Month: July 2012

Trampoline coaching…

Posted on by JC

I have started for the past couple of weeks to do my trampoline coaching again. I passed the assistant coaching a few years ago but have never really used it more than in the adult classes while I attend to help out. I wanted to do more with it.

On a Monday night now, after work I help out at two of the classes. I’m still re-learning how to teach, a refresher in it all but it seems to be coming back quite fast. I’ve been unable so far to find my coaching booklet but watching people start a move seems to remind me of the progressions and I can advise on how to improve them.

I started the coaching course initially not to help others but to help myself. I had difficulty understanding what some of the coaches were describing me to do and wanted to understand from their point of view so I enrolled on the first course. It took me about a year to complete it, and the exam although scary and nerve wrecking, was not so bad as I had kids and others that worked well with me to get through it.

However after the course and exam and passing, I didn’t use the qualification. I’ve been on the refresher courses, and child protection courses so seem to have lots of certificates for things but was not helping anyone with it all. I wanted to help but never had the time, I needed to make time somehow but that didn’t happen either but since breaking up from university, I had extra time so have started to use it.

After a few more months of experience and getting back into the swing of it all, I would like to train for my level 2 qualification in it and see how I go from there. Level 2 would open doors to do a lot more in trampolining, there seems to be quite a lot of that level in Billingham Trampoline Club – they do seem to like to get as many people trained up. I’ve been told that I should be able to apply for funding towards the costs and the club can help support/pay too which would be great.

I think it is something I could work on alongside my university work as it is a completly different type of learning, it is a lot more about action than theory but still should be an interesting diversion from university work. I didn’t think I would go for any further level, but now, after a couple of weeks of coaching, I want to do more.

Free time, what free time

Posted on by JC

University finished at the end of may, and I got my results recently to find I had passed which is good and I felt I had a lot of free time suddenly. After months of university and blocking out time to do all the work, I now have all these extra time blocks to do something.

I have evenings from 5pm on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday that used to be filled with time for tutorials, and classes that are now free, a sunday afternoon free that I used for reading and trampolining with the university. In all, I have gained around 20 or so hours each week to do things again.

I’ve taken on more hours at work, just a couple on the end of each day and taken to go swimming after work Tuesday to Friday now. I’ve restarted my trampoline coaching on a Monday night to help out at Billingham Trampoline Club. I passed the exams years ago, and been on the refresher courses but not really used them as never had time.

I’ve now blocked a monday evening out to do that and when uni starts again can still do the tutorial time again after. We have been given the timetable for next years classes already so can prepare time management.

I don’t know if I would have got back to trampoline coaching without the constant contact from the club. I was included in the coaching meetings even though I’d not coached in years and was a part of the running even if not active. But being included made me feel a part and I wanted to help out more. Such a little action on their part really got me to feel for the club.

This extra time, I see it as an opertunity to do things I’ve wanted to do all year but not got around too. I’ve worked on some projects and completed ideas that I never thought I would. I often think up things and they never get past the design stage and live within the piles of paper that grow and duplicate. I often have the same idea about 5 times before its put into a complete action. So far this break, I’ve completed about 5 of them including updating a lot of my Websites.

I’ve taken up reading for leisure, previously I would maybe get through a fiction book maybe once or twice a year, now its been closer to a week per book. I got a kindle with vouchers I got from a program named “Better than Banners” – Years ago, they asked you to put some code on 3 static webpages and they would pay you £5 of amazon vouchers per website and £10 per referral. We of course referred each other and setup lots of websites. Some sites have died and we lost the income but a couple of us still get £5 every month or so from them. We joined in 2006 so thats been a lot of free vouchers. Shame they do not accept new registrations, it would be easy to setup a lot more sites now and gain the vouchers.

Anyhow, I’ve got a kindle with the vouchers I saved up from them and have been reading many books it feels like. I really enjoyed The Hunger Games series and for the next week or so after felt in my dreams I was running around the forests and game lands. I’ve worked through a few books now and look forward to the next ones in their series, but some are not published so I’ll enjoy that when they are.

