As part of their recent residential at Inverclyde, the Young Peoples Sport Panel, as a group, braved the cold water of Scotland and went Paddleboarding, for many of whom it was their firm time trying this activity! Each member of the Panel have always encouraged everyone to go out and try something new, it doesn’t have to be something you perceive to be difficult or challenging, the most important thing is that people get out there and try. Who knows that might me the start of a fantastic new journey
One member of the panel, Louis Gallagher, told us more about trying Paddleboarding and what he got out of it.
"I recently had the amazing opportunity to try paddleboarding for the first time, along with my fellow Sport Panel members, when we were away on our latest residential to Inverclyde! I was very curious to see how I would do, as I’m usually not that confident in water. That said, I’m very competitive, so I wasn’t going to let that stop me!
We started off by learning the basics of how to position ourselves on the board, and where to put our hands on the paddle. I found these initial steps relatively doable and I could pretty comfortably paddle away with my knees on the board. The very tricky thing was standing up! I must have fallen in about five or six times over the course of the hour. I think it’s fair to say balance is not a huge strength of mine!
Overall though, I still found it to be a really enjoyable experience. Paddleboarding is definitely something I would consider doing again. "Having friends alongside you definitely makes the whole experience of trying something new a lot easier as well."
It really made me push myself outside of my comfort zone, without being pushed too far.
Trying a new sport or activity may seem daunting at first, but once you get into it, I have no doubt that you will have fun and get so much out of it. Participating in new activities is a great way to meet new people, helps with physical and mental wellbeing and helps grow your confidence.
For anyone looking to try something new, I would encourage you to look in your local communities or at your school/university and if you have any interest in it, give it a go!''
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