Schoolutions: Teaching Strategies to Strengthen School Culture, Empower Educators, & Inspire Student Growth

A Sports Diary That Helps Athletes Love Writing

Olivia Wahl Season 5 Episode 7

In this S5E7 Schoolutions Teaching Strategies conversation, Stuart Yates, UK educator and creator of My Sport Diary, shares about creating an innovative tool that's getting students who are reluctant writers to actually ASK for more. 

So, what happens when you combine a student's passion for sports with reflective writing? Magic.

Stuart shares how his background in science, his work with disengaged students, and his coaching across New England led him to create reflection journals that work both on the field and in the classroom. These diaries aren't just about sports—they're about student engagement, self-regulation, and empowering students to take ownership of their learning journey.

What You'll Learn:
✅ Why traditional feedback fails and how to make it recursive and student-driven
✅ Innovative teaching strategies that work with resistant students and low engagement
✅ How to bridge the gap between student motivation in sports and classroom behavior
✅ Practical lesson planning tips using reflection as a literacy tool
✅ Teaching tips for inclusive teaching and culturally responsive practices
✅ How to develop student agency, active learning, and student participation
✅ Effective teaching methods that support the whole child approach
✅ Professional learning insights for new teachers and mentor teachers

Stuart's work demonstrates true teacher impact—turning student agency challenges into opportunities for inspiring students, building classroom inspiration through self-reflection, and creating thriving students who are motivated from within.

This conversation explores school improvement, instructional leadership, and how one teacher's innovative approach is creating education transformation one diary entry at a time. It's about more than managing students—it's about student empowerment, inspiring teaching, and building a pro-kid mindset that celebrates every learner.

Episode Mentions & Resources:
🔗 Find the diaries
🔗 Connect with Stuart Yates

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction to Stuart Yates & My Sports Diaries
1:04 Research Foundation: Carol Dweck & Steve Peters
3:31 The Spark: From Personal Struggle to Student Solution
5:26 John Hattie's Feedback Framework in Action
6:20 What's Inside a Sports Diary?
9:19 Re-engaging Students Who Struggle with Writing
12:09 Building Reflection Skills & Emotional Processing
14:06 Cross-Curricular Applications & Classroom Use
17:27 Student Agency: From Passive to Active Learners
19:24 Measurable Outcomes & Student Transformation
22:29 Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future
24:47 Available Sports Diaries & How to Access Them
26:04 Final Thoughts

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Olivia: [00:00:00] You know that car ride home after your kid's game, you're bursting with observations. Maybe some feedback, definitely some questions, and they're just silent or worse defensive. You had the best intentions, but somehow it feels like an interrogation. What if there was a way to give young athletes space to process their performance, to actually reflect on what happened, what they learned and what they need before anyone starts asking questions?

Today I'm talking with Stuart Yates, a UK educator and coach who created My Sport Diary. He realized something fascinating. He was terrible at remembering what he'd learned in his own martial arts training and if he, a passionate adult learner, couldn't retain week to week lessons what about the kids he was teaching and [00:01:00] coaching?

Here's what surprised me most. Stuart discovered that students who absolutely refused to write in school were chasing down their PE teachers asking for more diary pages. These same reluctant writers were suddenly journaling about their practices, their games, their growth, because it was connected to something they loved.

Stuart and I dive in to how structured reflection transforms athletes from passive learners into strategic problem solvers. How the skill of asking better questions transfers from the field into the classroom and why teaching kids to pause and process before the caregiver questions start, might be the most valuable gift we can give them.

This isn't just about sports. It's about raising humans who know how to reflect, articulate what they need, and take ownership of their own growth.[00:02:00] 

This is Schoolutions Teaching Strategies, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive. 

I am Olivia Wahl, and I am so happy to welcome Stuart Yates to the podcast today. Let me tell you a little bit about Stuart. Stuart Yates has held a range of leadership roles in UK secondary school since 2004, including the Head of Science and Inclusion Coordinator. I first learned about My Sports Diaries. You'll hear all about them today during a mentoring session with Stuart.

