7 Summary of Session 1

Figure 9 A coach talking to his players

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A photo of a football coach holding a tactics board and talking to children on the pitch

Figure 9 A coach talking to his players

Having completed this first session you should have gained an appreciation of what employability is and start to consider how your engagement in sport can provide an opportunity to develop the range of employability skills. You have been introduced to the OU Employability Framework and reflected upon your own skill set. The main learning points are:

• You are in the driving seat of your career development.
• ‘Employability’ is an ambiguous term which encompasses the relationship between a set of individual attributes and the needs of the employment market.
• Skills are differentiated between hard and soft skills. The focus of this course will be on soft skills.

Before you move onto Session 2, we would really appreciate you answering the two brief questions below so that we can gather some feedback on this session.

Moving forward, you are going to look at the first of the three domains within the OU Employability Framework, core skills and competencies. Have you ever stopped to consider how your communication skills will no doubt be improved through sport? Or how, if you are involved in a team sport, your ability to collaborate with others will have almost certainly been developed? In the next session we will delve into both of these, as well as other core skills, and start to think about how you can transfer these into the world of work. Before you progress to Session 2 though, Leanne would like to share some words of wisdom with you.

In the Spotlight

In this short video below, Leanne offers her biggest piece of advice when it comes to your career. As you watch, have a think about the opportunities that have, or might, come your way and how you can ensure you make the most out of them.

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Transcript: Video: Leanne

LEANNE

There is nothing like just giving things a try, to learn as well. I think that’s the biggest thing was that sometimes I felt like I needed to have everything together before I went and done something. And I think that’s called fear, right? You think let me piece everything together. Because what could go wrong? And I think that was a massive thing for me before I did certain things like my first dance show. I was so nervous. Oh, I was so nervous, putting together this show for the kids and getting everybody ready and all that. It was our first ever show. And we did it in a church hall. And I was so nervous. And I nearly talked myself out of it. But there was nothing like doing that show and learning from some of the things. I mean, the show was great. And it was seamless. But there was nothing like doing it that I was able to pull from and say, this is what I’m going to do better next time. You’ve got to do it to learn how you’re going to do it again. And so it’s quite nice to say I went from that show of about 50 people, and then we’re doing shows at the Hackney Empire theatre with 1,000-plus people. And that’s the growth that comes. And I did the show. When I did the show at the Hackney Empire last year, do you know I sat there? And I said to my friend, I was like, I used to always get nervous before these shows. I don’t feel nervous. I feel excited. I'm going to enjoy it. And that comes with experience. Nothing could have taught me that. It was around the experience I got because I’ve done it enough times. So you just have to keep going.

End transcript: Video: Leanne

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Video: Leanne

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When you are ready, head over to Session 2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .