Bright Sparks in Sport
Director of Rugby, Mr Robert Lewis and Head of Strength and Conditioning, Mr Ellis Brindley, welcomed Sports Psychologist, Lyle Kirkham of ‘Spark Performance’ on a ‘virtual visit’ to RGS Worcester this week.
Having obtained a BSc and MSc in sport and exercise psychology, Lyle runs ‘Spark Performance’ with the aim of providing guidance and support to teams and individuals in their sporting endeavours.
Pupils from Year Eleven to the Upper Sixth participated in an online seminar conducted by Lyle about the importance of culture and creating a team identity. The workshop discussed team mantras and used the key phrase of the New Zealand Rugby Team – the All Blacks – ‘Better people make better All Blacks’ mantra as the main example. Pupils explored how being able to use this mantra allows individual behaviours to be aligned with team values.
Later in the session, Lyle got to grips with what pupils thought of their current mantras and how they could be updated. Lyle notes, “I put forward the question for each player to consider how their own individual values contribute to the overall team identity, and some of the answers were inspiring. It was a fantastic workshop with all the players contributing in some way to the content and conversations throughout the session.”
Head of Strength and Conditioning, Mr Brindley, commented “It was really great to have Lyle come and talk to the students about why creating a single-driven directive for the team will help them become better sportsmen and people.”
Director of Ruby, Mr Lewis added: “This will prove beneficial for the players as they are the core of our RGS identity. We hope sporting fixtures will re-commence in some aspect before the end of the school year, as there is great sporting talent here at RGS”.