you chosen your session structure, sport and activity selection?
3. Delivery
Next step is to lead your session. The group that designed the session will lead all aspects and deliver it to the rest of the participants, international and community youth. Each project will consist of roughly 20 International participants and 20 Fijian youth, they are the numbers you’ll be working with.
Delivery of the sessions itself is a great opportunity for you to test yourself in that setting with new challenges and encourage the development of others around you in that safe and fun environment. If you need any support, qualified project leaders will be on hand to help.
4. Reflection
A crucial step of the process is reflection, a debrief with everyone involved in the session each day. Days on project are long but it is important to reflect on the sports sessions aside from everything else. It is a lovely chance for you to give yourself a pat on the back after undertaking the session and also a chance for constructive feedback to be shared as a group. This is where a lot of the self-development is realised and where everyone is reminded of their personal and professional goals set at the beginning of the project.
Delivery
All sport sessions are planned and delivered during the project in small groups within the village. Each group is made up of both international and community participants and it is this interaction which is part of the project focus, where discussions and collaborations benefit all involved. These sessions are open to creativity and equipment will be provided. If you’re passionate and you’ve discussed it with your team, any sport is on the cards.
You will not be left alone to do this and we are not expecting you to be an expert; project leaders (Think Pacific staff members) lead every aspect of your experience and at least one of the individuals in your leadership will be a trained Fijian representative of one of our partner organisations that sit heavily in the sporting space. They will be able to guide you and assist you should you need support during the planning or delivery of the sport sessions.
The sessions are then led by a small group and delivered to the rest of the group in a fun and supportive space. There may also be opportunities to create and deliver sessions for other demographics in the village (children and over 35s) and we expect every project to end with a sports big village sports tournament.
Resources and Evaluation
All equipment for the sessions is provided by Think Pacific, from a project box with a large variety of stationary and workshop based materials to a large variety of sports equipment (including bibs, cones, cricket sets, balls, etc.)
Oversight
TP Leaders will oversee:
- Delivery Groups Selection
- Signing off on weekly agenda and activities
- Communication with Village and Youth Group.
- Liaising with management for reflections
- Assisting with delivery
Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation efforts continue post-project in every community we visit. This ensures long-term sustainability with further funding opportunities and highlighting scholarship opportunities post-project delivery for young people. There is a reflection period for the team to reflect on delivery and after the entire delivery period, we will then feedback to our partners through impact reports.