A first year student has been offered a work placement in a ‘Panathlon school’ after her performance as a Young Leader at the West London Panathlon finals.
Vicky Cockle (pictured), who studies Physical & Sport Education (PSE) at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, has been offered the placement by St Philip’s School in Chessington as staff were so impressed with her dedication at our competition in March.
She has been given the chance to help run and plan PE lessons for around three weeks at the special educational needs school for children aged 11-19.
Vicky was one of nine St Mary’s PSE students who officiated at the event, having been trained by Panathlon the week before the competition, which was hosted by St Mary’s and featured 155 students from 22 schools across seven West London boroughs.
Sutton, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Wandsworth teams competed in the Champions competition while Ealing, Kingston and Merton competed in the Plate Competition, where teams had been decided by the results of the first round competitions back in January and February.
The students took part in sports such as boccia, table cricket, Polybat, New Age Kurling and athletics with Sutton and Merton winning their respective competitions to progress through to the overall London final, which takes place at the Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in June.
Vicky said: “Through volunteering at the Panathlon event, I was given the opportunity to take what I learned from my course so far, alongside my own values, to explore and practice who I am as a coach.
“It was a brilliant, valuable experience where I got to meet some awesome kids and have loads of fun and it has resulted in me getting work in a special educational needs school, which is what I want to do in the future.”
Lecturer in Physical Education at St Mary’s, Nicola Evans, added: “We are very proud of the support we offer Panathlon. Our students enjoy a fantastic day of volunteering and interacting with students from our local schools.”
Panathlon is delighted to work in collaboration with St. Mary’s University, a relationship that has been successful for many years.
Last year Panathlon trained 2,190 Young Leaders around the country, giving thousands of hours of practical hands on experience.
