David’s story

David volunteered as a Grit Life Coach.

I really enjoyed the coaching training. It was very interactive and the breakout rooms were great. It was a very diverse group with a whole different range of lived experiences from quite different communities across the country. I learnt a lot.

These were people I would never normally come across. For example, one talked about when she was at college there some issues that she felt unable to speak up about. She didn’t want to be marked out as an angry black women, to be judged in a negative way. I felt I got a real insight into what it is like to be a young black person.

I was matched with a [pupil]… at first he hardly turned up for any of the coaching sessions. He was angry, talked about how the teachers all picked on him, how he’d been kicked out of Quran Classes, how the whole world was against him.

Every week I sent an email just to say ‘hi’, leaving the door open, encouraging him to come along to the next session, not worry about missing the last one. I sent him some motivational videos, clips about different forms of physical training and exercise, just to keep some kind of connection going. I learned to be patient, kept it positive and non-confrontational. 

And then, all of a sudden, he started coming along every week.

We connected over cycling (his sport) and rowing (mine), over family and over his ambition to open his own gym. When we finally got going, very quickly there was a real rapport.

We talked about how he couldn’t just blame everyone else, how he had to accept responsibility for how he was behaving, who he was being. I got him to see that his teachers, in school and at the mosque, only want the best for him. I suggested he start with small steps: get to class on time, or even early. You’ll be surprised how it’ll make you feel, how the world will be a different place.

By the end of our time together he WAS getting to class on time AND his general attendance shot up. He was spending an extra hour a week on his Maths and Science and already could see the improvement. I was ever so proud of him.

He wants to keep in touch, even though the coaching has ended. There has been such a turn around. I felt so inspired that I’ve volunteered as a Grit Coach again and I’m coaching another young lad in a different school. Now, let me tell you about him …