Charity
Confidence through skateboarding
09 October 2019
Share this story
Fiona Phillips spent the day with CUSP Swansea, a small community sports group, to discover how £2,000 in funding is building confidence and self esteem in children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery has enabled the organisation to reach lots of youngsters in the area, aged between five and 16, providing them with coaching at a pop-up skate park during the school holidays. As part of their Fun and Skate project, CUSP also works with other local organisations to deliver free meals to the children as a way of tackling school holiday hunger.
Funds were awarded from the Postcode Community trust, a grant giving trust funded by players of People's Postcode Lottery.
Fiona Phillips, People's Postcode Lottery ambassador, said:
“I just love CUSP. It’s a simple idea by adults who care, using skateboards and scooters to transform young lives. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery are helping a small charity in Swansea do really big things for families living in low income communities.”
Kate Leonard, a CUSP skate park coordinator, said: “You learn a lot of things through skateboarding. Children learn independence, confidence and discipline. It’s also about learning how to mingle with others and the coaches are fantastic role models too.”
Ric Cartwright, a coach and chairman of CUSP, added: “You see children help and encourage each other. You see kids who are quite shy and lack confidence come out their shell a little bit and that’s a really nice feeling to see that.”