After establishing a successful youth project on the Firhill basin in Glasgow back in 2017, the team at Scottish Rowing were eager to explore new opportunities and expand their reach.
With two secondary schools, South Ayrshire College, and the University of the West of Scotland’s (UWS) Ayr campus all within walking distance, Development Manager Mark Senter identified the river Ayr as a potential site.
Taster sessions were set up on the river with young people from UWS, South
Ayrshire College and those connected to South Ayrshire Council’s Thriving Communities Team invited down to the river to give rowing a go. Following several successful sessions, covid unfortunately brought Mark’s plans to a halt.
“After lockdown, I was keen to get the sessions started again and following a meeting with Thriving Communities we came up with the idea of targetting young carers,” he explained.
“I was then put in touch with Claire Flannigan from South Ayrshire Health & Social Care partnership who was able to identify potential participants and invite them along to the sessions.”
Care experience in sport
Shortly after, Champions for Change (South Ayrshire’s Champions Board) became involved and proposed opening the opportunity up to care-experienced young people.
The programme now runs on every Wednesday from April to October with four hour-and-a-half long sessions running throughout the day for young people with additional support needs, young carers, care experienced young people, and Ukrainian refugees.
We went along to the care experienced session to see the programme in action and get a flavour of the impact it is having on the young people.
Numbers vary from session to session with around 15 care experienced young people attending this particular week. Two qualified coaches take up to five of the participants out on the water at a time and support them to row up the river.
“One thing we noticed straight away when we started these sessions was the anxiety to actually get out on the water,” Mark explained.
“It’s been really rewarding to see them overcome that and become comfortable entering the water.”
A wealth of opportunity
For some, the sessions are an opportunity to work on their rowing skills and for others, they are an opportunity to come and catch up, have a picnic by the river, and watch their friends in the water.
Dawn Parker is the Corporate Parenting Lead Officer for South Ayrshire and supports care experienced young people from across South Ayrshire to participate in the River Ayr sessions. She said:
“The sessions are fantastic for our young people. It’s really important that we give them the choice to sit and watch if they are not comfortable going in yet.
“We’ve seen many of them come for weeks without going in and then one week deciding to give it a go.”
When the young people are in the water, Dawn tells us that it gives them a sense of freedom and an escape that can often be instrumental in supporting them through their circumstances.
Next steps
Mark told us that one participant, in particular, had really picked the sport up and is now looking at options to join a club.
We spoke to that participant who told us:
“I didn’t know anything about rowing before I came along to these sessions, but I’ve really enjoyed them.
“I love going up and down the river and racing my friends but also using it as a time to chill.
“I’d really like to be able to join a club and see where that takes me.”
Looking ahead, Scottish Rowing is now in talks with Thriving Communities about the potential to establish a beach sprints/ coastal sculling hub. Telling us about his ambitions, Mark said:
“We have the river project which is great to get people involved at a basic level however the opportunity to progress to beach sprints or coastal sculling would provide a complete pathway and who knows the next generation of beach sprint Olympians.”
More info
-