They're a tool to help children reflect, grow, and thrive on the field, in the classroom and into adulthood. Stuart, [00:03:00] it, it's been so lovely getting to know you and I, I think your mission, what you're trying to do with the sports, My Sports Diaries is it's just admirable. And we were in conversation just talking about business and how you, you grow when you have a really amazing idea. And the more I learned about My Sports Diaries, I thought I need to have you as a guest on the podcast because it's so innovative. So welcome. 

Stuart: Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. 

Olivia: Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I kick off episodes by asking guests for a nugget of research or a researcher they lean on.

Stuart: Mm-hmm. 

Olivia: Um, so enlighten us. 

Stuart: The first one, probably not, not too original. Um, Carol Dweck, uh, with a growth mindset a few years ago. I think that was the first real time that I associated how my language can really affect a student psychologically and in many different ways. And not just my language, but their, their own as well and how they [00:04:00] speak to themselves. And that got me looking at lots of different psychological aspects to go with education. Um, and I think another one that really, uh, like stuck with me was, um, (Dr.) Steve Peters, I dunno if you've read his book, The Chimp Paradox

Olivia: No, 

Stuart: No. Um, he was, um, he's a psychologist. He's worked with lots of sports teams and athletes. He worked with Little Football Club Steven Gerrard, um, Ronnie O’Sullivan, the snooker player, and. He talks a lot about how we've still got our primitive chimp brain at the center of, of what we do. And this chimp brain might responds emotionally before our human brain has chance to, to really kick in. 

Olivia: Ah, fascinating.

Stuart: And we can't stop it. We can't control it. All we can do is try to replicate it, feed it a banana, and it'll respond to what we believe are our, our core beliefs, our stone tablets that we've written. And we need to be able to work together to be able to function better. And I [00:05:00] see that so much in, well in everybody really myself.

But when I'm driving a car, or for the students who are in school and they feel something's unfair, the emotional response comes out first. And then you can't learn, you can't, um, control that rational side of your brain. And I feel, feel like training to do that is really important. Being aware that it's something that stops you from thinking clearly. And putting yourself in danger by responding emotionally straight away. And but also stopping you from making the most of the opportunities that you've got in front of you. 

Olivia: Yeah, and we, we've been talking about this too, that, you know, you have coached, you coached across New England, and I'm dying to know, and I want listeners to hear from you. what was the moment for you? It could be with a student or just reflecting yourself that sparked the idea for My Sports Diaries. 

Stuart: Um, I'm glad you worded it like that. Um, the first, uh, the first [00:06:00] student was myself. It purely selfish reasons. Um, my son has been doing jiu-jitsu for about five years. He's brilliant and I love watching him. And his club is a, he's just a small family orientated. There's no competition, there's no hard sparring or anything like that. And we started to do an adults group for MMA. I went down twice the age of everybody else there at least, and I finally progressed after months of training to, to realize that I was terrible and I, I'd managed to, to move towards conscious incompetence and I was turning up, realizing that I'd learned to do certain things and I'd forgotten all about them, and I couldn't put them into place.

So I wanted a way of recording this so that I could look back on it and make sure I knew for the next week what I needed to do. And then as I was thinking about this, I was talking to students that I worked with at school, or I teach, and they were [00:07:00] telling me about playing football, playing rugby. I'd hear students saying, oh, they were, they were talking about this or saying this phrase and I don't know what it means and everybody just assumes that they know.

And then saying, oh yeah, we lost again at the weekend. I'm like, oh, so how, what did your coach say? Like, how do you, what were you practicing the week before? And I was met with blank faces from, from people that love their sport. They're passionate about it and they want to do well, but they still, they still don't remember what they were doing.

And from there I started to ask them questions and leave them to try not just to get better themself, like almost a coaching role away from it, but more like helping them to realize what they need and what their culture is trying to get out of it and what they need to pull out of it to make themselves better.

Olivia: Yeah. Yeah. I wanna just pause there because something I've been thinking a lot about, um, John Hattie's three questions when it comes to feedback and it [00:08:00] aligns so beautifully with your thinking about the students, anyone that's a learner has to know where they're going. So what is, what is the ultimate goal?

