Part 4 – The Covid Battle
Its seems like quite a distant memory now, but as soon as I started looking back, the reality of life in that moment came flooding back..
The first memories of Italy and how bad the situation was over there was my first memory regarding didi rugby as reality hadn’t hit England but our Italian didi rugby pilot in Italy told us that classes were to stop and there was no way they could keep running them as the country was going into “lockdown” ! I think that was the first of many times that phrase was to be voiced and heard! I remember seeing the footage of Italian hospitals and the overwhelm of the situation.. 3 weeks later covid hit us.. like a tonne of bricks! Lockdown number 1 … within 24 hours Denise (my mum and business mentor and co-worker ) has got us set up for online delivery.. it they couldn’t bring their little ones to class then we would bring didi rugby to their lounges, kitchens, gardens etc. The HQ team pulled together and got creative.. we were rolling up socks to create pretend balls.. using saucepans and washing baskets as goals, teddies as obstacles and part of our games… we became the “Joe Wicks” of didi rugby and all our coaches were delivering to the children in their classes .. I ran plenty of classes for children to log onto… and lots did!
The other massive memory for me was all the amazing work of my good friend and didi rugby ambassador Heather Fisher who delivered skills and story-time at 6:30 every week day evening over the two months … we posted children’s books to her home address and she would do some little skills with a ball or a rolled up pair of socks and lots of energy.. followed by a bedtime story. Sooo many children and their parents watched and got involved! I will always be super grateful for Heather and the time she gave to support little ones and their families who were locked in at home – offering everyone a glimmer of hope and support, and something exciting to get involved in and be a part of!
We also raised money for the NHS by holding live auctions of Heather’s Olympic kit she donated raising over £1000 👏👏
Other ambassadors jumped on board to make a difference – individual messages / videos of support… the likes of Nolli Waterman, Jodie Ounsley (Fury from the new Gladiators TV show ) Mo Hunt to name a few! The fact that these great role models were putting the effort in to help all of us to deliver some good messaging was just phenomenal .. and shows the values and reputation of the country!
A lovely vision for me was the James family from Hinckley, Leicestershire, Luke, Jo, Evie and Jack all taking part together in their driveway whilst I was delivering virtually.. playing games, laughing and joking with each other and getting fitter and more skilful together as a family!
As we slowly came out of lock down.. there were various stages to coming back to real live classes … we got very creative with working in their “magic box” when social distancing was critical, children were able to practice lots of individual skills, kicking, passing and catching to themselves.. listening to instructions and working on their individual fitness…
Great memories created bringing the didi rugby family together at a really difficult time… it definitely brought us closer together as a group and we feel we made a big difference to families and their physical and mental health.
Survive then thrive was our mantra! We said that right from the start and it really was our “go to” phrase, and we truly believed in it individually and collectively! It stood us in good stead , we just needed to dig deep and stick together!!
I can confidently say we absolutely did survive and now we are thriving as a team of franchisees countrywide! Very proud of the resilience and drive everybody showed to succeed in the chaos of covid! 💪🏉❤️🔥
#didifamily #fun #confidence #activity
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