Aspiring Athletes - Isle of Wight 2022

Aspiring Athletes - Isle of Wight 2022

41 Aspiring Athletes from Year 9 recently attended a weekend of sporting adventure on the Isle of Wight. The purpose of the trip was to build qualities such as leadership, teamwork and to encourage students to push themselves to try new activities they had not attempted before.

The adventure started with a 4 mini-bus convoy heading towards Portsmouth. Fortunately, crossing the Solent was calm and we arrived at the Kingswood site around 4pm, ready to start our adventure. The activities got underway as soon as we arrived, wasting no time. Saturday saw us put on our wet-suits and walk down to the beach to build our own rafts with the ambition of floating them in the sea. The teams worked well together and we were all able to make our maiden voyage successfully.

The rest of our challenges were on the obstacle course, night-line, aero ball, archery and the G-Swing. This is where we heard the loudest screams from Mr Jones and Mr Huxley! In the evening, we saw us trying new challenges such as Laser Quest and Tenpin bowling in Ryde.

The weekend went so fast! After a good night's sleep and early breakfast, we all celebrated Gracie's birthday with balloons and cake. On the Quick Zipwire, Gracie and her team went first, setting the standard for us all. The P.E. staff followed Gracie's team. Yes, we heard some more screams from you know who! Everybody who went said they enjoyed themselves and most felt that they felt empowered to take the next step in their goals to be aspiring athletes for the future.

'The assault course was my favourite' - Ollie

'It was the time of my life, I loved the challenges' - Eva

'I did not know people could scream so loudly!' - Ruby

'The worst challenge was putting on the wetsuits. We looked so cool' - James

'Building the rafts and going out to sea was my favourite. After one capsized, playing pirates sinking another raft was so fun' - Finley