This is my 5th blog about my placement year at London 2012 Olympic legacy charity Join In UK.
2016!
This is my first blog of 2016! December was a busy, but enjoyable month! I went to my first Join in Christmas party; which involved delicious food (and drink!), a quiz and secret Santa. It was also the month in which the #BigHelpOut campaign came to an end…
Trending worldwide on twitter!
The #BigHelpOut campaign was put into action at the BBC Sports Personality of the year at the end of December. Join in and BBC Get Inspired organised for sports stars to make a phone calls to sports volunteers and say a #BigThankYou for all of their hard work. A gold telephone box was on the red carpet, along with a tv screen to make skype calls! Some of the celebrities that made calls included; Dan Carter, Niall Horan, Denise Lewis, The Davis Cup team and Leeds Rhinos. Unfortunately, I was watching the event from home. But it was still very exciting following the event on TV and twitter! The #BigThankYou trended worldwide! It was amazing to see so many sports teams; athletes and general sports enthusiasts get involved with thanking volunteers. There was definitely a sense of achievement in the office the next day.
The sports stars on the red carpet at SPOTY!
New Years Resolutions
January now marks month 8 out of 12 of my placement! I can’t believe I am over half way! It was nice to have a Christmas without assignments or exams to revise for, a number of my friends are in their final year at University so had dissertations to write. This time next year I am going to be in that situation, so I enjoyed the work- free Christmas!
One of the focuses in January at work is helping people tick the box of having a ‘happier’ and ‘healthier’ 2016. As a naturally sporty person I have always led a healthy and active lifestyle. However, there are many people that aren’t and find it hard to get motivated. Some of the common ambitions people have as resolution are ‘ to get fit’, ‘do more for myself’, ‘do something for charity’, and ‘get a new hobby’. Volunteering can help with all of these, whether it’s coaching, marshalling or running the race route. Hopefully we can try and inspire more people to get involved!
I don’t tend to make New Years Resolutions myself; I prefer short-term targets throughout the year, as I am more likely to achieve these!!
Louise Rose
(Sports and Social Science, Department of Health)