Medicine Hat partnership launches Learn to Skate & Resilience Program

Participants who complete the program will also receive their skateboard and safety gear to keep, removing financial barriers to continuing the sport.

“Our Collective Journey has always believed that the best community outcomes happen when organizations work together,” OCJ executive director Tara Schneider-Pichette said in a statement.

“None of us could deliver this exact program alone. By combining funding, specialized expertise and youth resilience coaching, we’ve created something that gives young people the opportunity to learn new skills, build confidence, develop healthy relationships and discover they are capable of more than they imagined.”

While learning the fundamentals of skateboarding from instructors with the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association, participants will also work with an Our Collective Journey resiliency coach to develop skills such as perseverance, emotional regulation, problem-solving, confidence and healthy coping strategies.

Organizers say the community response has been strong, with the initiative becoming one of Our Collective Journey’s most widely shared programs this summer.

The Medicine Hat Skateboard Association says the partnership also provides an opportunity to introduce more young people to the local skateboarding community while reinforcing lessons in persistence and resilience through the sport.

Weekly sessions run from July 7 through Aug. 11 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Kin Coulee Skate Park.

Online registration was set to close on July 1, but still had some openings on Thursday.

by Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat partnership launches Learn to Skate & Resilience Program

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