Youth club - suggestions please!

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19 February, 2013 - 21:59
#1
adama
Youth club - suggestions please!

I help run a church youth club for age 10 upwards, and I've been asked to do a "Bike Skills" activity in a few months time.   Has anyone got any suggestions for things we could do?  I'm not a cycle trainer, so I don't intend to teach road-craft or anything like that.  (For one thing, the roads in the area are pretty hostile, and I don't fancy encouraging 10-year-olds to make eye contact and take the lane...)  A lot of the kids rarely, if ever, cycle, so I was thinking of just taking them up to the local park and setting out some courses for them to cycle round with some cones  -  mainly to practice cycle handling and have a bit of fun.  Any suggestions for things we could do would be welcome.

What might be quite cool is to have a prize for all the kids at the end, maybe a bike bell or something.  Anyone know where I could get some bells with the embassy logo on them, ideally in a range of colours?  Or even just some plain bells I could put stickers on?

Also, are there any CEoGB posters that we could stick up in the youth club, perhaps for the parents rather than the kids?  (I'm not linking the bike activity with the Embassy, but I'm happy to stick up some general posters if there are any.)

Thanks,

Adam

Submitted by adama on 19 February, 2013 - 21:59
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20 February, 2013 - 11:15
Fatbob
Fatbob's picture

Hi Adam,

Well done for "volunteering"!

Sorry, at the moment the Embassy is very light on promotional stuff - we do have some postcards that could be handed out but as we are totally voluntarilly funded we lack the resources of (say) Sustrans to produce posters or other stuff. When we ran our Poster Competition we gave bells as a prize but they were donated by a third party.

 

 

Submitted by Fatbob on 20 February, 2013 - 11:15
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20 February, 2013 - 13:32
(Reply to #2)
adama

Hi Geoff,

No worries, I might pick one or two from the poster competition and have them printed.  The 'Imagine' one would be pretty good as the youth club is in the Manchester area.  Might have to go for postcards instead of a poster though unless anyone has a high-res version?

http://www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/competition_entry/imagine

Thanks!

Adam

Submitted by adama on 20 February, 2013 - 13:32
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22 February, 2013 - 00:39
pete owens

Have you tried contacting your local council? It is possible that they would be able to provide someone who IS a properly trained bike instructor - and may even be seeking opportunities to deploy them.

The best source of information on cycle training is:

 http://www.dft.gov.uk/bikeability/

 

Submitted by pete owens on 22 February, 2013 - 00:39
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22 February, 2013 - 08:38
(Reply to #4)
adama

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the reply and the link.  Yes, I had thought about that, and it's something I'll look into again for later in the year.

When we've done bike activities in past years we've had several kids who started out not being able to ride at all, but who were riding along happily by the end.  We have some new members at club this year, and I've a feeling a few of them will be starting from the same position.  So I'm going to keep it simple and fun for this session until we see what stage the kids are at.  Depending on how it goes we will think about arranging some more 'road-craft' type sessions later (which is what bikeability is aimed at).

Thanks,

Adam

Submitted by adama on 22 February, 2013 - 08:38
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22 February, 2013 - 20:17
(Reply to #5)
pete owens

Actually  Level 1 Bikability is an offroad module aimed at exactly that market. It is worth looking through the course manual for some ideas.

One of the most important things is teaching them how to check their bikes. When I did cycle training on a playground in pre-bikability days I was astonished at how many would turn up with brand new looking bikes that were so dangerous that I couldn't let them use them. Things such as brakes that didn't even touch the rims at the full extent of the levers and handlebars so loose that they had no effect on the front wheel. 

Submitted by pete owens on 22 February, 2013 - 20:17
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