August 2013
Fresh Surf LIfesavIng Cl ub
A new surf lifesaving club has been set up at Freshwater West beach in Pembroke, thanks to a proactive parent. Local surfer, Graham da Gama Howells, was aware that more and more beach
users were taking to the water. His vision was to give local children the opportunity to learn some new skills and to develop lifesaving techniques.
The Community Chest grant of ÂŁ1500.00 has helped the club purchase training boards, rescue tubes and First Aid training equipment.
Cleddau Warriors Presentation Evening After a very busy season playing in the South West Wales Disability Football League, Cleddau Warriors held their annual presentation evening at Phoenix Bowl in Milford Haven. The evening began with competitive bowling which was followed by an enjoyable meal.
The presentation of awards was made by Mr Steve Brown Chairman of Clarbeston Road Football Club. The trophy winners were: Under 12 player of the year: Troy Bevan Under 16 player of the year: Joel McKweeny Under 16 most improved player: Daniel Norton Novice player of the year: Emma Martin Novice most improved player: Ryan Walters
Over 16 player of the year: Stevie Sullivan Over 16 most improved player: Dean Powell Mr Bill Carne concluded the evening with the presentation of the Matthew Price Memorial trophy for the club player of the year, which went to Jack Surtees
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
WHO’S YOUR PEMBROKESHIRE SPORTING HERO? Nominations have opened for the 2013 Sport Pembrokeshire Awards – your chance to celebrate and recognise sporting achievement in the County. Sportspeople of all ages, as well as coaches, teachers and organisers can be nominated. “If you know someone who has excelled in sport over the last year, or who has freely given their time to coaching and organising grass roots sport, then why not nominate them for an award?” said Cllr Elwyn Morse, Cabinet Member for Sports and Leisure. The deadline for nominations is Friday, 1st November and the categories are as follows: • Coach of the Year • Female Sporting Achievement • Male Sporting Achievement • Boys (U16) Sporting Achievement
• Girls (U16) Sporting Achievement • Disability Sport Award • Junior (U16) Disability Sport Award • Unsung Hero • Club Organiser of the Year • Team Achievement of the Year • Junior (U16) Team Achievement of the Year • Contribution to School Sport Award All nominees, and guests, will be invited to the annual Sport Pembrokeshire Awards ceremony on Friday 29th November at Folly Farm, Begelly. The awards are sponsored by Sport Pembrokeshire, Folly Farm, Valero, Radio Pembrokeshire, and the Western Telegraph. “These awards are our chance to celebrate sporting success in the county,” said Ben Field, Sports Development Manager at Sport
Pembrokeshire. “it’s our chance to congratulate the County's top performers, while also recognising the hard work of coaches, teachers, club organisers and volunteers who make it all possible – and don't forget that last year's nominees are welcome again"
To submit a nomination: Complete an online nomination form at: www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/sport Download forms from: Sport Pembrokeshire www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/sport Collect a form from: Sport Pembrokeshire at County Hall, Haverfordwest, or phone 01437 776191 to be posted or emailed a copy.
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
Golf
Harry Thomas
Throughout the summer term, opportunities to discover golf were plentiful for the children of Pembrokeshire, come rain or shine. At various venues around the county, from Primary schools in Narberth and Tenby to the Maes at the URDD in Boncath as well as at secondary school sites, children were encouraged to swing the clubs and have a go. Sessions were enhanced through use of the SVITZER sponsored GOLF PARC equipment which enabled the children to get the
experience of playing a short golf hole without having to go to a golf club. Some children also had the chance to design their own golf hole, positioning the tricky trees, tough rough, mini bunkers and flag to set themselves varying and different challenges. Opportunities for children to take up golf are available at all Pembrokeshire clubs. For further information please contact Alan Jones, Golf Development Officer on 01437 776191 or at Alan.Jones@pembrokeshire.gov.uk
For the third time, 13 year old Harry Thomas from Letterston, who attends Ysgol Bro Gwaun has again been chosen to represent the Wales under 15 team at the Lord’s Taverner Regional Junior Wheelchair Basketball Championships, at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire. Harry is a member of Pembrokeshire Hurricanes Wheelchair Basketball Club, who meet at Sir Thomas Picton Leisure Centre every other Friday from 3.30-5pm. The club are looking for volunteers to help out or coach at the club, training available, for further details contact; Angela Miles Disability Sports Development Officer for Pembrokeshire on 01437 776379 or 07929213651
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
