Throughout January, Traineeship participant Joel as been attending some of the Trust's virtual sessions. Below, he has rated each session and recommended who he thinks would benefit from them the most...

6th January (Football and Education Catch-Up): In terms of how fun I found the sessions, I would give each of them a 7 out of 10 due to there being a football quiz at the end of both calls. Talking of how engaging each session was, I would give them both a 6 out of 10 as I was purely writing notes and I don't attend that specific course. Moving onto time, I would give each session an 8 out of 10 as I thought each session lasted for the right amount of time and the right content that was included.

Recommend to: Lastly, I would recommend this session to Nathan, someone I have met on the traineeship and get along well with as he was involved in coaching sessions at the rugby club before the third lockdown hit.

14th January (Full Body HIIT Workout): I would rate this session an 8 out of 10 in terms of fun as it involved a range of different exercises. I would give the same score to how engaging the session was as the group was told the format of the workout, what each exercise was and a demonstration alongside it. Based on how long the workout was, I would give it a 7 out of 10 as I thought it was a little bit rushed at points but overall it was a good amount of time.

Recommend to: I would recommend this session to my mum and my sister as I think they would enjoy a bit of physical exercise besides/as well as walking.

14th January (Winning Minds): I would score the fun aspect of this session 7 out of 10 as most of the session was based on group discussions. In terms of engagement, I would score an 8 out 10 as we were encouraged to get involved with the session by sending our ideas to the chat about the different topics that popped up. Based on the amount of time the session lasted for, I would give the same score as there was a lot to get through and an hour was enough for everything there was to cover.

Recommend to: I would recommend the session to anyone who is interested in sports and wants to be included in something just for an hour of their day.

15th January (Fantasy Premier League Night): In terms of fun and engagement, I would give the session a 9 out of 10 for both as it was right up my street due to it being based on the Premier League and after we each picked our teams, we were asked who we had chosen to be in our teams, which made the session more engaging. I would give a score of 8 out of 10 as we had to setup a new account on the Premier League website as well as picking all 15 players in our teams and an hour was enough time to do so.

Recommend to: I would recommend this session to Nathan as he is a football fan like me and would enjoy something like this.

18th January (Lockdown Cooking Club): In terms of fun, I would give this session a 7 out of 10 as I was the only young person on the call. However, I enjoyed the food quiz at the end of the session. For engagement, I would give the session a 6 out of 10 as I was purely there to make notes but I thought Luke engaged with the older people very well and was quite funny throughout. Based on time, I would give the session an 8 out of 10 as three quarters of an hour was enough time to have a discussion and also do the quiz.

Recommend to: I would recommend this to my Grandma who is currently living on her own and has recently brought a new Samsung tablet. I think she would find it nice to interact with other people.

18th January (Team Talk Chatty Room): Basing the session on fun, I would give it a 7 out of 10 as most of the call was discussing important and relevant topic (such as social media and mental health) but I found the competition between John and Callum at the end very entertaining. In terms of engagement I would give the session an 8 out 10 as I thought the hosts Luke and Chris interacted well with the rest of the group as well as the group did with each other. I thought an hour was the right amount of time for this session and I would score another 8 out of 10 for this aspect as there was a lot to discuss and get through in the call and have the competition at the end. 

Recommend to: I would recommend this session to anyone who has or is suffering with mental health issues like I have and is willing to take an hour out of their evening to interact with other like-minded people.

19th January (Fitness and Stability Level 3): In terms of fun I would give this session a 7 out of 10 as it got me up, exercising, sweating and my heart rate going - which was good! Based on engagement I would give the session an 8 out 10 as the workout leader Jon was very attentive towards the participants, encouraging everyone to stay hydrated throughout the session. Thinking of time I would give the session another 8 out 10 as an hour was the right amount of time to warm up, complete the work-out and do the cool down at the end.

Recommend to: I would recommend this to my mum as I think she would enjoy doing some physical exercise when she can’t go out for a walk.

19th January (PL Kicks Quiz Night): Based on fun I would give this session a 9 out of 10 as it was a relaxing start to my evening and I very much enjoyed the quiz no matter what I scored. In terms of engagement I would give the call an 8 out of 10 as Zack, the host, checked everyone had an answer before moving onto the next question and he also read each question out again just in case somebody didn’t hear it correctly. Talking of the amount of time the session lasted I would give it an 8 out 10 as Zack gave everyone enough time to answer each question before moving onto the next one.

Recommend to: I would recommend this session to Nathan as one of the rounds involved all sports and another was all about football, which I think he would enjoy as he is a Derby County fan.

20th January (Box and Bar): In terms of fun, I would give this session a 7 out of 10 as the session offered something different and got me exercising in the house. Based on engagement I would give the session an 8 out of 10 as the host encouraged the participants to keep hydrated throughout the session and asked how everyone was before the workout started. Talking of the amount of time the session lasted for, I would score an 8 out of 10 as three quarters of an hour was enough time to warm-up, do the workout with small rests in between and cool down afterwards.

Recommend to: I would recommend this session to my mum as I think she would enjoy doing some exercise inside the house when she can’t go out for a walk.

20th January (Pit Stop Live): Based on fun I would give this session a 6 out of 10 as I didn’t take part in the workout in the first part of the call but I enjoyed the quiz in the second half. In terms of engagement I would give the session a 7 out of 10 as Ben, who led the workout, went through the warm-up, workout and warm down thoroughly so everyone knew what they were doing. Talking the amount of time the session lasted, I would give an 8 out of 10 as half hour was enough time to complete the whole workout and do the quiz in the final fifteen minutes.

Recommend to: I would recommend the session to my younger cousin, Rufus, as he is very lively and full of energy and I’m sure he would enjoy doing some exercise and doing a fun quiz after a day of home-schooling.

25th January (Family Fitness Live): Talking of fun I would give the session a 7 out of 10 as I took part in both the workout and the quiz which was more fun than doing the quiz at the end. Based on engagement I would give the session an 8 out of 10 as Sara, the host, gave us all a five-second countdown before the end of the exercise which was good to know. In terms of how long the session was, I would score another 8 out of 10 as an hour and a quarter is enough time to warm up, do the workout, cool down and then do the quiz afterwards.

Recommend to: Again, I would recommend this session to my younger cousin as he would enjoy doing exercise and a quiz after a day of home-schooling to release some energy. 

In summary, I would say that my favourite session out of the ones I went to was the Premier League Fantasy Night as football is right up my street. I enjoy competing with everyone else to see who can get the highest score each game-week and it’s nice that most of the people on the calls are football fans, including myself, as I support Manchester United.

Interested in attending a virtual session with Derby County Community Trust? To attend any of the sessions mentioned above or to see what others we have on offer, click below!

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