Play on Pedals has been working with organisations in the east of Glasgow and delivered its first Instructor training session at Urban Fox, in Parkhead, last Friday.
Representatives from Urban Fox, Possibilities for Each and Every Kid (PEEK), Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse (FARE), Westercraigs Nursery and Helenslea Nursery joined Play on Pedals tutor Claire Grimes from Wishaw Nursery for a day of cycling fun! Claire was invited from North Lanarkshire to deliver a session and share her experiences as she is currently training up children from her nursery. A great video of the North Lanarkshire programme can be seen here with Claire in action:
Due to heavy rain outside, participants spent the morning inside on bikes naming parts, adjusting saddles and gliding across the Urban Fox community hall. Children from Helenslea Nursery joined them in the afternoon to give participants a chance to practice fitting helmets and delivering the games they’d learnt.
At the end of the day, we sat down together and talked about their experiences. Comments included enjoying way the course was designed for hands on, interactive sessions both on adult bikes and with the children straight away afterwards. Some participants said that having the chance to work with children was rewarding but also challenging. This was particularly because of not being familiar with the children, who were of different levels of ability with cycling therefore games were hard for some and easy for others. Others commented that it was great to see the children’s confidence come on so quickly but recognised the need to take the sessions at a slower pace when delivering normally.
A final observation noted that the coaching from the tutor was really important and rather than stepping in to give feedback as the session was taking place, it was great that the tutor waited until the end to give feedback, therefore making participants come up with ways to resolve any issues or obstacles during their session.
Thank you to all participant who came along for the training day and congratulations on becoming Play on Pedals Instructors!
