LYG33 return to Twickenham Stadium for an inspirational session

On Tuesday 7th April, LYG33 had the privilege of attending Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, home of England Rugby. We began the day with an engaging employability workshop led by LYG staff. During this session, we developed key skills such as how to conduct ourselves in interviews, practised mock interviews, how to present a portfolio effectively  and learned how to use LinkedIn to help build valuable professional connections. This workshop provided us with many practical takeaways that will benefit us in the future, including insightful questions to ask interviewers.

Following this, we had a short session to review our co-production projects, ensuring that we are on track to achieve our goals by the end of the season.

We were then fortunate enough to be taken on a stadium tour, where we visited the players’ dressing rooms and stood pitch side. This experience was very highly inspiring, giving us a real sense of what it is like to be part of a professional sporting environment.

Later in the day, we had a workshop delivered by Imagine If, who introduced us to the 12 qualities that employers look for, such as leadership, innovation and collaboration. We reflected on how we have each demonstrated these qualities throughout the LYG33 programme so far, helping us recognise our own strengths and which skills we still have a chance to develop. We also explored ways in which we can promote and fundraise for the upcoming 50th anniversary of London Youth Games next year.

As part of a fun and interactive activity, we played boccia. After learning about inclusivity, when we came to play there were different adaptations. This challenged us to think more deeply about other people’s needs, as we had to find alternative ways to communicate with one another, reinforcing the importance of inclusivity.

To conclude the day, we heard from guest speaker, Josh Pugh, an academy goalkeeper coach at Arsenal. He gave us valuable insight into his career, the different styles of coaching that fall on the continuum and that the one you use can vary, depending on the sport and situation. His talk provided a realistic and inspiring perspective for those of us interested in coaching careers.

We finished the day by completing our LYG33 passports and reflections, reviewing what we had learnt throughout the day, the skills we showcased, our key takeaways and identifying our next steps.

Overall, I found the day incredibly useful as it offered guidance into employability, so I was able to demonstrate skills such as communication, leadership and composure as well as inclusivity, which is one of the core focuses of the programme.