About Us

Meet Coach Ben

I am Coach Ben, Director and Coach of Team Up Multisports. I have lived in Wimbledon my whole life and have a strong affinity for the area. I have run after school sport clubs at Bishop Gilpin since September 2013 and have also worked at the school as a Midday Supervisor between December 2017 - March 2024 so many of the children will know me well! 

At 34 years of age, I have a 2:1 university degree in Education, a level 3 Higher Sports Leader Award and a Level 1 FA football coach. I am qualified as a Paediatric first aider and have a valid DBS. I have last completed annual training on anaphylaxis, asthma, epilepsy and safeguarding as part of my previous work at Bishop Gilpin in September 2023. I have started a level 3 designated safeguarding lead course, which I hope to comple in the near future.  

My favourite sport is football which I played at youth level for Kingstonian, Colliers Wood United, Worcester Park, Sutton United and for the district. I am currently a season ticket holder at AFC Wimbledon and have been since 2022. It is great to see so many of the children from Bishop Gilpin attending games at such a welcoming and friendly club of the local community. Although not getting an opportunity to take part in Dodgeball, Archery or Fencing as a child they are now new favourites, especially to coach! I am proud to be able to offer such diverse sports to children to give them opportunities to take part in many different sports at a young age, even if it takes up a lot of storgae room for equipment!

I was a shy child growing up but sport gave me a lot of confidence and helped me to develop many skills, especially socially. My closest friendship bonds have come through sports which is why I value the links that friendship values and sports can do to enhance each other and believe in them being a key component to my clubs as strongly as I do.

The Beginnings...

Coach Ben ran after school clubs at Bishop Gilpin Primary School as London Sports Academy between 2013-2021 with the clubs known more commonly as Mini-Olympics. When London Sports Academy were ready for a re-brand for their holiday clubs, Ben decided to create Team Up Multisports for the after school club service provided at Bishop Gilpin. Team Up Multisports Ltd was formed on 19th June 2021 and the first clubs were run in September 2021. Team Up Multisports is run in a smiliar way as London Sports Academy by offering children the opportunity to take part in a different sport each week, however we differentiate by having a keener focus on friendship values and how friendships and sports can link together, which is a key component of each session. 

I am proud to have coached over 250 different children at Bishop Gilpin in our short period as Team Up Multisports and to have contributed in excess of £20,000 (12k+ as LSA and 8k+ as TUM) to the school for hiring out the facilities over the years.

Why we believe friendship values are so important in sports

We believe strongly in our motto 'Sports Enhance Friendships. Friendships Enhance Sports'. Each session we have a friendship value focus with the aim of showing children how thinking about this value can help both their friendships and their sporting performance. This is a main focus of sessions and the reason I believe so strongly in this is due to my own personal expereiences. I learnt a lot of social and character building skills through sports growing up and my closest friendships have been built through teams and sports too.

By thinking about how children can improve their friendships through sport, it can make sport a more enjoyable experience and improve the atmosphere that sports can be played in which has a positive impact on retention. Playing sports with friends is often the most enjoyable and can help children to become more resiliant and push eachother on to try their best and improve their individual and team performances. Sports often make friendship bonds and teamwork even stronger too.

We think about and look out for children that might be hesitant about taking part and use friendship values to create an encouraging enviornment for them to become more confident in taking part. We will use already strong friendship bonds to encourage those that are shy or anxious about taking part. We will look out for children that don't have obvious friendship groups and give them encouragement to make new friends and join new friendship groups from the start. As well as coaches looking out for this we also encourage children to help look out for children that may need more support themselves. We remind children to look out for others that may be sad to ask and help them to feel better and be inclusive.

We recognise the importance of the social side to sport and will actively encourage children to have opportunities to socialise during natural breaks in the session. If done correctly, children will see sport as a fun social activity that will stay with them as a motivation to continue sport in later life. This is what we aim to provide and the use of friendship values and strengthening friendships is a key component of this too.

What children can gain from multi sport

We believe strongly that at a younger age, children should have access to experience as many different sports as possible. We aim to create an enjoyable atmosphere for children to partake in many sports to give children the opportunity to find a new favourite sport which they can then focus on more specifically when they get older.

There are many benefits to younger children experiencing and participating in multiple sports rather than just specialising in one sport.

The skills learnt in one sport can diversify into other sports naturally which can improve their perfomance in their favoured sport. Many sports use similar balance, locomotive and object control skills and learning these skills in different contexts often helps to improve these skills in a greater way.

Playing a greater number of sports enhances the variety of fundamental movement skills performed which creates a more well-rounded athlete giving the child the foundation to perform in whichever sport they wish to specialise in at a later age (their favourire or opportunities could change as they get older).

Variety keeps sport engaging and fun. This is the most important factor for younger children partaking in and retention in sports. If sports are enagaging and enjoyable the chances of them continuing with sports in later life increases. Single sports can become repetitive and can reduce the chances of children continuing sports in later life if they lose interest or are not deemed good enough having put all of their eggs into one basket.

Giving children the opportunities to partake in a variety of sports, that they otherwise may not have had the opportunity to experience gives more options for children to find a new sport that they may wish to continue with in later life.

There can be a higher potential of repetitive injuries in later life if only the same small set of movement skills are overused from a young age.

We aim to make the club as welcoming and friendly as possible and focus on resilience when trying new sports which we beleive can take away the fear of trying new sports and reduce barriers for children taking part in sports in later life.

We see a lot of children demotivated by trying a sport they are newer to when others have specialised in that one sport specifically and there is a greater gulf in abilities. Having a different sport each week reduces that feeling and builds up resilience in children to try something new knowing they may enjoy it more than they think and that a new sport will be done the following week if it wasn't their favourite.