Images by Rich Baybutt
Last week our incredible Education team, made up of A-TEAMers, coaches, friends and more, headed up to Comrie Croft to deliver the TrashMob Academy Summer Session for the second year in the row.
Pairing nature connection activities with mountain bike coaching and trail cleaning, the TrashMob Academy aims to improve wellbeing, self-esteem and confidence through a unique outdoor educational experience. For many of us who grew up with parents or guardians who took us to local wild places, it's easy to forget that a significant portion of the population in the UK do not have access to nature, particularly young people. Through the TrashMob Academy, we provide resources, activities and the means to get more young people out in nature, moving, connecting and giving back through small but meaningful acts of environmental stewardship.
Last week's Session saw over 100 young people join us at Comrie Croft. Coming from schools around Perth and Kinross, many of them had never been to Comrie before. It was epic to enable them to explore, roam and play on the trails, thanks to the help of coaches from Comrie Croft Bikes.
At the start of each Session, we ask participants if they know what single-use pollution means. It's more important than ever that we're giving young people the right language around environmental issues, and pollution is no different. By the end of the week, 1 in 4 could not only understand what single-use pollution meant, but could actively identify it out on the trails.
Now we're bias, but we think getting kids on bikes is the best thing ever! Almost 40 of the young people who joined us had never ridden offroad - it was epic to share our personal passion for mountain biking with them, leaving them with a love for two wheels that we reckon could last a lifetime! One teacher reflected to Ali that this is what they love about the TrashMob Academy - combined with mountain biking, the programme is thrilling, exciting, and encourages young people to push themselves to try something new.
Better yet was the fact 100% of participants showed an increased sense of connection to nature. We know it takes more than one Session, one day, one experience, to build up a habit of environmental stewardship, but we're proud that we got to kickstart that journey for these young people.
We couldn't have done any of this without the Education team. Jo, Lauren, Rich, Ali, Rach and Marine went above and beyond to bring the best experience to these young people, and what a job they did! We're incredibly humbled to be able to empower young people alongside such an inspiring group of individuals.
Thank you to the team and coaches at Comrie Croft and our Education Programme Partners Trek, Sprayway, Hope, Holiday Cottages & Go Ape.
Learn more about our Education programme and download resources to bring the Academy to your learning community here!
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