Onbo ard
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Confidence and
communication are skills that the children learn through OnBoard.
‘I used to love playing with them when I was a kid too.’ Asher started sailing when he was 11. That’s where he met Steve Mitchell, RYA’s Regional Development Officer for London and the south-east. Steve was his instructor then, but today they’re teaching together.
ready to face the world
Now 26, Asher has been an instructor for about ten years. ‘I’ve seen myself change through sailing,’ he says. ‘My confidence has developed. I used to speak very fast, but because I’ve grown up doing double-handed sailing where you need to communicate, it’s really helped with my communication skills. As well as my resilience, assertiveness and leadership. ‘There aren’t many black instructors in the UK, so I’m proud that I’m one of them, to help try to get some diversity into the sport in the UK. It’s great to be up there instructing not only as a black person but as a person confident in what they’re doing and saying, so kids can see there is a space for them.’ The skills that Asher has developed through sailing
have fed into his work, not only as an RYA instructor but as a professional DJ too. He still remembers how it first felt being on the water as a kid: ‘You feel free.’ Today, having travelled extensively, Asher’s seen just how much freedom sailing can give. ‘With sailing,’ he says, ‘you can go anywhere.’ Many of the Year 6 children from Tollgate developed sailing aspirations of their own since their OnBoard sessions last year. Their dream destinations include Spain, France… the world! Asher shows them it’s possible. The OnBoard scheme helps make it possible. As Emma says, ‘Unless we give our children the opportunity, we’ll never know how talented they are.’
For more information visit
www.rya.org.uk/onboard
You can watch our video of this OnBoard session at https:/
/
youtu.be/_-e5ruT-Bvw L
Why it’s good to get OnBoard
ast year, the RYA partnered with the Andrew Simpson Foundation to look at the impact of the OnBoard programme. The research was
conducted by the UCL Institute of Education and found many wide-ranging benefits…
80%
OF PARTICIPANTS WERE BETTER ABLE TO THINK CREATIVELY
88%
FELT THAT SAILING OR WINDSURFING SHOWED THEM
THEYCOULD DO NEW THINGS IF THEY TRIED
FELTMORE 81%
CONFIDENT IN THEMSELVES
82%
WERE BETTER ABLE TO WORK AS A TEAM
88% LIKED BEING
AROUND THE WATER MORE FOLLOWING AN ONBOARD SESSION
75%
FELT BETTER ABLE TO DO
SOME THINGS INDEPENDENTLY
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