Kurt's - Story
Before Get on Track, I really wasn’t doing that much. I had worked previously but was currently unemployed. I used to ride my bike a bit, but mainly it was just normal day to day stuff, going to shops, cleaning my house, nothing that exciting.
At the beginning of the programme we did lots of team building exercises, I really enjoyed all the tasks we did as part of that. Other activities we did over the course of the programme were things like boxing, table tennis, and indoor climbing. We also did things like just getting out and about as a group and going to the beach.
Working with my athlete mentor Paul has been brilliant. I’m quite a reserved person and I can come across a bit like I’m not interested but Paul was able to see through that and he puts things in a way where I can really understand them. It’s been really good.
One of the bits I really enjoyed was when we had a lady come in to teach dancing. It turns out me and Paul were natural dancers! I really enjoyed it and after we had the session on the programme I then went and did a few more sessions but unfortunately it stopped because of the lockdown, I’d have definitely carried on if I could.
“Kurt is an absolutely cracking lad. Up to lockdown, Kurt was absolutely flying. Lockdown has been hard but he’s working hard to get back to where he was at before and I’m sure he’s going to succeed in the future.”
Paul Broadbent, athlete mentor
Obviously, a lot of things changed because of lockdown but over the last few weeks we’ve been able to get out as a group and work on our social action project at the community centre near where I live. They have a memorial garden and we’ve been going there to tidy it up, to give something back to the community and get outside and active again. It’s been great to get out and socialise with people again, especially after everything with the pandemic.
I’m going to start volunteering again at the garden centre again soon and I’ve started applying for jobs. Recently I travelled down to London for an interview for a voluntary job overseas. Before this programme I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go and do that, but it’s given me a new insight on to what I can achieve.
Before lockdown I was cycling every day and dancing every week. When I’m doing stuff, I feel better in myself, so I felt really good when I was doing my cycling… getting back to activity I know will help my mood so I need to keep doing that.
I would recommend the programme to anyone. The mentors are good, the activities are really fun and challenging, you get out to meet people and you get your dinner, so that’s a bonus!
Kurt is attendied the Get on Track for Wellbeing programme in Grimsby. Thanks to funding from Sport England, we are working with 700 young people in coastal communities all across England to help them become more active.