I created TrailBlazers a youth empowerment project to build confidence and courage in teenage girls in late 2017. So far, I’ve worked with 100 girls across 6 London schools, created an adventure camp for 50 girls and taken 10 girls on a life changing sailing adventure. One of the teachers from Invicta School who came on the adventure camp sent me this. Now I have time (due to Covid-19) I am filling in the gaps and sharing blogs that have been on my to-do list to keep the inspiration and positive energy flowing!
One Life, Live It!
There are preciously rare occasions in life when you are handed an opportunity to go somewhere or meet someone that truly inspires you. Somewhere that shifts your centre of gravity, allowing you to refresh, refocus and restart. Or someone that has the capacity to capture your imagination and transport it to places you aspire to go but don’t quite know how to access. When your mind has gone there, the chances are your body will follow…
Sophie Radcliffe, adventure athlete, lives according to the mantra ‘One life. Live it.’ She is on a mission to champion teenage girls to achieve their version of extraordinary. Invicta first met Sophie when she was a guest speaker at our Awards Evenings. Her captivating suggestion of changing the doubtful thought ‘what if...’ to ‘imagine if…’ made such an impact on staff and students that we invited her back to deliver an assembly. Later in the academic year, she returned to spread the message to 240 more of our students. She not only met our current year 10 students, but worked in groups, and one to one, with students.
Giving a talk at Invicta Grammar School
Challenges facing teenage girls
Her message is one that gets to the heart of significant challenges facing teenage girls and young women across the country in today’s times: How can I be the best version of myself I can be without being unkind to myself? How can I do my best without seeing every mistake I make as a step further away from what I want to achieve? How can I be a strong, successful independent and passionate person while coping with the stresses and demands of modern life, social media and social pressures? What if I get it wrong?
TrailBlazers Adventure Camp
Fast forward to the first Friday of half term; I was privileged to be able to accompany the Invicta Trailblazers team to Dorset for the first ever Trailblazers Camp. This was something our Trailblazers have been working towards since first forming their team with Sophie in March and they were keen to start embracing the challenge. In the true spirit of standing of the way of nature the girls stood on the very edge of England, on Chesil Beach with nothing between them and America than miles of glistening Atlantic ocean. Like the seemingly empty ocean, the weekend that was to follow was as yet an unknown quantity. This snapshot was the first in a series of memories formed over the next three days that saw our students realise their potential to be confident and resilient young women without the pressure to never make a mistake.
Growing confidence and resilience step by step
The camp itself was filled with million and one opportunities to make mistakes and to overcome them – a central pillar of Sophie’s message “mistakes are essential for us to grow our confidence and resilience.” Athlete mentors, along with Sophie, were there to run group sessions and talk to the girls about their worries and help them to embrace these as an essential part of their journey; You never know your real limits until you step way beyond anything you thought you could achieve. It was a weekend of real transformation.
Ready to blaze trails
It was a new team that I drove home on Sunday. The girls were thoroughly exhausted, but it was thoroughly worthwhile. From making speeches to the student and staff body, climbing Jacob’s Ladder, getting up to watch the sun rise, taking beach walks, facing the Drop Swing, forming new friendships with students from other schools, being away from home, opening up about their fears, all of these challenges had started our girls on a new path. They could climb into bed that night content that they’d made the most of a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
But what had they learnt?
That judgements take a second to make and a lifetime to erase. That you never know what other people are dealing with. That a smile can go miles. That strangers are just friends not yet made. That the impossible is simply something you haven’t yet done. That the power of perseverance and determination can help to achieve their goals.
And what have I learnt?
That our girls have endless courage, fortitude, resilience, and resolve. That they have the ability to not just stare their fears in the face, but completely obliterate them. That they will repeatedly take themselves out of their comfort zone knowing that, on the other side of the discomfort, is something far greater. That the compassion they have for others is inspirational.
If I could take one thing from that weekend to pass on to others, it would be to get our children outside and encourage them to face the things that scare them. Because it’s only when truly challenged that we truly grow.
For more info on TrailBlazers check out our website or Instagram
All photos in this blog were taken by my very talented friend Marc Bates. Thank you for all you do to capture the magic Marc!