hello my name is Luke Garbutt, i am 19 years old and writing my very first blog as i am currently attending manchester metropolitan university studying sport/sport development. one of my units is a volunteering unit in which i must complete 40 hours of volunteering and write a blog in the process to describe how its going. I am very fond of sport and am originally from Newcastle upon tyne and support have supported Newcastle united football club since as long as i can remember.
“Newcastle United, The greatest Club in the world“
I started to properly get involved in sport at the age of 11 representing my school cricket team and also joined my local club cricket team Washington C.C at the same age. I played for the School cricket team for all 5 years and became vice captain of the team, i played for my club team for 6 years in which i accompished winning three league titles and two county cups. Also good performances for my school team got me scouted by a coach in which i got invited along to attend two trails for Durham Cricket club, unfortunatley the two trails where on two different weekends and could only attend the first one as i was flying to texas the same night as the second trial. Even though i did not get through the trails fo not attending both days i only saw it still as a big achievement for even reaching trials for such a big club anyway and only did good for my confidence and made me more hungry to compete in competitive sports not only in cricket but in other things such as, sunday league football, cross country and tennis which all could be classed as successful and made my love for sports grow. However as much as i loved being a part of competitive sports i stopped playing all sports when i started college due to amount of coursework i had to do and also by this time i had a part time job on the side aswell so i never really had much time to play any sports.
When i went on to attend college i got offered to take part in a coaching course which if passed would earn me a FA level 1 coaching badge in football for free. This was something i had actually been thinking of getting involved with for a while and when i got offered to do it through college for free i could not turn it down. after completing the course and achiveing my Level 1 badge it not only brought back my hungry for competitive sports but also changed my mindset of instead of getting involved with playing again to try and get involved with coaching. This is what has brought me to university and to my volunteering course which will hopefully help me carry on my persuit of becoming a professional sports coach.
What is volunteering?
“We define volunteering as any activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives. Central to this definition is the fact that volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual. This can include formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation.”
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/iwanttovolunteer/what-is-volunteering
I am hoping to do my volunteering on an area which will excite me and will also be fun so i will be also able to enjoy it. I would like to do something in which i have a feel for and love doing and will be in my element. i have been given the option to do my volunteering hours on anything i want preferably something to do with sport and something that i have an interest in and enjoy doing. when i got back from university i had a think about a few ideas i could do for my volunteering and came up with going to volunteer at a near by sports club such as crewe alexandra football club. I later on rang them up and asked about volunteering positions however the woman on the phone was unavailable to inform me if there was any as she diddn’t know at the time…
Crewe alex, decent team shame the club secretary is not as good.
Luke Garbutt Volunteering Blog 