Diary
Friday 6th August 2010 at the ‘Get On Track - Get Set’ Program
Hi
I’m Penny, Kelly’s sister, and today I have been standing in for Kelly for the DKH Legacy Trust’s ‘Get On Track – Get Set’ program. Kelly has attended and led the previous ‘Get on Track’ days, but this time she’s away and as I have recently started working alongside her at Double Gold Enterprises, she asked me to attend the event and to write this report for her diary!
‘Get on Track’ is a mentoring scheme in which retired and active athletes help disadvantaged young people gain confidence and motivation within themselves and each other by learning to make positive life choices for themselves.
I was lucky enough to be able to attend the team building day at The St. Giles Trust in Camberwell, South London. When I arrived here, the greeting was really warm and friendly, with a real sense of togetherness within the team of staff and youths involved on the Get Set Scheme.
Today, the youths involved were sprucing up the St. Giles Trust building’s communal patio area by doing some landscape gardening (See picture above). This included weeding, re-planting, putting up parasols and using team building skills.
Young people were working alongside St Giles Trust staff and their DKH Legacy Trust’s Mentors, which included Neil Danns (former British and European Skateboarding Champion), Jenna Downing (In-Line Skating World Champion) and Adam Whitehead (Double Commonwealth Swimming Champion).
To get an idea of why DKH Legacy Trust is such a valuable asset to both the youths and the mentors involved, I had an opportunity to speak with Neil Danns about his involvement. He told me that, he finds this program “very beneficial to him and the young people he mentors”, he feels that he can “give back life skills he has gained himself to help disadvantage youths make good and better life decisions for themselves”, “give them some direction in life and show them there is a bigger world to see, not just the world they live in on the Estate”.
After these programs, the young people should have gained enough confidence and self belief to get into education, work placements, and generally become more motivated, positive people.
Neil wants to help these young people through sport, and give them motivation, belief and self worth. The ‘Get On Track – Get Set’ program is designed to do just that.
I then spoke to one of the young people involved on the program, her name was Annalisea. She is 16 years old and this is what she had to say about the program:
“I found this program challenging, but in a good way. I feel I have to step up and contribute as a team member and pull my own weight”.
“Before this program I didn’t have patience and hadn’t worked with other people before, but this program has helped me to gain skills, experience and confidence. I have used skills that I haven’t had to use or thought I had before. This has helped change me for the better”.
I then asked Annalisea what she had planned for the future. She went on to tell me that she applied and was successfully accepted into College. She starts in September this year to study a 2 year course in Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, and English Literature. Her goal is to be a Clinical Child Psychologist. After college Annalisea will be applying to University to study her Degree and Doctorate. I wish Annalisea all the luck in the world, and hope she achieves all the goals she has set herself.
My day with the Young people and Mentors was a very affirming experience, and really opened my eyes to all the good work that takes place on the ‘Get On Track – Get Set’ Program, and I feel that its an extremely valuable way of helping disadvantaged youths from difficult backgrounds or surroundings.
Thanks to all those involved on the day for being so friendly and welcoming, and for making my day on the Scheme so rewarding.
Keep up the good work, and I hope to see you again in the near future
Penny x
Click here to visit DKH Legacy Trust website
Click here to visit St Giles Trust website