As the instructors are professional in their own right and have competed at the highest levels, they have a huge amount of experience and skills to pass on.
When permission is granted we also offer to film the lessons. We can then produce a documentary or film out-lining our stay at the establishment. This can act as a record of the children’s development and progression along side experienced athletes, and something solid that the school itself can show parents - proving the successful nature of these activities. Not to mention it is very fun for the children to have a film of themselves learning and improving within the sport.
This sounds like it would cost a lot to hire.
Classes generally cost between £60 and £80 (about $180 US - use the Universal Currency Converter to compare United Kingdom Pounds (GBP) to your local currency) for a group of 20 for 2 hours - so between £1.50 and £2 (around $2 to $4 US) per child per hour. This includes the equipment, insurance, first aid training, CRB checks and travel. We keep prices low and affordable so that everyone is welcome – we would never want skateboarding to become exclusive in any way.
We often offer discounts to schools or sports clubs that setup regular weekly classes with us as a means to promote this method of teaching.
Bigger events and demonstrations are usually worked out on a unique basis but for example a week long residential course where our instructors provide lessons all day would cost in the region of £2,500 (around $4,500 US).
How have you been received so far?
The response and take up has been awesome!!! We've been booked every day since the beginning of the year, have the Summer holidays all booked up with events and activity courses and are already taking bookings for the Autumn and Christmas period. Schools and County Councils in particular are referring us to their colleagues and there’s never a shortage of jobs. The children themselves always love it and even when it rains, they beg the instructors to continue the class in the rain. Some children have loved it so much they have booked us in for their birthday parties which has been really fun. Parents are the people who have been really surprised and happy. I think skateboarding can often receive bad press and it certainly has never before been seen as a sport that you can learn at school or with your youth or sports centre. I think a lot of what we are doing has gone a long way to changing this mentality and combined with our passionate but professional and safe approach, parents are fully encouraging their children to get involved and continue the sport after we've left.
It's a very rewarding job for us as we get to see children enjoy themselves and learn at the same time. I think it would also be fair to say that we get to see some real talent in the making. There have been boys and girls as young as 8 or 9 who have picked it up so fast, its crazy. A couple of the children were so good, that we signed them up for our competition team.
Read the conclusion on page 3!