Maybe it's for a game, uh, but maybe it's bigger than that. Maybe it's for them as a learner, if for you with jiu-jitsu as well. And then they have to be able to gauge how they're doing along the way. And the Sports Diaries are amazing for that because it's a track, it's like actual cognitive written tracking of that work. And then it's how, what do I need next based on where I am in the scope and sequence? Right? So can you give us a really clear breakdown what is included with a Sports Diary that you've crafted? 

Stuart: So, um, we start out with, um, a list of the key skills needed for the specific sports. So I started off with a, a soccer or football diary, uh, because that was my main sport growing up. Um, and we pull apart the skills [00:09:00] there this acts as a reference point, but also prompts for later on for when somebody's writing in the diary, you can read through these words, these key words repeatedly and make them familiar, make them just normal language. And after that there's um, a small section to measure these characteristics, the skills that you need. The, the physical qualities. 

How fast can you sprint, how far can you throw? Or whatever it is that is important to it. And it encourages them to go and research these techniques. However you want to measure it yourself is, is up to you, whatever with the tools that you've got around you. I didn't know who would be using it in which situation, whether it's a rural America or inner-city London, I think like they've got very different things about, 

Olivia: Rght, right. Yeah. 

Stuart: And I also wanted them to maybe speak to somebody else, whether it's a friend or a parent, and ask them about these tools, these things that they can research and use. Maybe getting somebody involved to time them or to measure it and come [00:10:00] up with different ways using what the app available.

Uh, from there, it then goes into three separate sections for a season. For a full season, um, just the beginning, middle, and end. Uh, we start off with questions, talking about training or practice asking how you feel beforehand. What have you done to prepare. What do you think is important for you personally to get outta this? And then afterwards, what were the key takeaways and what did the coach want? How did you get on with other people in the team? And a blank page for notes. 

And this progresses through the season. The same again, happens after for a match. Similar type of questions or similar structure. And then as the season progresses, the questions get more in depth and more detailed. It may be asking about how your role influenced the rest of the team or how your, uh, reactions were going to start the next phase of play and a bit more in depth and maybe something that need to look up again. [00:11:00] Um, but also there's the small like tactics board, a small football page or a baseball field where they can draw on there.

They can just make marks for the pen. I was trying to think about. Some, the, the range of athletes that I see in, in schools. We have, sports is such a, a strange one because you get very high achieving students that are great at the subjects academically, and then they go into sports and they excel at that as well. And they will be using these diaries to really get into their own minds and getting everything, every drop out of like each practice session. But we also have some athletes that struggle in school. They're not interested in school. 

Olivia: Ah, you’re walking in my mind. Yes. That's where I actually wanna go next, because then that leads to the question. How can we reengage students that may say, uh, because it's a dream if students are totally engaged in school academically and [00:12:00] can somehow balance life. It's always an anomaly to me. 

Stuart: Mm-hmm. 

Olivia: How kids can balance schedules with sports and full academic. It's incredible. Um, there are many grownups that are not that meticulous with the, the scheduling. What do we do? Because these sports diaries do re-engage learners. You've shared that with me. How are they a fresh way to get kids interested in literacy? Again, that they may be really passionate about their sport and they are not passionate about school. 

Stuart: And that was the initial reaction really. I, I wanted to create something that would look at what they're really passionate about. I'm passionate about passion. I, care about anything. That you, you like.

Olivia: Me too. 

Stuart: I wanna hear about it. And we tried it. I've got three, four week mini diaries that, uh, have generic questions. They stripped back with fewer questions and you can free, you can print 'em off as many times as you want to. You can use 'em for a full season if you wanted to. It's okay. Uh, but we were [00:13:00] using them in, in, uh, our school with after school teams. A lot of the students there aren't very engaged with school. They're not keen on writing. They'd never write for fun. It was just outta the question. And the first time their coach turned up and he said, I've got these training diaries I'd like to use. they wouldn't write in them. They didn't want to read them even, and he started reading the questions out and writing for them and writing down what they were doing because even having the conversation about it was, it was a struggle for them. They struggle to verbalize a lot of the things that they want to do as well.