I’m Rick Walton and I’m the Community Cricket Coach for Pembrokeshire and also one of our Regional Coaches – being responsible this year for the Under 11 age-group. My Community Coach work is based around going into what I still think of as ‘Primary Schools’, where I take sessions of cricket games that will enthuse, entertain and hopefully challenge children. I am clear that there are broader ‘educational’ benefits from this, linking into curriculum studies, but perhaps this isn’t the place to bore you with grand theories. Suffice to say that whilst the sessions are based around fun and (literally) games, I am not just in the business of testing coordination skills; pupils have to listen and watch and maybe even count to keep up with what’s occurring! The essence of what I do is about offering schoolchildren a way in to healthy sporty stuff. I have myself enjoyed the very real and often wonderful benefits of participating in team sports and I know that daft games like cricket can light people up – young and old - in a way that sometimes academic subjects may not. Beyond that, I am charged with making that possibility for sport sustainable – turning it into a brilliant lifelong habit – by
bringing keen young players into their local clubs. Typically, this means I tend to go into a particular family of schools for a period of weeks and make a link with cricket activity in local clubs. So, for example, this spring and summer I have been working in Spittal School in mid-county a) to enthuse and coach children in the game and b) because there will be a new Under 9s team next year at Camrose and Spittal Cricket Club. Later I delivered sessions in various schools in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock because Pembroke Dock CC is establishing an Under 11 girls Team and Pembroke CC an Under 11’s (mixed) side. I work for Cricket Wales and the cricket charity Chance to Shine. Recently Cricket Wales asked me to write a ‘case study’ about my work in Pembrokeshire and as I had just finished a hugely enjoyable period of sessions at Spittal School, I wrote about how that felt. I enclose the study beneath, in the hope that it will be relatively informative but also give a sense of the privilege I genuinely feel at the opportunity I have to bring something outstanding – sport, cricket! – into the lives of our local children.
How it feels. One of the great joys of being a Community Cricket Coach is going into somewhere new.
However well we think we know our own patch, there will come a time when we’re into foreign territory – whether it be a single school or a whole area we just aren’t familiar with. For me, this year, that lovely ‘novelty’ was Spittal - Spittal School. I didn’t really know the village; I didn’t know where the school was and certainly I didn’t know it was incongruously ‘new. In a deeply rural hamlet it felt mildly shocking to arrive and see a building that clearly was not an old-style traditional village school. But there it was - shiny and new. My first thought as I geared up for the hoped-for Invincible and Inspiring First Session was probably that there would be good facilities for me and my cricketstuff. I signed in absurdly cheerily as usual and met the Headmaster and then the Sports Co-ordinator. Almost uniquely (in terms of my experiences so far) they were both cricket blokes. Meaning I had allies; meaning they had some kit; meaning – more importantly – there was a culture of sportiness in the school. I led sessions for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6; partly because the objective was always to deliver (dislike that word, by the way – these children ain’t milk, or papers!) players to Camrose and Spittal Under 9’s and partly because the Head wanted as many children as possible to benefit. I cranked up the enthusiasm and the fun games
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
thing to make sure everybody did – including me. It worked. What I mean by that is firstly that I know now there are a whole bunch of children at that school to whom cricket is now a real option – a part of the vocabulary of their lives. Now I’m gone, when that “waddoo we do this break?” question gets asked, it is entirely feasible that quite a few of them might reply with the magic words “play cricket!” They really know it’s there now and although I am totally conscious of what drives us as Community Coaches – the transfer of children into clubs – this recognition by youngish children that our sport is a real good thing to do is surely MAJOR. Put simply Spittal youngsters got it and I view that
as an essential and rewarding part of the bundle we all aspire to as Community Coaches. Spittal is a smallish rural school so perhaps without being crass it was always likely to be an ‘easy place’ to offer up our smileyhealthy-sporty thing. So it proved. But I worked at it, trying to deliver dynamic and diverting sessions, during school and afterwards. I was daft and I was friendly as well as being The Cricket Man doing his job. I was conscious of avoiding that policeman role that teachers often have to perform. Maybe I let some children drift a little here and there before getting them back – really back – into the game.
I remind myself periodically that you really don’t have to give too much to youngish people to a) entertain them b) make them feel good about themselves – about what they’re doing. Just show them something that’s fun and encourage them – as individuals if possible – to have a crack at it. The game will do the rest. At Spittal School I knew pretty immediately that the children were loving it. That felt good to me too – really good.
