Back in February, we updated you on the progress of our recently launched resource “Mini Riders”, had been making as part of its pilot programme. We’re pleased to share that this development has continued with seven partners signing agreements with Scottish Cycling to deliver sessions.
These partners are:
- South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture
- Falkirk Junior Bike Club
- Camglen Bike Town
- Falkirk Council
- East Ayrshire Council
- Fife Council
- North Lanarkshire Council
Given the difference in delivery landscape and capacity across the country, the method and format of the session roll out will differ from partner to partner. This reinforces the decision to design the resource with flexibility in mind, as the correct one.
Falkirk Junior Bike Club, Bike Town and South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture all recently used to resource to delivery Easter Holiday sessions, whereas Fife and East Ayrshire are gearing up to deliver sessions through their Active Schools offering.
One of the most common formats of delivery is through local council Active Schools programmes. Some of the schools involved will already be engaged in cycling activities, such as Bikeability, however Mini Riders will aim to consolidate cycling skills and confidence at an earlier stage to allow them to begin their Bikeability journey as an already confident and competent rider. The hope is that this will provide a progressive pathway for all young people attending school.
Perhaps one of the most pleasing elements of the Active Schools models is that many are working in partnership with local clubs to develop the local cycling scene. This partnership work mostly comes in the form of either local clubs providing coaches to support session delivery or agreements being in place that local clubs will be able to accommodate any pupils wishing to continue their cycling journey after the Mini Riders sessions.
There are also a number of examples of pupils who are part of the Active Schools Young Leadership programmes being upskilled to support Mini Riders delivery with a view to continuing on a supporting delivery at their local club.
Another use of the resource, that has been more popular with clubs, is to provide their coaches with a suit of session plans that they are able to call upon whenever they require and encourages uniformity of skills being taught across the club, should they wish this to be the case.
As well as access to 72 sessions plans that progress through the pillars of cycling across three levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold), partners will also gain access to marketing resources including editable flyers, certificates, stickers and images and gifs for social media use, that will allow them to either promote their club or particular Mini Riders sessions. In addition, partners will also receive an online onboarding session for any coaches who will be delivering the session and access to an in person CPD session.
Chris Markey, Sports Development Officer for South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture had the following to say on his experience of Mini Riders so far:
“Mini Riders has been a great addition to our Children activities programme. The children that have participated have thoroughly enjoyed the programme and learned valuable skills in cycling. Our coaches have found the session content easy to follow and deliver to help children progress through each of the levels using the training they were provided with.”
If you think that access to the Mini Riders resource, including marketing resources, would benefit your club or organisation, please get in touch with Jamie Taylor ([email protected]), who would be happy to arrange a meeting.