hannahsplacementyearnz

[hannahsplacementyearnz]

Hannah's Year Working Abroad

My name is Hannah and I am a psychology student at Bournemouth University. I came to Bournemouth through clearing, and although it wasn’t my original plan, I believe that it was the best thing to happen to me - everything does happen for a reason! I always knew I wanted to experience living and working overseas, although I never really thought I'd get such an amazing opportunity. I have been on holiday to many countries but never for longer than a week or two and never to live/ work. So this was always a dream of mine, to be able to fully immerse myself in a different culture and live among the people there.

I went to New Zealand for so many reasons. Many personal reasons, like self-development and growth, self-confidence, to meet new people, to experience living somewhere completely new. But also for career-based reasons, to network in the field I am most passionate about, to learn how to be more business-savvy, the enhance my employability and to adapt my knowledge and skills in more areas.

A friend of mine mentioned that there was a place available in New Zealand to be a tennis coach and work in a pro shop making sales and doing marketing and admin. As I had previous experience in playing tennis i decided to message the director, he got back to me relatively quickly to set up a call where he told me lots about the business, what my role would be in the business, and lots about New Zealand, he then told me to go and research all of these things myself, including the area I would live in, buying a car, finding a place to live, things to do around the area, the schools i would be working in, and many other things. After I researched all of this I decided to go for it. I thought it would be an amazing opportunity and a once in a lifetime experience where I would be able to grow massively as a person. I set up some more calls and before i knew it i was applying for my New Zealand Visa.

My placement advisor mentioned the Turing Scheme to me when I expressed my financial worries about the living costs in New Zealand. He said I might be too late to apply but I decided to apply anyway. The application process was relatively easy, I answered most questions with ease. Not long after i had applied, i received an email saying that i qualified and was being offered the funding, i just had to attend a call with all the information about the application process. Without the Turing Scheme funding I would not have had the experience I had. I had managed to save up a reasonable amount, but most of that went straight away when I arrived on a car to get around (a necessity for my job) and a deposit on a studio flat. After that I would barely break even each week after paying for rent, bills, petrol and food, this was mostly due to the 10 hours of shop work each week being unpaid. Without the Turing Scheme i wouldn't have been able to enjoy my weekends off, really see the rest of the country, or afford my flight home.

At first I was mostly a mix of excited, scared and unsure what to expect. I had lived away from home for 2 years already but I didn't live further than a 3 hour drive, let alone a 26 hour plane journey. When I arrived I felt quite alone. For the first 2 months I lived in a studio flat, this was quite lonely and wasn’t really working out for me, I wasn't feeling massively settled yet. So me and two other girls got a bungalow together, this was the best decision and all of our wellbeing went up massively, we spent everyday together after that including Christmas and New Years.

There are many differences and similarities between New Zealand and the UK. Both countries speak English, although the native language of NZ is Moari, most people will speak english. We managed to learn some Maori. The foods people eat are very similar, the lifestyles are also relatively similar. Differences are that New Zealand is a lot greener, the houses are not built up they are built out as there is a lot more land here, places are a lot further apart, there is little to no public transport, also people are a lot more social and friendly.

I went to some festivals in New Zealand with lots of the people that we met here, on my 21st birthday i participated in some of the traditions they have here, most weekends we would do something with our colleagues/ friends, we would often go to the rugby matches for the Waikato Chiefs and 7s where we supported the england teams. We also went to some cricket games and other sporting events.

Coming to New Zealand has always been a dream of mine, so everything about this place excited me. Most of alli was excited to actually live and work here, not just travel, to start a proper life where I could meet new social groups, experience the culture and travel the country on my days off! The most challenging part has been the distance between me and my family and friends at home, not being able to see them at special occasions like birthdays, christmases, easter etc has been very tough. Also the time difference is very hard, it makes it difficult to talk to anyone in the UK during the day as it's a 12-13 hour difference.

I would love to be a Sports Psychologist, and although a tennis coach isn't directly related to psychology, I feel I have gained more knowledge in sports psychology than I even realize. Most sports psychologists will work with teams and coaches and individual athletes. Having this coaching experience first hand has given me a great grounding for my future in that career and I know there will be times in the future where I refer back to my role as a tennis coach during my practices and studies.

I didn’t have many expectations for my placement. Having never been a coach before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, I wasn’t ready for the amount of planning and organising that came with the roll. Per week I would be doing at least 20 hours of coaching, this meant planning 20 lessons that are different and more advanced than the week before. I was expecting to have a criterion/ syllabus for each lesson given to me with tennis drills and what needed to be covered. I had to keep lesson plans of each lesson every week for each group and plan in detail for my next lesson, this was very consuming and difficult at the start as I had little coaching knowledge, but as the weeks went on, I started to build up a good set of tools to use

Throughout my placement, I developed my communication skills with kids and learned how to become a friend as well as a coach—someone kids could talk to besides their parents and teachers. Children would often confide in me about having a hard day at school or having a fight with a buddy. Although this isn’t my “job” on paper, I very much took it on as something that I felt proud of, to be that trusted adult. It gave me tools I needed to deal with players who would show up to my lesson upset and looking for trouble. Rather than allowing this, I could speak to the child privately and attempt to make them a little happier, which would ensure that my session went smoothly. Learning so much more about myself and really growing as a person. I am now so much more sure of the career i want and of myself, more eager and willing to explore a job abroad.

My greatest achievement during my placement would be when a primary school I had been coaching for a couple of months performed a Haka for me as a thank you for my time with them. The Haka is a very personal and cultural aspect of New Zealand that is greatly respected. I have linked the video that I took here https://youtu.be/2vQtKQDZG5U

I think I have shown a good level of confidence in this placement, coaching and business admin were completely new to me when starting this job. A big part of being a strong coach is to come into a lesson with confidence of own knowledge and skill to gain the respect of the students and parents. Having a good rapport is crucial. Knowing that I had little coaching experience made this quite a difficult task when I first arrived, however, by acting confident in what I was saying and doing, made it a lot easier to quickly become confident.

If you are considering a placement abroad, I think you should research the country well, you should have your accommodation sussed and you should go into the placement with positivity and confidence that this will be one of the best years of your life but also one of the hardest things you may have done as of yet and that being scared is absolutely norma! If you aren't scared then maybe something isn’t right..! I would recommend this experience to everyone, however, in order to really thrive there in my opinion you'll need to be outgoing, confident in yourself, willing to be on your own more, and have a decent amount of savings/ a fund to support you. With all of these things I think anyone would have a positive experience and one of the most amazing and memorable times of their lives!