For the first month after my exams, I wanted to relax. Release myself from all studying and just stop but couldn’t completly – I had my job to do and got on with it. It came to evenings and I felt lost, and empty for a while. I watched a lot of DVDs – I managed over the course of a month to watch the entire series of Firefly (+ movie serenity) and Stargate SG1 and movies along with many other ones that had been on sky. I thought about how people could just sit and watch and it felt like a waste of time although I enjoyed them, at the end of it all, I felt I got nothing worthwhile out of it.

While studying, I felt I got a lot out of many classes, from friendships to education and challenges. I feel I need challenges in life and thats where my projects come in.

So, two months to go before university starts again. Maybe it will soom be time to find books for pre-preparation for the course of the next year – some reading to understand the topics a little ahead of time. It would be good to find the books I require before the rush at the start of the year and while I have some time, to actually read them.

I’ve a few trips planned over the next month or so to see friends and visit London. I am not sure why, but disappearing to London for a few days allows me to totally relax. I think its to do with a totally different life style – I relax anyhow, this time going with more friends. I’ve not got a holiday of going away planned but love seeing people around the country and taking time out from my normal stuff – that in itself is a perfect idea of a holiday.

so… that free time I thought I had. Easy gone, but at the same time, I’ve filled it with things that can be put aside when university starts again. Most things will be put aside, but I am hoping to keep on with the trampolining coaching. After a few more months of experience, I’d like to train for my level 2 qualification in it and see how I go from there.

First year down, several more to go

Posted on by JC

Last week I got my results for my first year of university. I was pleased to discover I had passed all my exams and the year, no resits for me. It did not give a complete breakdown of my results but the one I enjoyed most (contract law), I got the lowest marks in and the one I disliked the most (legal foundations) I got the best marks in which feels a little strange.

When I did my exams I was not well, I got very anxious and nervous beforehand and was quite ill on the weekend before they started. I had done my revision and had worked throughout the year so was prepared for them. When I sat down to the exams, I read the questions and could see similarities to the many tutorials we had done and felt I could answer the questions which was good.

I sat, I worked through them all and at the end of it, I felt I had done well. Looking at the grades, it looks like I need a much better exam technique. Although I could remember the information, I did not express it as best I could it seems and I need to work on that. My course work however seemed to pull my marks up good – maybe why I passed legal foundations so well as that was all course work.

I’ve always had difficulty when it comes to exams, my mind does not seem best suited to it. Throughout the year, and in course work, I would answer well and get the majority correct but in exams, everything seems to drop.

My parents have suggested that maybe I should look into something like hypnotism or counselling if interested to maybe try and find the root cause and aid learning and expression within exams.

Its an interesting idea, to re-program the mind to aid learning, and something I’ve thought about myself before and read a lot about it online. There seems a lot you can do through meditation and hypnotism to help to give yourself more confidence and help change attitudes.

I know a few people who have used it to remove fears such as spiders, and others to help stop smoking. They have said that it doesn’t seem to change things completely but they are a lot more relaxed in the situation and are a lot less likely to react as they used too.

I start my next year in October. I am looking forward to it again although not so much the amount of reading that will be involved. I hope to get some of the books on kindle, but so far none of my law books have been. I find it very easy to read books on that thing, I make the text quite large and can fly through books and seem to absorb the information.

I used to remember my dreams long enough to…

Posted on by JC

I used to remember my dreams long enough so that I could write them down, it has been a long time since that has happened. I only remember what feels like small fragments of them now, and they don’t make much sense (not that dreams often do after waking up)

I used my dreams to base up stories that one day I hoped that I could re-write and make into small stories or books to be published or at least shared with other people. I often have such great adventures through my imagination that I want to share it with others.

Last night, all I can remember is getting a new job – a job where I was in a high tech location with lots of security around. I was new so did not have the required passes to get in, but someone found me and got me through security.

I went through to a place with a lot of very large monitors and people quite busy, but also quite socialable too. My team leader wanted me to write, and asked me to create a couple of stories that would demonstrate my writing and descriptive abilities although I could not see how that could help me in that job, I could suddenly remember so many stories from my dreams. I felt conflicted, I could have written so many down and developed them, but also wanted to keep them for myself.

It was very strange, as at that point, I could have wrote so much but then I started to awaken to this world. All I can now remember is that the information was there and available to develop and now, I can not seem to remember or access it. It is really annoying but comforting to know that it is there and maybe, that dream will become a reality and I’ll be able to share my stories one day.