New Year New Coaches
As the members of the GRS Kim team trickled into the office from Holiday vacations the search began for SKILLZ Coach candidates. This recruitment would be different however, as this time we were only looking for women! After parting ways with female coaches at the end of 2012 when contracts ended, we were in desperate need for some strong new ladies to join our ranks. First we interviewed 20 women in a group setting, then 12 1-‐on-‐1 at the office, and finally we selected 9 to be trained as coaches. These 9 women range in age from 19 to 35 and we are very excited about the potential they bring to the Kimberley site. They have energy, they know how to be silly and still get down to business, they have knowledge and even more important, they have curiosity and a willingness to learn! Snaps for our new SKILLZ ladies, we cannot wait to see what they do in the classrooms.
As the members of the GRS Kim team trickled into the office from Holiday vacations the search began for SKILLZ Coach candidates. This recruitment would be different however, as this time we were only looking for women! After parting ways with female coaches at the end of 2012 when contracts ended, we were in desperate need for some strong new ladies to join our ranks. First we interviewed 20 women in a group setting, then 12 1-‐on-‐1 at the office, and finally we selected 9 to be trained as coaches. These 9 women range in age from 19 to 35 and we are very excited about the potential they bring to the Kimberley site. They have energy, they know how to be silly and still get down to business, they have knowledge and even more important, they have curiosity and a willingness to learn! Snaps for our new SKILLZ ladies, we cannot wait to see what they do in the classrooms.
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| Seno, one of our new female coaches! |
Returning Veteran Coaches
As excited as we are about the new, it is the old that form the backbone of our site. After much deliberation, our staff decided to offer some of our veteran coaches, whose contracts recently ended, the opportunity to re-‐apply and stay on as coaches for another year. More interviews took place and we found that the GRS fire burns strong in 7 of our veterans. These men and women are now using their experience to guide our new coaches as they learn the ropes, enter classrooms with as much passion as ever, and of course, learn and develop their SKILLZ as coaches and leaders in the Kimberley community and beyond. Our staff is more than happy that they have returned as they have already proven their commitment to our site and the core values of Grassroot Soccer. Welcome back Veterans!
As excited as we are about the new, it is the old that form the backbone of our site. After much deliberation, our staff decided to offer some of our veteran coaches, whose contracts recently ended, the opportunity to re-‐apply and stay on as coaches for another year. More interviews took place and we found that the GRS fire burns strong in 7 of our veterans. These men and women are now using their experience to guide our new coaches as they learn the ropes, enter classrooms with as much passion as ever, and of course, learn and develop their SKILLZ as coaches and leaders in the Kimberley community and beyond. Our staff is more than happy that they have returned as they have already proven their commitment to our site and the core values of Grassroot Soccer. Welcome back Veterans!
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| Coach Neo is back! |
Trainings in 2 Curriculums
There was a hectic period of time in February as our Training Team ran two ToCs (Trainings of Coaches) in just three weeks. Our “September” Coaches as we now refer to them (the ones we trained last September) were newly trained in another curriculum, Generation SKILLZ. The 9 new female coaches were trained in SKILLZ Core, and the returning veteran coaches attended both trainings to refresh and enhance the SKILLZ they already have! It was a busy, tiring, and challenging stretch, but the team pulled together and in the end both trainings were a success. The Gen. SKILLZ ToC was led by our very own Program Coordinator, Thembi Seeku. Immediately following this training she was off to Cape Town for another ToC, only to return to Kim for her third in a row, training our new coaches in SKILLZ 1.3. Luckily for the final training our team had help from Master Coach, Tony Gubesa, who came in from Cape Town to lead the ToC. Thanks Tony! When asked about this stretch of time, Thembi said, “It was challenging to move up and down but I love it because I have passion for it. I wouldn’t mind doing it again because I get to meet different coaches, learn new ideas, and new ways of facilitating, and it's also part of refreshing the mind because you don’t stick with one group. So I love it. Someone could wake me up in the middle of the night and ask me to do a ToC and I would definitely do it.”
There was a hectic period of time in February as our Training Team ran two ToCs (Trainings of Coaches) in just three weeks. Our “September” Coaches as we now refer to them (the ones we trained last September) were newly trained in another curriculum, Generation SKILLZ. The 9 new female coaches were trained in SKILLZ Core, and the returning veteran coaches attended both trainings to refresh and enhance the SKILLZ they already have! It was a busy, tiring, and challenging stretch, but the team pulled together and in the end both trainings were a success. The Gen. SKILLZ ToC was led by our very own Program Coordinator, Thembi Seeku. Immediately following this training she was off to Cape Town for another ToC, only to return to Kim for her third in a row, training our new coaches in SKILLZ 1.3. Luckily for the final training our team had help from Master Coach, Tony Gubesa, who came in from Cape Town to lead the ToC. Thanks Tony! When asked about this stretch of time, Thembi said, “It was challenging to move up and down but I love it because I have passion for it. I wouldn’t mind doing it again because I get to meet different coaches, learn new ideas, and new ways of facilitating, and it's also part of refreshing the mind because you don’t stick with one group. So I love it. Someone could wake me up in the middle of the night and ask me to do a ToC and I would definitely do it.”
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| CPC, Coach K during a ToC |
Ongoing Interventions and CSVs
Interventions kicked off early in 2013 for the Kimberley site. We got a head start with SKILLZ Core in January and have been working hard to recruit schools and get in the classrooms ever since. Our focus is currently on SKILLZ Core and Generation SKILLZ with SKILLZ Street starting towards the middle of the year when we train our amazing new female coaches in the girls-‐only curriculum. We have already finished one intervention at Beacon Primary and are working in 4 other schools in Kim for SKILLZ Core and 2 schools for Gen. SKILLZ. Our Danielskuil crew is in 1 school for Gen. SKILLZ (their first for this curriculum, snaps!) and 2 schools for SKILLZ Core. During each of the 4 Quarters our SKILLZ Coaches will be evaluated by our site staff on how they perform in the classroom. These are called Coach Support Visits (CSVs) and are a way for us to track our coaches’ progress since being trained. While there is always room for improvement, the Kim coaches are living up to their potential as phenomenal role models to the Kimberley youth.
Interventions kicked off early in 2013 for the Kimberley site. We got a head start with SKILLZ Core in January and have been working hard to recruit schools and get in the classrooms ever since. Our focus is currently on SKILLZ Core and Generation SKILLZ with SKILLZ Street starting towards the middle of the year when we train our amazing new female coaches in the girls-‐only curriculum. We have already finished one intervention at Beacon Primary and are working in 4 other schools in Kim for SKILLZ Core and 2 schools for Gen. SKILLZ. Our Danielskuil crew is in 1 school for Gen. SKILLZ (their first for this curriculum, snaps!) and 2 schools for SKILLZ Core. During each of the 4 Quarters our SKILLZ Coaches will be evaluated by our site staff on how they perform in the classroom. These are called Coach Support Visits (CSVs) and are a way for us to track our coaches’ progress since being trained. While there is always room for improvement, the Kim coaches are living up to their potential as phenomenal role models to the Kimberley youth.
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