Coaching Course

Day 1

Setting up the room was a mission because normally the coaching course holds 15-20 people but this was definitely not like that, there was 44 people!! The room had to be set up in a certain way, a U- shape to create a certain atmosphere. The kids/teachers that came to this camp are the people that attended the SuperKidz camp and the Teachers camp; one person represented each school.  On day 1 it was the introductory session for coaching so we talked about what coaching, mentoring, teaching is, and about state management. To put “state management” into effect, we did a board breaking process where the participants would write down their fears, and everything thats holding them back on one side and everything they ever wanted [[their goals]] on the other side. They were to connect and become one with their fear and understand that the outcome is to BREAKTHROUGH the board and achieve their goal. Making sure that they are in the right state and motivated to break through the board is vital, we did this by pumping up the music and telling them all to make their power move (YES). It was extremely powerful seeing them break through the board; some people couldn’t do it on the first try, second try, and even third: their focus wasn’t there. After changing their focus, they broke through the board with no problem!The emotions were spectacular; people started crying, and all were super thankful!

SIDE NOTE: Normally theres a certain type of board that we use during this process and they need a couple days of preparation (drying etc); but these boards were one of a kind. They were much smaller than others and had fray pieces of wood coming off so it was quite possible to get loads of splinters. Harry got a splinter in his finger (pretty deep); its amazing how the small things create the most pain.. especially papercuts!

Day 2

A bowl of fruit and 2 sugar doughnuts is a great way to start the day :] **I ate the donuts without licking my lips (you can try this at home)!!

Today during the course we talked about types of questions, mirror matching, and listening. An exercise took place in which we divided the participants into groups of three, A, B and C (listener, speaker, and observer). The game started out very serious, no smiles etc, and ended up in laughs and sighs of relief - I won’t tell the game just in case you end up playing in the future, but lets just say it was an experience!

Phyu, a girl that was in team 10 on the teachers camp gave me a digital picture of me and her - it made my day! It was the sweetest thing ever so i put it in my journal for me to keep forever. She was such an inspiration and i’m so happy that i met her!

Went to the Traders hotel for a dinner buffet and it was the best ever. Oh by the way, Happy Thanksgiving; it didn’t feel like it at all being in a different country other than the USA. The food presentation was incredible; there was a HUGE variety of food: meats, fruits, desserts, pasta, sushi, bread etc. Buffets are VERY dangerous, unlimited food and me.... lesson learned! I just kept going up for food. I got chocolate pancakes and then went up for more with ice cream and chocolate sauce! it was delicious though :P On the walk back to our hotel we were bombarded by kids on the streets asking us for food and money; I had some banana’s in my bag so we gave it to them; surprisingly the kids spoke very good english!

Day 3

FINAL DAY OF THE COACHING COURSE!! mixed feelings; happy and sad. 

The boys, Ajay, Chris and George decided to all wear the traditional Myanmar outfit, Lungi! They had a tough time putting it on and they had to be careful that it wouldn't come off throughout the day... funny!

The regular state inducers to get all the participants up and ready to start the day; we danced, clapped, and played full out. The content of the course started with the ‘rights of a child’ of when they are able to access their personal records and get treatment and then slowly transitioned to reaching goals, and the coaches role in coaching. The participants were broken up into groups where they could coach 1 on 1 and apply their knowledge and learnings. Harry asked a question to everyone “What would you do if your client says I love you, what would you say to them?” The answers that some of these teachers had were hilarious!! We were all in fits. 

Lunch time - Mr. Mohan wanted us all to experience the kitchen food from the school as opposed to the normal restaurant food we order - they really wanted to make a great impression so they provided us with SO much food, and presented the food in such an amazing way - so much color and a huge variety of food. Surprisingly, i really loved it, it was very tasty and different.

Towards the end of the day, we all knew that the course was coming to an end.... hugs and tears slowly appeared. We all had the opportunity to go in front of everyone and present what we valued the most, who we are thankful for, and what we are committed to doing. Harry called me up on the spot with no time to prepare, but surprisingly, I WASN’T NERVOUS at all; I just went up there and did my thing.
Thi Wai got a present for Harry, a big board with the YCA symbol and then signatures of all the teachers/students in TLA 8; she started to cry and that’s what got me emotional, the tears streamed down peoples faces from that point on. The funny thing was that we were going to take a group photo afterwards and people’s faces were red and blotchy from tears; and then the poor camera guy had to take photo’s from at least 20+ different cameras (our cheeks hurt afterwards). At the end, Su Miat gave us all bracelets to remember Myanmar and then 4 girls sung us all a song - it was amazing!
Even through all the tears, we just had to remember that it wasn’t the end, it is just the beginning.

Dinner Time - We fancied some Italian food so we went back to the restaurant, La Opera! We got the meal deal again, and i shared with Chris, only this time we got BUSTED! We felt bad afterwards but the guy said this time it was okay, just don’t let it happen again. Before the food arrived, we all read some magic moments that the teachers/kids wrote over the three day course. We went around the table and shared. It brought back so many memories. Towards the end of the dinner, a HUGE bug flew by George and Harry and i flipped out! They all decided to mess with me, I was already on edge, but that didn’t stop them. George threw little papers at me and I kept thinking they were bugs... i even screamed! 

Fun fact: Myanmar doesn’t have a McDonalds, KFC, or Pizza Hut!