Metaphorics Aimhigher
It was a typical Friday at Unity College. The Metaphorics team arrived at school and there was an element of mystery in the air. Who were they? Why were they here? Come to that, why were we there?
Metaphorics are a team of professionals including the sports psychiatrist Dr Mike Rotheram and three times Olympian Sarah Lindsay. These dedicated professionals visit schools providing motivational and inspirational talks to students. Sarah Lindsay has managed to overcome the numerous setbacks she has faced throughout her career and explained to us that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. She also reflected on what it felt like to be the fastest starter in the world and how hard work and perseverance resulted in her own sporting success.
After hearing about Sarah’s career, we were shown some techniques to help develop teamwork and how to work best to each team member’s strength to get the task done. Activities included: throwing a ball to one another in the fastest time possible, balancing a stick using our little fingers (honestly, this was really difficult) and the last game consisted of throwing a ball into a bucket to get a small prize.
These activities really made the whole of the group work together collaboratively and functioned in the true UNITY spirit.
The end of the day was nearing; Sarah showed us some aspirational photos of the Olympics and some career highlights on video from when she won her silver medal at the 2007 Olympics in Shanghai, China.
After winning Silver, her greatest achievement she set her sights even higher and stated ‘I’m going for gold next year’. However, things didn’t work out as planned and devastatingly in the following Olympics she was disqualified mistakenly. Emotional and frustrated Sarah vowed she wouldn’t race again, however after much deliberation she decided to enter one more race and end her career knowing she had run the best race possible.
That decision resulted fantastically, as Sarah achieved the fastest lap time that anybody had ever recorded!
“Motivate. Innovate. Elevate”
These are the three words taken away from the afternoon we spent with the most inspiring visitor Unity College Blackpool has ever hosted.
Many thanks from the pupils of Unity College Blackpool and many thanks for coming to our school and not only teaching us but showing us that if you put your mind to it, you can succeed at anything. Good luck in the future and good luck with your future business.
Report by Jamie Marshall, Head Boy
