Bana talks about the difference the DofE Physical made to her
Bana already played lacrosse but when she started her Bronze Award at Bedford Girls’ School she found a new level of dedication to her favourite sport.
Bana, 15, said: “As someone who has been playing lacrosse for approximately 4 years, I never imagined I could improve this much by choosing it as a section of my DofE. Nevertheless, I genuinely think that this experience has encouraged me, and continues to encourage me, to enhance my skills and work harder.”
“I’ve seen a significant improvement in my fitness and stick skills, such as catching on my left and cradling. But what I am personally most proud of are my defending skills, as I believe that I’ve developed significantly in that aspect through the course of my physical DofE.”
“Although lacrosse isn’t new to me, my experience with it during DofE made me feel a sense of motivation I’ve never felt before. Initially, I picked it as my physical due to my familiarity with it and the opinion that completing it would be simple. However, I soon realised that the authentic reason I picked it was because I truly wanted to get better, and it simply brought me joy.”
“Before beginning this as a sectional activity, I felt like my activity levels weren’t very high, as I would only play sports at school. Since then, I’ve seen myself grow out of that routine as I now am much more active. This experience has allowed me to become much more consistent with sport, but to say that the physical section only improved me physically is diminishing the impact it had, as it not only helped improve my lacrosse skills but also my mindset and other important skills such as communication and teamwork.”
“A prime example of this is how previously I would feel ashamed when I made a mistake during a match, however now I would view that mistake as a learning curve. Recently, my team won the County Tournament for the first time in nearly a decade. I certainly believe that choosing lacrosse as my DofE physical was a chief reason why I played as well as I did that day and helped our team win.”
