Super 1s Residential: Empowering Young People
The last week of July saw the return of our Super 1s residential at the Avon Tyrell Activity Centre in the New Forest.
This year, over the course of the week 42 young people with a disability across eight Super 1s projects got the opportunity to take part in a number of outdoor activities such as obstacle courses, archery, climbing, kayaking and canoeing, where they were able to mix with participants from across the country and achieve things beyond what they thought they were capable of. The Super 1s hubs involved in this year’s residentials travelled from Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.
The 42 participants were split in to two groups and spent two nights at the facility each, where they learnt life skills and had the opportunity of experiencing independence away from home, which to many, was for the first time.
Liz Kuda, Disability Cricket Programme Manager expressed “Our Super 1s residentials offer a unique opportunity for our participants to enhance their life skills by spending time away from home and socialising with their peers. The team at Avon Tyrell are amazing at putting on activities that are inclusive to all levels of ability showing that there is no limit to what you can achieve. It’s incredible to watch every year how young people grow in confidence individually and work as a team, highlighting the importance of our work to empower young people with disabilities to achieve their potential.“
Mum of Super 1s participant, Lottie, added: “There was a real ‘can do’ sort of feeling about the whole camp. All the activities were made available to the young people. Some of them didn't attempt all of them, but there was definitely a feeling of ‘you know, I'm going to give it a go and be proud of that’. I was just totally thrilled with the whole experience.”
Ed, one of our participants from Sussex was asked to rate his experience out of 10, to which he replied “100, I’ll definitely be back again." His mum expressed “It’s very hard to find sport that is properly inclusive. it doesn't matter at all if he catches the ball, if he misses the ball, if he doesn't hit the ball, when he does make contact with the ball and he hits the six, his reaction and just that feeling of achievement, it's very, very special."
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