Phillip Wright
No Child Left Behind: One Hill >>Three Peaks Challenge
Fundraising for Youth Sport Trust
Story
In my mind, a child or young person not having access to regular sport or activity is being denied the chance to truly be themselves and potentially being able to find something they love doing.
During the pandemic, our two girls just like millions of other children had the opportunity to take part in sport clubs and activities taken away and the impact was devastating. Our youngest daughter Joey in particular really struggled and even now we’re still seeing the impact. Having just turned 4, the entire situation of lockdown was incredibly confusing for Joey but going to clubs, playing sport and doing regular activity is such an important part of her life. It plays a key role in how she expresses herself, builds confidence, learns how to be part of a team, figures out her own strengths and ultimately interacts with the world and this is the same for all children and young people.
However, with this being taken away overnight Joey changed from being a bright, joyful and fun-filled girl to being frustrated, sad, erratic and often aggressive. We’ve been fortunate enough to get both our girls back into regular sport and activity and the positive impact this has had on their wellbeing has been tremendous, but not all families are in the same position and it is simply not right that any child should be denied the opportunity through no fault of their own.
Children in the UK are in crisis. Whilst this issue is nothing new, the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine have driven the terrible inequalities existing around sport and activities for young people to devastating levels that will impact many generations to come.Almost a quarter (23.4%) of children are obeseOver half of all children (53%) do not achieve the recommended daily activity levels.
So CIMSPA are forming a team to climb the equivalent height of the UKs National 3 peaks (Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis) in 2 days whilst carry the collective weight of one child at all school ages 5-16yrs to ensure that No Child is Left Behind - that's roughly 20kg each! The combined load based on UK averages is 427kg and will be shared across the team of incredible climbers. Its not going to be easy but the difference it will have on the lives of young people will make every grimace and ache more than worth it.
During the pandemic, our two girls just like millions of other children had the opportunity to take part in sport clubs and activities taken away and the impact was devastating. Our youngest daughter Joey in particular really struggled and even now we’re still seeing the impact. Having just turned 4, the entire situation of lockdown was incredibly confusing for Joey but going to clubs, playing sport and doing regular activity is such an important part of her life. It plays a key role in how she expresses herself, builds confidence, learns how to be part of a team, figures out her own strengths and ultimately interacts with the world and this is the same for all children and young people.
However, with this being taken away overnight Joey changed from being a bright, joyful and fun-filled girl to being frustrated, sad, erratic and often aggressive. We’ve been fortunate enough to get both our girls back into regular sport and activity and the positive impact this has had on their wellbeing has been tremendous, but not all families are in the same position and it is simply not right that any child should be denied the opportunity through no fault of their own.
Children in the UK are in crisis. Whilst this issue is nothing new, the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine have driven the terrible inequalities existing around sport and activities for young people to devastating levels that will impact many generations to come.Almost a quarter (23.4%) of children are obeseOver half of all children (53%) do not achieve the recommended daily activity levels.
So CIMSPA are forming a team to climb the equivalent height of the UKs National 3 peaks (Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis) in 2 days whilst carry the collective weight of one child at all school ages 5-16yrs to ensure that No Child is Left Behind - that's roughly 20kg each! The combined load based on UK averages is 427kg and will be shared across the team of incredible climbers. Its not going to be easy but the difference it will have on the lives of young people will make every grimace and ache more than worth it.
