Refugee Skateboarding

Back in mid January 2022 I designed a health and wellbeing programme to engage our local refugee community with a unique opportunity of skateboarding sessions for females 12 – 18. The aim of the project was to empower girls with new life skills, make new friends whilst supporting both physical and mental health whilst building resilience. The project was through my work at Wycombe Wanderers Foundation.

Throughout the 12 week project (pilot) Joe Saunders from Skateboard Academy UK delivered fun and engaging sessions where we watched as the girls grow in confidence, creativity, abilities and with such positive attitudes. We created the right environment where the girls were able to celebrate each other’s achievements. The girls formed new friendships, created their own WhatsApp group and smiled throughout each and every session.

It was important to identify a number of female mentors that the girls could aspire to including Nina Sparks (GB Para Snowboarder), Elle England (Wave Project,WavesPavesGals) & Chrissy Nazif (Reading Uni).

“We’ve learnt to do many tricks including a tic tac, tail stump and so much more. We can always talk to one another because we trust one another. We have formed a little community that supports each other. We are all friends and help each other. We’ve learnt so much and have grown in confidence and hope to carry on in the future.” 
Participant.

“It was amazing to see how much the girls, many of whom have had challenging starts in life, engaged with both skateboarding and each-other. Everybody had a great time, I’d like to place on record our thanks to Skateboard Academy UK and also Wycombe Refugee Partnership who both provided fantastic support throughout the project.”
Simon Wears, Head of Health & Wellbeing (WWF)

The sessions have since continued through ongoing funding and have now widened within the refugee community with siblings of the girls now trying skateboarding for the first time.

Huge thanks to Sport England, Skateboard Academy UK, Joe Saunders, Nina Sparks, Elle England, Chrissy Nazif, Wycombe Refugee Partnership & all participants.

Drop us a message to enquire about Skateboarding sessions hello@homecountiessurfclub.com