Twenty four school children from Brighton and Hove have been lucky enough to learn to windsurf this Autumn term in a joint partnership between Lagoon Watersports and Sport Unlimited. The children had to pay just £10 to be able to take part in the sessions in which they all achieved there RYA Youth L1. The children learnt in a wide variety of weather conditions including gale force winds and driving rain but with the final session taking place in a lovely breeze and some perfect Autumn sunshine!

Mark Saul RYA Onboard development officer secured the funding earlier in the summer through Active Sussex. Sport Unlimited is a nationwide initiative aiming to get more children and young people taking part in sport and physical activity, outside of school. Government funding is cascaded from Sport England to local communities via the County Sports Partnerships network.

Mark commented ‘Windsurfing is a cool and enjoyable sport and it is also much easier to learn than a lot of people think. Funding like this works well with watersports and as soon as the kids get on the water they are on a completely level playing field! It doesn’t matter how fast they can run its not going to help them out there! We often find that non-sporty kids find a completely new way of enjoying sport by getting involved in sailing and windsurfing – It is awesome to be part of it!

At the end of the sessions all the students will have the opportunity to attend the regular T15 sessions which run at Lagoon Watersports every Sunday, they may even get the opportunity to race in the 2011 season.

For more information on Kids courses at Hove Lagoon visit www.lagoon.co.uk