Olivia: Yeah, 

Stuart: And I find that sometimes that happens with the journey home after a game. Players can play the game and then parents try to talk to them about the match and give them feedback. But they can't. They can't. They need to internalize and go through their emotions, go through the thought process first. And if you add this diary on the way home, you can start trying to write things out, using the words at the beginning using the prompts to start building this [00:14:00] up. And after a week or two students were coming to him asking him for, for more diaries, they wanted more, they'd filled it. 

They'd started sharing it with the friends and new people that don't play for the team. Were going to the PE teacher asking about it. And yeah, it made me very happy that, that people were wanting it, they were chasing it. And, uh, then I could ask them about it in lessons completely differently. And it, it sort of built a relationship as well. I found that they were better at verbalizing what they'd been writing down, um, from the experience. 

Olivia: So I love so many layers about what you just spoke to, because research shows - Stiggins in particular - that people need time to work and process independently first, and then probably move to maybe a partnership, a smaller conversation to test out the waters of what they were doing and thinking. And then potentially reach out to the whole group. And so I keep thinking about My Sports [00:15:00] Diaries and that they offer that pause for reflection. And I hadn't even thought about the car ride home because too often I think as caregivers, we have the best of intent, but it's feels like an interrogation to, to children. 

Um, and so this almost builds, builds in a bubble of protection. I feel like for the player of, you know, back off, let me think about my performance, the team's performance before you ask me 5 million questions. Some, you are a very gracious human, Stuart. Not all caregivers are as kind and patient with their sports players as you are, and I think that this is, it could be really lovely for students. I'm also interested to think beyond sports, because you also said like using it after school. I think this could be amazing in classrooms just as a reflective tool for the community of learners. So what other, like [00:16:00] reading, writing skills are you seeing honed or even cross-curricular connections? 

Stuart: Hey, yeah, it's funny you say that. When I mentioned it to someone at the school that I work with, she instantly said that as well. She was like, oh, we could use these same lessons to get them to reflect on this, to think about that. And I was thinking, well that's, that's not what I had in mind. And I became a bit defensive. Like I felt like it was more like a personal diary and sometimes you might write dim things in there. 

‘Cause sports are very emotional and you have a lot of shame attached to sports. Sometimes if you've not performed as you should do you feel like you've let people down and you might not want to share that. But yeah, there are ways that people could turn it and use it, I suppose, if they read it and wanted to adapt this for their own classrooms and the way that they were helping students to work through what was happening, if possibly.

Um, I, I have worked with a lot of students that have struggled in lessons and struggled with the way schools are set up and the qualifications that we aim [00:17:00] towards. It's not for everybody, and maybe this would be a way for them to think about themselves more and think about what they want, and almost setting themselves targets if it's not gonna be the formal qualifications that most of the population are aiming for. This could be an alternative that people use. 

Olivia: Yeah. The other thing I'm thinking of, I was once, um, recently, a few months ago with a middle school teacher, and he works with students with needs specifically, and he is a phenomenal swimming coach. And he was saying like, I, I don't even know what to do in the classroom. I'm really struggling. And I said, well, what do you do as a swim coach when you have swimmers at all different levels, all different paces. How does each swimmer know what to do next? Because it's not physically possible that you're telling each one of them what…

He's like, oh, well I have like very clear cards and very like I, he had a whole system for his swimmers. I thought, well, you could do the [00:18:00] same thing for your students in your classroom. He was like, oh, I hadn't even thought about that. So what, where I'm going with this is. I see the Sports Diaries as a way to harness once students that are striving or struggling with learning in school, you have helped them harness their passion and learn how to articulate, write, and reflect and read based on what they love. And I see that that could have ripple effects into their classroom. They could carry those practices. 

Stuart: Yeah. I've, I've sort of see it as a thin end of the wedge. I'm trying to, but in a different way. The different context or it's normally used once we can get them in there. And I think it's a, that there's a bit coming to be a, a blending of the sports diaries and my teaching now, and I don't know which one has come first because, students are starting to go, oh, well we did this a few weeks ago. You just need to look back on your book. And they're [00:19:00] trying to, they're encouraging each other to go and find the answers and take more agency for themself. 

And that's really, that's something that I've been thinking about a lot at the moment and trying to get students to, um, just like move towards action for themselves and doing something that, where they, they know what they want. Like students want to be successful. They know they want to be better at anything that they're trying, whether they enjoy it or not, but taking action, just doing something to help themselves rather than the passivity and the apathy that we're getting from students because they're going, well, I just don't know.

