Kicking Goals at Wesley

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Whether it be a cold and rainy Monday morning or a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon, the Sports Challenge Soccer Program shows why sport can be enjoyed on any level and by anyone. And none more important than the ever-energetic small group of Year 5 & 6 boys from Wesley College who decided to try their hand at a bit of dribbling, passing and shooting over the winter season.
 The group would meet twice a week for some ‘Sports Challenge’ activities and some soccer, all mixed in with a bit of fun. Led by Senior Mentor Richard Heptinstall, these activities worked on developing the group’s people skills by challenging them to tasks which involved high levels of leadership, teamwork and communication, and provoked their creative thinking and problem-solving skills when faced with some unique kinds of puzzles. The boys were certainly up to the challenge, being full of interesting thoughts and opinions and showing results well ahead of their age.
 The soccer brought a different sort of challenge to the boys, who were not always the most skilled when it comes to sport, and started off the program with raw, undeveloped soccer skills. But with the aid of the highly experienced soccer expert John O’Connell and having the brilliant ball control skills of Calum O’Connell to take inspiration from, the boys showed massive improvement throughout the program. This improvement not only came from general soccer skills, but also came about because of a strong emphasis from the Sports Challenge team on having the right attitude to the game and to each other. Being part of a team means making use of everyone’s ability to get the best out of the group and supporting each other when things aren’t going so well. This was something that the Wesley boys really started to understand as the program went along and by the end, showed skills in this area as good as any team around!
 Most importantly sport is about having fun and enjoying ourselves and there’s no question that everyone in the group, students and coaches, definitely had a great time. And through these great experiences and fond memories, I’m sure there will be many more goals kicked in the future!
Richard Heptinstall- 26/9/2011