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By Louise Gaul

Day One – Monday

This morning’s invigorating class was the Gifted & Talented Sports Programme, which is run in accordance with The Princes Trust and incorporates key elements of the Scholarship Academy and the Get Started with Rugby League scheme. It was a fun yet challenging series of activities spread over three days which encouraged team work, health and wellbeing through sport.

Children attending this class were specially selected by their teachers at school in line with the Gifted and Talented scheme for outstanding achievements. This programme was clearly something that the kids were only too happy to take part in, as the flow of questions and participation was ongoing throughout the session. It seemed they just couldn’t know enough, and group leader Gordon Pennington, Saints Foundation Manager, was more than enthusiastic in answering them all.

Today the group began indoors with a discussion about the club and its history and then onto group discussions about areas of interest to the children. Gordon asked each child: “What’s your favourite sport?” and, to his unfortunate dismay, each child was eager to respond with their answer: “Football!”

Then, we were taken outside into the grounds for a really energising test of fitness. After some gruelling stretches and warm-ups we then pushed ourselves by running, as a team, up the steps of the stands and walking back down in unison for about ten minutes, though it felt like much longer! After which time the group was congratulated as it was announced that we had just ran a mile. Our section of the stands echoed with sighs of awe and achievement from the boys and girls who never thought they could run that distance. A big pat on the back for everyone!

Then onto the changing rooms for a bit of educating in the way of pre/post-match routine, tips on healthy eating to maintain a good diet for better sports performance and of course, plenty of questions. One question that set the laughter off was: “Is that where Sean Long does his hair?”.

Then we moved into the gym where we were placed in the good hands of former Saints player, Tim Jonkers and some of the members of the coaching academy who helped to motivate us through a selection of the workouts that the Saints themselves would do. A series of one-minute challenges were the name of the game here, as we were timed to see how many sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, for example, we could do in that time. This was great fun, and the gym buzzed as the children encouraged and supported each other as they all took part.

After that, the laughs and smiles were in abundance and the children, as well as their exhausted teacher, left Knowsley Road in anticipation of their next visit to the ground for the second instalment of the sports programme.

Day Two – Tuesday

Today’s session began with a recap of what was learned yesterday and involved getting into groups for a quiz. There were coaches on hand to offer help to the students, who didn’t need any help anyway as they were a smart bunch who knew all the answers!

After this, we were lead to a nearby playing field where we were taught more rugby skills through fun games and team activities. Even I, supposedly a mere observer, got involved with the kids and practiced my passing technique. Needless to say I was put to shame!

I was surprised to find that every child was eager to take part in the games and the competitive streaks soon came out. Most of the activities had not been of a competitive nature, but it seemed only fair for the children to flaunt their new found skills. And boy did they love it. There were cheers of support and motivation from both the children and their coaches.

Later in the session we were joined by a few other young coaches from the Get Started with Rugby League programme and they lead some of the activities. This was a good experience as it joined the programmes together and showed that all the programmes run by Saints are closely linked and they work together when they can. It’s almost as if there is a whole other sub-community to Saints aside from the First Team rugby and this community is a team just as strong as the First Team.

After the coaching we all walked back to the ground. This was very relaxed and allowed the children to mingle and chat with their coaches about the day and also about what they would be doing tomorrow. I asked one of the older girls, Heather Drillingcourt, what she had enjoyed most so far: “I think it’s all been really good. I’ve liked the gym best though. I found it really hard at first to do some of the things, like the pull-ups, but I felt great when I actually achieved it. I’ve achieved loads of things here”.

Back at the ground bottles of water were given out and goodbyes were said… for now.

Day Three - Wednesday

Midweek now and the coaching programmes are in full swing. My morning began with the students on the Gifted & Talented course again and was witness to cheers of “Yes!” as they were told that those who had completed the full three days would be given tickets to the Saints versus Warrington match on August 9. Not only had they had a great three days at the Saints ground, they were also getting free tickets for doing so; off to a good start indeed.

After another morning recap for this team I joined the team from the Get Started with Rugby League programme, who were kind enough to let me take part in their course for the next couple of days. This course is supported by the Princes Trust with the aim of helping those teenagers who have their own set of challenges to gain a qualification to improve their CV and thus enhance their chances of securing a future career that they can enjoy.

When I arrived at their room I was just in time to witness the unveiling of the new Princes Trust track suit and the arrival of a photographer to capture the group in their new kit for the Princes Trust website. This event excited the group and I must say the camera loved them!

Now it was time to head down to De La Salle High School to meet the Gifted & Talented students on the playing field so the team could put the coaching skills they had been perfecting all week into practice. The team had their first taste of this yesterday but today was going to be different; they were to lead the groups from the very beginning with little help from the real coaches. An air of confidence came from one boy who later told me that he “lives and breathes rugby and would do nothing but play it all day if it was possible”. This confidence and passion, and possibly the glorious weather too, must have rubbed off on the children who were even livelier than yesterday. I was happy to see this because today was the last day for the Gifted & Talented group and that lively feeling would be the feeling that they remembered about their time at Knowsley Road.

Back at Knowsley Road the Get Started team discussed what they had learned and how much they had achieved from today’s coaching session and they left the grounds knowing that tomorrow would be their last day.

Day Four - Thursday

My last day with the Get Started team was started with breakfast, which consisted of the biggest amount of toast I have ever seen served and eaten in one sitting! Breakfast time doubled as a group bonding session almost and the group sat round telling jokes and chatting before getting to work.

After breakfast we were met by a man from Connexions who explained that he would talk to each of the team individually for a discussion about their steps after this course and to get some feedback on the week’s activities. I sat in on a few of these and some of the team gave really positive feedback. One member, Phil Brough, said: “I’ve had a chance to do things I’d never done before and it’s built up my confidence. I’ve also learned about things like teamwork and healthy eating and this will definitely help me in the future because I’m aiming to go into the army.”

After lunch the team were set to work on a very exciting piece of work. This was to help organise a festival, and the festival they were set to organise was the World Fire Fighter Games to be held at Knowsley Road on September 2. They were shown around the stadium and told all about safety issues that may arise and precautions that should be put in place. Having been taught about health and safety through the week, the group excelled at this.

This activity wrapped up the week and all students that took part were given free tickets to the Warrington match as a reward for their fantastic efforts. All coaches and staff would like to congratulate the students and team members on completing the courses and encourage them to remember the messages learned about being healthy and keeping fit and thinking positively when in difficult situations, just like the Saints’ players do, and they will achieve great things.

Louise is currently on a four-week placement with the Media and Community Teams at Saints.