Humans of Grassroots Sport | Emily Chrimes

Read time 4 minutes 

Playfinder’s 4th Humans of Grassroots Sport series entry features netball player Emily Chrimes (below, centre) who has become closer to school colleagues through sport:

I’m currently doing my teaching training at the Fox School in Notting Hill. Playing netball is really fun and meant I got to know some of teachers I would never normally socialise with.  

Especially as I work in the reception class and some of the teachers worked in Year 6 at the other end of the school, so we would never normally cross paths thanks to different timed breaks and being located in different areas.

Teaching Assistants (TA’s) generally feel teachers don’t really like to socialise with us if we have staff nights organised or even just going to the pub. Us TA’s tend to go for drinks every Friday to one pub and teachers generally go to different one.

Being part of the team has helped break down barriers. The team Whatsapp groups means we stay in touch away from the court and we’re even planning to play a game of dodgeball together at Oxygen. This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for netball!

“I was the only Teaching Assistant in the team as the rest were qualified teachers or training to be. Being part of the team helped bring TA’s and teachers together as it’s not always easy to mix at school!”

Our weekly netball league is played at Kensington Primary Academy. It’s definitely helped me integrate into the school set-up and I’ve made some lifelong friends, I hope. Next year I am off to finish my teacher training and will keep in touch.

I’m now also playing squash with one of the Year 4 teachers who I got to know through our netball.

As someone starting in the working world, London can be intimidating and sport has helped me get a footing at the school much quicker than I thought. We finished the season with a 100% record!