How sport empowers young people
Emily Rogers
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Snow-Camp empowers disadvantaged young people through snowsports.
PROJECT
Snow-Camp
FUNDING
Between £80 and £99 per person for First Tracks, £300 for Graduate, £500 for Excel and £560 for Snow-Camp's week-long Alps residential. Funded through grants, corporate funders, fundraising and means-tested contributions from referring youth organisations
BACKGROUND
When youth worker Dan Charlish asked two teenagers playing a skiing computer game at a youth centre in Stockwell, London, if they would ever do it for real, he was taken aback by their incredulous response. He became determined to make snowsports accessible to young people from inner city areas and in 2003, together with colleagues, fundraised to take 13 10- to 19-year-olds to the French Alps. He remembers the "magic moment" they got to grips with skiing and glimpsing "amazing youth work gems in snowsports".
The trip became an annual event, expanding to 330 young people by 2007, when a Lottery grant enabled the development of a year-round scheme. Snow-Camp's current programme was up and running by 2010.
ACTION
Participants must be aged 13 to 21 and attend Snow-Camp with their youth workers, who are crucial in supporting them, says Charlish. They must also never have skied or snowboarded before.
All three Snow-Camp stages run at UK artificial and indoor snowsport centres, starting with the two-day First Tracks programme in the summer. Each session includes an hour's skiing and snowboarding instruction and an hour-long session, where participants discuss how skills such as perseverance and overcoming fear can be applied to everyday life.
It culminates in a snowsports award, enabling progression to the Graduate stage - six consecutive Saturdays or Sundays from late autumn. Participants continue receiving two hours of snowsports instruction, alongside more vocational life skills sessions, featuring industry representatives.
Snow-Camp's final stage is Excel, 10 consecutive Saturdays or Sundays starting early the following year. Participants work towards a basic instructor qualification, ending with a one-week residential in the Italian Alps where they shadow instructors, before returning home for external assessment.
They can then apply for Snow-Camp's year-long apprenticeship programme, currently accepting five young people annually. Apprentices instruct peers through Snow-Camp, gain further activity leadership and instructor qualifications, and undertake vocational placements with industry partners.
Snow-Camp has engaged 7,500 young people across 21 London boroughs, Glasgow, the Midlands, Bristol and Cardiff. It is expanding to Manchester this summer.
OUTCOME
Of 552 young people participating in 2015/16, 88 per cent had increased confidence, 95 per cent became more determined, 92 per cent more motivated and all achieved their goals. Of the 38 young people completing the full Snow-Camp scheme last year, 32 progressed to further education, employment or training.
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