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
Back2Hockey is a new initiative to get women and girls to exercise with a focus on fun, fitness and friendship, with no pressure to perform. If you join a Back2Hockey over an 8 week period you will be supported to just have a go at your pace, have some coaching and have plenty of opportunities just to play and have some fun. It doesn’t matter how fit or able you are, the Back2Hockey Activator will be there every step of the way. Sessions are presently running at Fishguard ATP and will commence in St. David’s Leisure Centre on Thursday 25th July. For further details contact, Angela Miles Hockey agent on :01437 776379 or 07920213651
Hockey Fun Centre Three ‘4689’ hockey centers have been held at Tenby, Haverfordwest and Fishguard over the past 9 months. 4689 is a new route into the sport for youngsters aged between 7 and 13. The format is not based on age but ability, with the size of the playing area and team numbers gradually increasing as the children improve. The
program culminated in over 30 youngsters from the 3 centers attending a 4689 festival on Saturday 15th June. All participants were presented with certificates and four youngsters Jessica George and Griff Williams (Fishguard), Pheobe Swales (Tenby) and Teo Krel
(Haverordwest), were presented with medals for demonstrating the Olympic and Paralympic values of: Friendship, Courage, Equality, Inspiration, Respect, Determination and Excellence. Fun centre will recommence in September at Fishguard and Haverfordwest For further details contact Angela Miles Hockey Agent on: 01437 776379 or 07920213651
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
TASKER MILWARD Each time a student at Tasker Milward attends a 5x60 club or festival they earn a point. These points are registered by the 5x60 Officer and then students win prizes each term. At the end of the year, there is an overall winner. Tasker Milward is the only school in Pembrokeshire to offer such generous incentives. 5x60 clubs this year have included : golf, street dance, volleyball , tennis, hill walking ,boccia, cycling and rock climbing, plus many more. At the end of the autumn term the top 6 students on the leader board received TYF vouchers valued at up to £100, for a full day kayaking, climbing or coasteering . At the end of the spring term, students received
REWARD SCHEME
family tickets to Blue Lagoon vouchers from Bluestone. The end of year prize has been sponsored by Mark from MIKES BIKES of Prendergast, who has generously donated a mountain bike! Students have been excitedly checking their position on the leader board as the year progressed. Some of the boys have even tried to attend the girls’ clubs to increase their points score! The eventual winner was James Thomas, a year 8 student who has attended over 80 sessions during this school year. James has been unfalteringly enthusiastic throughout the year and willing to try out any new club. James has also represented the school
in 5x60 basketball (Pembrokeshire finalists) and table tennis. Second prize went to Victoria Hodgeson also in Year 8 who attended 79 sessions.Victoria has been a great role model to her peers – a potential Young Ambassador for the future.Vic represented the school in many 5x60 festivals/tournaments including ; girls’ cricket and captaining the girls’ football. Victoria received a £50 voucher from County Sports, Haverfordwest. Many thanks to our sponsors, Mikes Bikes and County Sports and also to all the students who have participated in 5x60 clubs and events this year!
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t
Food and Fitness Week at Greenhill School
carrying on the Olympic Legacy The week long timetable of activities and events for all pupils in Years 7, 8, 9 and10 was organised by Mr Wyndham Williams, the 5X60 Officer, supported by: the Sport Pembrokeshire team, Mr Matthew Davies and Mr Roy Osborn. The week started with visits from Vernon Samuels Olympic Triple jumper and Tinus Delport, South African Rugby legend who is a Sky Sports pundit. The day was topped off with the arrival of Haverfordwest VC School pupils handing over the Friendship Olympic baton en route to Rio De Janeiro for 2016. Everyone got engaged in workshops run by local experts on a range of topics focusing on elements of food and fitness. Teachers planned lessons around the theme French classes were replaced with Boules tournaments and pupils enjoyed Yoga in Welsh! Pupils participated in the many and varied events with their Form Tutors and over 140 activities were enjoyed!
The activities included foraging, survival in the wild, wheelie smoothies, danish longball, beach volleyball, wheelchair basketball, golf, cardio tennis, baseball, footsol, fun obstacle courses, atomic touch, parkour, frisbee golf, ultimate frisbee, giant dodge ball, nutrition workshops, holistic living workshops, healthy menus and blind tasting delivered by Pembrokeshire College. The week culminated in a whole school sports day organised by Mr Roberts with Mr Williams taking the year 10 down to the beach to play beach sports.
Lauren James Ysgol Bro Gwaun Year 12 Pupil Lauren James is a talented dancer who has been accepted onto Arts Care’s YTS Dance scheme. Lauren has been dancing since she was six years of age winning over 100 trophies for her efforts in that time. After starting dance with Zoe McClelland and Dynamics Dance School, Lauren now trains and competes in Freestyle Disco and Slow Dance with the Heaven Dance Academy, who are based in Swansea but also do some work out of Milford Haven. Lauren also teaches dance to a group of pupils at Bro Gwaun as part of the school’s 5x60 scheme. Lauren says she hopes to continue dancing and teaching for as long as possible. “Dance is a real passion of mine and I love performing and teaching dance to others who have the same passion that I have.” 5x60 Officer at Ysgol Bro Gwaun Dan Bellis said, “ Lauren is a fantastic role model for the pupils she works with. I am delighted she has been accepted onto Arts Care’s YTS Scheme as recognition for all her hard work and dedication. Lauren is also a great example of the impact 5x60 is having in school as she has come full circle from taking part in 5x60 dance sessions as a younger pupil, to now teaching dance to the next generation of pupils.”
w w w. p e mbrokes hi re . gov. uk/s por t