Positive Futures Liverpool has recently partnered with SnowCamp UK to give a group of young people the opportunity of a lifetime, to become qualified Snow Instructors.
Since 2018, the youth charity has been working with SnowCamp UK, a national snow sports charity with a passion for turning the lives around of young people through sport, to first set-up and run a successful Snow Camp in Liverpool. This initial opportunity offered young people, many of who had never been on the slopes before, the chance to try something new and push themselves out of their comfort zone. The young people who took part in this initial camp also gained an ASDAN qualification, providing them with nationally recognised qualifications and a whole wealth of new transferable skills.
Talking of this opportunity, one young person from Positive Futures commented;
“Thanks so much for this opportunity, I’m so glad I have had the chance to do this I am enjoying it a lot and feeling more confident with myself, so thank you.”
Fast forward to April 2019 and those who took part in the Snowcamp in 2018 were given the opportunity to travel to Montgenevre, France to ski on the slopes there. The group of young people fundraised to help pay for their trip, showing great dedication and motivation.
The group were joined by young people from across the UK including Chorley, Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol and Cardiff and travelled for 29 hours to get there. The group was very diverse and gave the young people from Positive Futures the opportunity to meet and interact with individuals from a wide range of social and ethnic backgrounds.
Once there, the five day trip put the young people through their paces, both physically and emotionally. They worked hard on the slopes during the day, developing their skills to progress onto the more difficult slopes, and in the evening they met young people from across the world. View of short video of the action here.
When asked about her experiences, Erin, a Positive Futures young person said;
“It’s great! My confidence is up and I loved it!” You can watch her full thoughts here.
Another young person, Blake said during his interview on the slopes;
“It’s brilliant! I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself every day. Today I completed the black without any falls after starting on the green at the start of the week.”
Once back in the UK, the third and final stage was the Ski Instructor element, which took place in Manchester at the Chill Factor-e. 50% of the group received ‘trained’ status and the other 50% successfully achieved their Level 1 Instructor certification.
This final stage highlights just how far the group of young people have come. Fom never having stepped foot on ski slopes before, to passing their instructor assessments to be able to teach others – it really is an impressive achievement!
Clare Corran, CEO of Positive Futures said;
“The whole experience has been incredible for our young people. The team at SnowCamp UK are excellent trainers who understand how to engage with young people, and it certainly worked with our young people, who really enjoyed this opportunity.
“It was incredible to see the distance they have travelled over the past few months. Even the progress they made on the slopes in such a short amount of time was incredible, and seeing them grow in confidence and self-belief as the project went on is what it is all about for the team at Positive Futures.
“I cannot congratulate the young people enough for their impressive achievements, and hope to see some of our qualified instructors using their new skills and qualifications in the future by teaching someone else how to ski.”
