MENU
Donate
MENU
Donate
I am 20 years old from Manchester and heard about Snow Camp through my youth group called Hideaway. My youth group leaders Tanya and Melvyn spoke to me about this amazing opportunity to learn either skiing or snowboarding. As I am a huge enthusiast for all kinds of sports I jumped at the opportunity.
Instead of skiing, I chose to learn how to snowboard, as I had tried skiing in high school. I wanted to push myself and learn something that I had never done before.
I was 19 when I started at Snow Camp and the First Tracks was a hell of a ride! My confidence was just not there. We were being taught how to balance on the snowboard, how to slowly go down the slope, slide slips and many more. I remember going to the top of the beginner’s slope and that was it, I said to myself ‘I can’t do this’. I was so frightened to go down thinking I’m going to fall and crash and injure myself badly. Looking at others in my group whizzing down really lowered my confidence and I felt like I wanted to quit.
The youth forum, all the staff at Chill Factorᵉ and Snow Camp told me to believe myself and keep going. Graduate course was when I started to push myself to see what I am capable of. I started to believe in myself a little more. The Snow Camp youth forum motivated me to keep going. They made me believe that I can do this, and I deserve to be here.
On the residential trip to Passo Tonale, I was finally able to do the basic snowboarding skills heel edge and toe edge. Others in the group were already confidently turning but that didn’t stop me from pushing myself to keep learning. I wanted to prove that I deserve to be on the residential trip.
So, I worked hard to show off what I have learnt since the First Tracks course. The residential trip was a very nerve-wracking time, but also the best thing I ever took part with. It was the first time away from my family, so it felt daunting. The 29-hour journey took all my tears right out of me! But having the support from my close friends was helpful and meant the world to me. The residential trip brought us all closer as a region and we made really strong friendships with everybody.
The trip to Italy is the place that really boosted my confidence and made me go for everything we were being taught to do. I was able to turn smoothly perform jumps and even ride in switch. Overall Snow Camp have been really amazing, and it’s been an experience of a lifetime. I haven’t regretted it one bit, and now I’m joining the Youth Forum!!
Here’s a massive thank you to all the youth forum and Chill Factorᵉ staff that helped me get to where I am today, and a massive thank you to Morv for always being there to help me believe that I can do it and I will do it 🙂
