How NCS helped Summer overcome her shyness
Before Summer went on her local community experience, she was worried that it would be hard to talk to people. Little did she know just how much her communication skills would grow and how confident she’d become!
5 min read
Overcoming shyness through team work
Summer did her local community experience at Norwich City Community Sports Foundation. The Realising Potential programme included workshops focused on life skills (like budgeting, healthy eating, and first aid), employability (think interview techniques and how to spice up your CV), and taking part in some work experience.
“I wanted to develop my independence, and practice working as a team and communicating with other people,” said Summer. Communication was key, as Summer, who has autism and developmental delay, found it difficult in the past to build confidence in these areas.
But a focus on teamwork within the workshops meant being thrown in the deep end and seeing, quite quickly, that people are happy to talk to each other, mix socially, and keep each other positive!
“I found the sessions amazing because I love working with others, and I enjoyed it so much.” Summer said.
The beautiful game, a beautiful world
As part of the experience, Summer and her team came up with a social action project. They decided to put their brains together and think of ways to make the annual adult’s disability football festival more sustainable.
Working with On The Stall City (who collect old Norwich City football kits, merchandise, and memorabilia to resell in their shop), they encouraged people coming to the festival to bring old football kits and reusable water bottles to donate. Teams in the festival were given eco-friendly names to help raise different sustainability awareness areas, and everyone who played was given a strawberry plant to take home, instead of a participation medal. Nice!
Doing good for others, does good for you too
Summer was also able to do some work experience at Duncan’s Club, a support programme for people with dementia (and named after Norwich City’s iconic former captain, Duncan Forbes!).
The sessions are split into three different areas:
- Activate: to help participants stay physically active
- Reminisce: using Norwich City as a stimulus to memory
- Talk: a social session in a cafe
Taking part in these sessions as part of her work experience meant Summer had to put her communication skills to the test once again, talking to the older generation, who are in various different stages of dementia.
And how did she find it?
“A 10/10! I like learning new stuff, helping out the older people, and developing my communication skills by getting better at listening and talking to others. I loved getting to do my work experience at Duncan’s Club.”
And it’s not just Summer who enjoyed it. Another volunteer at Duncan’s Club said, “Summer is a breath of fresh air and is an absolute natural. She's loved by all of the participants, and the work experience has helped her with developing her confidence, communication and taking on instructions."
See how you can shine on an NCS experience
So there you have it! You might be feeling anxious about going on an NCS experience. You might even feel like you don’t have what it takes. But the truth is, you’ll never know unless you try! Give yourself a push and you’ll more than likely surprise yourself.
Take a look at all the different experiences we have to offer and see how much you shine.
