Levelling the Playing Field is delighted to welcome Snow Camp as a new specialist partner on the project.

Snow Camp takes participants from youth projects and service providers in London, the Midlands, Scotland and the North West on a journey of personal development using snow sports as a vehicle.

Snow Camp joins our network of specialist partners across England and Wales who all use sport and physical activity to engage and improve health and life outcomes for ethnically diverse children who are more likely to enter, or are already involved with, the Criminal Justice System.

Every summer, around 1000 young people from up to 60 youth projects join Snow Camp’s initial course, First Tracks, where they learn how to ski and snowboard at indoor centres around the UK and take part in life skills sessions focusing on independence, responsibility, confidence and self-esteem. 

First Tracks is the first step on a journey of self-discovery, higher aspirations, pushing of personal boundaries and professional development, along with opportunities to volunteer, achieve qualifications and even employment in the snow sports industry. 

The initial aim is to engage vulnerable young people who suffer from poor self-esteem, struggle with their mental health and wellbeing and/or are having difficulty in school or their personal circumstances. 

First Tracks, which lasts two days, is supported by Wellbeing Managers, who are professional counsellors. Snow Camp’s Programme Director, Cormac Whelan, says: “You can’t change someone’s wellbeing in such a short intervention but you can raise their awareness of signs and symptoms to look out for and how to address them.” 

Great emphasis is also placed on peer-to-peer leadership and learning, with young people who have been through the ‘journey’ of achieving skiing and snowboarding coaching qualifications returning as volunteers or apprentices to lead the next intake of participants. 

“They are the best role models to demonstrate to new young people what they can achieve,” says Cormac. 

First Tracks participants receive a Snow Life award plus medals and certificates. Many then choose to progress to the Graduate course which runs over six weekends before Christmas. 

Graduate works on participants’ skiing and snowboarding skills in more depth, as well as the life skills and mental wellbeing elements. Participants receive an ASDAN sports and fitness certificate and a Snowlife award, to show their progression in skiing and snowboarding from when they first started back in the summer. 

Excel, which takes place from February-April, is the third stage of the project for those sufficiently inspired to pursue a career in snow sports. Participants take part in a British Association of Snowsport Instructors training programme with the opportunity of taking their Level 1 instructor qualification at the end. Again, lessons learned on the slopes are reflected in the classroom with life skills and wellbeing sessions, including opportunities for one-to-one counselling. 

Towards the end of the course, young people reach ‘the Holy Grail’ - a week in the mountains shadowing instructors and gaining priceless snow experience. “This is the pinnacle for young people, getting up in the mountains for the first time and having the best time of their lives,” says Cormac.  

For many, it’s their first ever trip abroad, broadening their personal and educational horizons, increasing their confidence, pushing their fear limits and giving them opportunities to gain their Level 1 qualification, become a Snow Camp apprentice or join its youth forum. Those who are interested return to the programme and lead sessions on the slopes with the next cohort of young people. 

“We try to make the whole project youth-led,” says Cormac. “Once young people are upskilled they are perfect leaders for their peers as they understand the journey their peers have been on and are happy to see them leading a session on the slope.” 

Since the pandemic, the charity has had a major re-structure. When they were unable to deliver face-to-face with beneficiaries due to national lockdowns, they launched a free counselling service, Stop.Breathe.Think in response to the enormous rise in young people’s mental health issues. Within a year, an astonishing 50,000 young people had accessed the service. 

The charity was renamed to Switch 180, running Snow Camp and Stop.Breathe.Think in parallel. 

Explaining the re-structure, Cormac says: “In the early days of the charity, we sought to address issues such as gang culture and crime, but now we focus on the underlying issues that make young people vulnerable to falling into those behaviours – mental health, isolation and anxiety. 

“That’s why counselling is such a big part of what we do now. We also look to give young people skills and qualifications in counselling, so they are better at talking to their friends, offering peer-to-peer support.” 

The synergy between Snow Camp and Levelling the Playing Field is obvious. We have a national network of youth sport organisations working with ethnically diverse young people for whom this could be a priceless opportunity to experience something totally new. For Snow Camp, it’s a chance to access more young people and open up snow sport to an audience outside its largely white, middle-class demographic. 

Lydia Honey, Snow Camp’s Midlands Programme Manager, gives just one example of the life-changing impact their programmes have on participants: 

“One of our current apprentices was sullen when he joined from his youth project. He found it hard to have adult conversations or even show emotion. You never knew whether he was enjoying or hating it. 

“He came on our 10-week Excel programme and struggled at times. He would walk off when it was too hard for him and he could sometimes bang heads with instructors. On that day in Italy, if you’d told me he would be an apprentice, I’d never have believed it. 

“When he said he was going to apply for the apprenticeship, we were surprised – but he has just blossomed. He recognised it as an opportunity and I have seen him mature and grow hugely. 

“He will deliver sessions on goal-setting and give one-to-one support during skiing and snowboarding lessons. It’s now his job. He understands when something is worth fighting for and smiles when he is enjoying things. He has been very reflective with the programme. He is now a good snowboarder and a qualified Level 1 instructor. He can achieve big things.” 

For more information about Snow Camp, click here.