5 ARC and you: starting to make the change
You have now been introduced to several ARC principles that are designed to help coaches and others supporting young people in sport settings to adopt and embed core anti-racist principles into their practice. By starting to consider these principles – or by building on existing practice in these areas – those supporting young athletes can help to create inclusive, welcoming spaces and relationships for them to thrive and really be themselves without fear of being judged or treated inequitably to their peers.
Activity 3 Pledge, take action and review
First, download a copy of your responses to all of the activities from the course. Then, take some time to read through and review the top tips and good practice that you have picked up across the course. You may want to return to specific sections of the course for further clarification or to re-cap some of the content as you review these responses.
Finally, complete the following task which will help you create a plan for the coming weeks ahead to try out some of the ARC principles in your coaching.
| Example | Your plan | |
| Pledge – why is ARC important to you? What is going to keep you motivated to try out and then sustain your adoption of ARC principles? | I want to ensure every child who I coach feels included and able to be themselves. And I want to influence others around me to do the same. | |
Action – what will you actually do?
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Before: I am going to reach out to parents to find out more about their kids’ cultural needs. During: I am going to ensure I get the pronunciation of all my players’ names correct and ask if I’m not sure. After: I want to get back some honest feedback from parents and players about what more I can do to support them and make them feel included. |
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Review – how will you check on your progress? How will you know whether your practice is improving? |
I will record a reflective voice note after each coaching session about how I can improve. I will regularly check in with parents to ask for feedback. | |
| Who can act as a critical friend to keep you committed to this plan with and help you review it? | I want my co-coach to do this with me so we will regularly check and challenge each other. |
Comment
Your answers to this activity will be personal to you – so there are no ‘correct’ answers, provided your suggested practice can be clearly connected to your learning from this course and the ARC principles you have been introduced to. This is a good opportunity to reflect a little more deeply about your commitment to anti-racism and in creating inclusive, welcoming spaces for young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds to be able to enjoy, be themselves and thrive thanks to the support you offer them.
It is also a useful exercise to drill down your learning from the course into one or two practical, achievable actions that you can implement to start to enhance your coaching practice – and to bring in some accountability to your pledge by drawing on a trusted colleague to help check and challenge your own progress.
The next section offers a summary of the session of the course.