Olivia: But how do they use them then to get feedback from the coach? Has that ever happened? Where does, are they seen by anyone else or is it very private that it's just the students? 

Stuart: I, I'd take them as, as being private. But then you can, um, we have like parents and coaches that ask them about it 'cause they know what's inside. They know the questions and they can use [00:20:00] that as a prompt. So if you are asking the same question that they've already answered, then it's, it's like a prepared interview. You're, you're going in there, you're like, oh, I know the answers that I want to give here. And, uh, then they can build on top of it.

They're asking deeper questions or pointing out something that maybe wasn't real. There's always three sides to a story, isn't there? There's like what you see, what they see and the what actually happened. And when you are playing a game, you might feel like something happened, you were responsible or you did great.

And the people watching might see it from a different angle and see a bigger picture. And I feel like this is happening in lessons more when students are, when I'm using these techniques with students, they are looking at what they've done in the past. They're trying to help themself. They're asking each other questions and questioning whether what they think is really what happened. And I like that. And then I can sort of feed it back into new things that I'm trying to look at. 

Olivia: Yeah, I think something that's so important in our work, um, [00:21:00] on and off the field is that feedback is a recursive loop. And so the students, then I, I also see that they could use that My Sports Diaries. To offer the coach feedback if the coach were open to it or if the teacher were open to it. That's a whole other ball of wax. But I think that it is preparing them to be able to articulate what's on their heart, and it is very challenging. Sports are, it's such a vulnerable moment to put yourself out there individually and then to inspire your team. So. I'd, I'd love to know, what are some measurable outcomes have you been tracking across time or trends you've noticed? Um, with specific ages or, um, teams, sports in particular?

Stuart: Um, it's, it's still early doors. It's not, uh, been spread out that much, but within the school we've, the biggest thing for me is having students coming to teachers asking to write more. I've never seen that [00:22:00] before. It's, it's normally the opposite. They, they try to avoid it. They write as little as possible, but now they, they're writing more. And going back to what you were saying previously about giving feedback to the coach and the teacher, the better at asking questions, they clarify because they think about what has happened previously. They're going back and reflecting on what happened at practice the week before and the week before that.

And still coming back and going, don't understand how to do this. Can you tell me how to do that? Can you show us again? And I love that where they're going. I know that I want to do this, I just don't know how to, and I know you are trying to help me, but it's not worked. And it's making just a, a better team and the collaboration rather than just somebody giving out information and the student just taking it. They're taking ownership of their own learning and their own improvement and directing it where they need it to go, which, [00:23:00] yeah, it's lovely to see.

Olivia: It is.

Stuart: I've also got the PE department that I'm working with. 

Olivia: I was wondering… 

Stuart: Um, they're, implementing it into their curriculum. So it's hard to have literacy when they're out there doing sports, but now they've got these small booklets that they can use and maybe looking at creating one for each spot that they do through the year. Um, but yeah. 

Olivia: That to me, I was wondering, I, again, that was a question I had is that you absolutely could use this with PE across every single grade level because I think at kinder, the primary, they could draw. And you've offered space for that and label. Um, the one piece I want to add in is I spoke to Hattie's three feedback questions.

There's also four feedback levels, and you are hitting all of the levels. I I just want you to have research to have your back with this even more. And so the first level is that task or product [00:24:00] level. That's where too many educators or coaches live. Not moving to process, which is the next level. So you're saying this, the players are actually able to say like, you asked me to do this task, or you asked me to create a product and I, I wasn't able to do it, so I need a better refine process.

The third level is around self-regulation. So I am in charge of my learning journey. And what you, the, just, the nugget story you just gave is moving right through these to the fourth level of self. And I feel like My Sports Diaries embody all of that feedback work we want to nurture in our students. Because your vision is not stopping there. It is adulthood. Right? 

Stuart: Definitely. 

Olivia: So I, I think that's critical too. 

Stuart: Yeah. It's nice to hear that I've not seen the research that goes with it. This is based on my experiences and frustrations over [00:25:00] 20 years of teaching. 

