For the first time in 10 years, 22 Sports Challenge Australia mentors fronted up to David Oval in Mosman Park under continuous rain and black skies to lead 180 Year 8 Iona Girls on a day of developing Leadership Skills and Team Building.
As the Sports Challenge team huddled inside the MosArts Centre (SC) veteran mentor CJ Jackson revved the troops up saying, “We have to show these girls it does not matter what adversity we face, we can be prepared, motivated and ready to deliver to these girls who are counting on us.”
With meticulous planning completed by (SC) co-ordinator Jordan De Leo and office staff Celina Hynes and Emily Mostyn-Brown, every (SC) mentor had a contingency plan to deliver content inside if the bad weather continued, and it did!! ALL DAY RAIN!
From the moment the girls were addressed inside the hall at the MosArt Centre we all knew we were in for a fantastic day as the girls responded immediately to their mentors with great energy.
Throughout the day, the Year 8 girls learnt the importance of leadership and team building through not only cognitive skills and psychometric testing but through ‘hands on’ problem solving with the mastery of delivery from the 22 (SC) mentors. Under the new Stewardship of Year 8 Co-ordinator Gemma Beekink in 2017, all the Year 8 teachers were involved in working with the SC mentors while CEO Dr. Garry Tester had one on one meetings outlining the psychometric testing the teachers will be receiving, especially in Creativity and Innovation to help them build high performance skills.
The objective and narrative feedback from the girls summarized the commitment and energy of the (SC) mentors delivery. Using a 5-part scale, the girls rated the content 3.9 mean and 4.0 for the delivery. In the narrative just under 50% of the girls said that the mentors were enthusiastic, positive, encouraging and “inspired me to chase my goals and dreams”.
Olympic Kayak K2 finalist and Senior mentor Jesse Phillip best summarized the day:
“What better feeling can you have than to be soaking wet, but knowing that you have made a real difference in the lives of others. This is what we can achieve at Sports Challenge!”