Discussions about mental health and lessons in public speaking were on the timetable for Friesland School students as part of a workshop organised by Erewash School Sport Partnership.
Ex-professional tennis player Yasmin Clarke, from the Youth Sport Trust, led the session with students who act as wellbeing ambassadors for ESSP.
She started the workshop by talking about her own career and how she had to give up playing tennis professionally after being diagnosed with MS.
The first part of the session was dedicated to public speaking and giving students tips on how to talk in front of an audience.
Wellbeing and mental health were the themes for the next part of the workshop with a focus on nutrition, sleep, exercise and meditation.
Students also learned breathing techniques, made a meditation/glitter jar and played tennis outside with Yasmin.
She said: “It’s all about raising awareness of the links between mental health and lifestyle choices and how improving daily habits can improve overall health and wellbeing.
“Mental health is exactly the same as physical health. We are going to try to get the message across that small daily habits lead to long-term growth and we will also look at what the stresses are and how we can combat them.”
Yasmin urged students to be passionate, learn from their mistakes, enjoy a challenge and most importantly, smile.
Rhian Lilley, strategic development director for ESSP, said the session was ideal for the student wellbeing ambassadors.
She said: “Yasmin gave the students so much good advice about a whole range of issues such as public speaking, which can be daunting at any age, and mental health, which is such an important topic and it’s great to see students talking about it so openly. Gaining a better understanding of mental health and learning about what they can do to help themselves and others will hopefully lead them to share their new-found knowledge with their peers, so that even more young people can benefit from this inspiring workshop.”
Notes to editors: Erewash School Sport Partnership is a group of 45 schools working together to develop PE and sport opportunities for all young people. Its core priority is to improve the quality and quantity of PE and sport in schools. The partnerships aims to engage, motivate and include as many young people as possible in a positive PE and sport experience.

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