Olivia: Right. I've got you, you have research. Yeah. It's so good.

Stuart: Yeah, I'd love to get it all off you later. Um, but yeah, the, the main thing is that it something that has been worrying me for, for a little bit. With the advent of AI and students, being told that these jobs aren't going to exist in the future and you're gonna have to it, it paints a bleak outlook for the future at times, especially with some students and in the competition, the way they don't think they're gonna win. 

But we don't need to teach them how to do the jobs that are here now that are gonna be disappearing. Now we can teach them to reflect on what's needed now, like for them in the future and how they can solve that and where they can go to people and have that conversation about what's necessary. And if you can do that, then that's fine. That's what schools are for. We talked about earlier about getting to that, that goal that they have. 

Olivia: Mm-hmm. 

Stuart: And I keep saying to the students, like, if [00:26:00] your goal is just to win a game, you're gonna be disappointed a lot. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Stuart: It's not, it's not about that. It's, it's about doing everything in between. It's enjoying playing with your friends. It's getting fit and strong. It's going out and making yourself do something where you don't feel like it. Those are all the wins. That's the value in it. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Stuart: And you know, just having a record at the end of it. You play a big season with all your friends and there's a section at the end of the diary, which I thought was important where you just watch silly awards. Things that make you laugh through the year and why you did it. And if you can look at back at that in 20 years time, I've forgotten most of my seasons now. There's one or two little bits that stick out, but I wish I had something that I would remind me of all the different players that I played with and the silly things that they did.

Olivia: Well you've created that. 

Stuart: Yes. 

Olivia: And and that's what I love. I love everything about this. So can you tell us, before I let you go, what are the sports that have been [00:27:00] with clear Diaries that you've outlined? And then how can we find these if we wanna use them? 

Stuart: So I've got, uh, My Football Diary and My Soccer Diary, depending on which side of the pond you're on. Um, My Baseball Diary and My Basketball Diary so far, um, I'm part way through making one for rugby league. 'Cause in the parts of the world where I live in, that is the huge sport. And yeah, there, there are robots that I'm working on. I am trying to do a jiu-jitsu one, but it's so hard. It's just so big.

Olivia: Bless you. 

Stuart: It’s very different. It's not a team sport, so I'm working on it. Um, by the time um, this comes out, then people can go to mysportdiary.com. To find out more about it, but the, the books are, are on Amazon and if people want to have a look there. 

Olivia: Awesome. Yeah. And I'm gonna put a selfish plugin for cross country where running it does feel individual, but it also is a team. And you have to be motivated by your peers. So I'm just putting a plugin, running cross [00:28:00] country I in all of your spare time Stuart.

Stuart: I’ll start looking into it.

Olivia: It has been such a gift to get to know you and I wholeheartedly believe in what you're doing and that's why it is such an honor to hold space for this conversation. Thank you.

Stuart: Thank you very much. It's um, it's lovely to hear that and it gives me motivation to keep making all the extra diaries and getting it out. That's all people can make the most of it. Parents and the children. 

Olivia: Yes, absolutely. Take care. 

Stuart: Thank you.

Olivia: Schoolutions Teaching Strategies is created, produced, and edited by me. Olivia Wahl. Thank you to my older son Benjamin, who created the music playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts, or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Thank you to my guest, Stuart Yates, for sharing how we can harness our athletes' growth through reflection and even redirect that same power of reflection back to their school day [00:29:00] experiences.

Here's my invitation. Send me an email at schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com and tell me one thing from this conversation that shifted your thinking. More importantly, tell me what your next step is. If this episode resonated with you, whether you're a coach, educator, or caregiver of a young athlete, head over to mysportdiary.com to learn more about Stuart’s work. You can find the diaries for all different sports with even more sports coming soon. 

Here's my challenge. Before the next game or practice, give your athlete one simple prompt. What's the one thing you want to focus on today? Then after give them space to write or draw before you start the conversation. Watch what happens when they get to process first. And with that said, don't forget to tune in every Monday for the best research-backed coaching and teaching strategies you can apply right away to better the [00:30:00] lives of the children in your care. Stay tuned for my bonus episodes every Friday where I'll reflect and share connections to what I learned from the guest that week. See you then.