Sports

Newgale YMCA Outdoor Education Centre

Based near the coast in Pembrokeshire, the centre has designed four courses to meet the specific needs of young people. You’ll find the curriculum for each course on our new website at www.newgaleymca.co.uk. We are also able to deliver bespoke courses to meet the needs of individuals and groups. Bespoke courses could range across the spectrum of outdoor activity from Duke of Edinburgh expedition training to courses designed to meet the needs of young people in the workplace. Why not use our centre as a comfortable base to learn to surf, sea kayak or kite surf? Or we can provide a self-catering residential base for groups wanting to do their own thing. We are also qualified to deliver training and assessment for the national governing body for mountain biking through the SMBLA.

Adventure Plus

Newgale YMCA is situated slap bang in the middle of the adventure sports capital of Wales. From our peaceful country base we have access to a heady mix of rock, water, mountain and land-based activities – ranging from power kiting to surfing and horse riding. Whatever the weather, we can provide an experience to remember for groups or individuals looking for high-impact, high-energy activities. We maintain the principles of high-quality outdoor education, but we add some extreme sports action aimed at the ‘playstation generation’ whose threshold for excitement is higher than the mere mortal.

You’ve Been Re-Framed

Newgale YMCA offers an ideal environment to explore and reflect on your personal strengths and develop new areas of confidence. On this course we blend a mixture of fun, engaging and exciting activities in order to explore the qualities that build up a confident and effective person. Our programme aims to encourage participants to develop and celebrate their abilities, learn empathy and support colleagues on the course as well as giving and receiving feedback. We hope that individuals leave us with a heightened sense of what they can achieve and a real understanding of how to attain their goals.

Growing Leaders

This three- or five-day programme offers young people the opportunity to explore the dynamics of being effective and confident role models and leaders in a peer environment. The course is progressive and, as with all our courses, we work hard to deliver at an appropriate level for each group and take into account the context from which each group comes to us. These courses can be split into two three-day modules or can be expanded to provide an ongoing training and support mechanism for maximum educational impact.

Understanding Risk

Through this extremely relevant course we offer opportunities for young people to equip themselves with the skills and self confidence to analyse and explore the factors that contribute to risk behaviours and complex situations. We support and empower young people to make intelligent choices about issues affecting them and develop the meta-skills to see the outcomes of the choices they make. The ability to teach judgement skills is the foundation of outdoor education, and so by combining adventure education with planned use of reviewing and group work we hope to give participants a meaningful insight into how to manage those difficult life choices and to feel in control of their lives.

Post-course options ‘back at base’

We also offer post-course options for groups to build upon ‘the Newgale experience’ - Newgale staff are available to visit groups in their local environment to support group participants to consolidate what they have learned at Newgale.

Sample programme

MONDAY: meet and greet session with YMCA staff at Newgale. After settling in and getting to know one another it’s time to strap yourself onto a 3.6metre power kite for a few hours. In the evening why not leap off a 30ft platform to catch a trapeze bar in mid air or experience the g-forces of our giant swing.

TUESDAY: coasteering is new to all but the most adventurous, but today you will join the initiated in the most exciting rock and water experience there is.

WEDNESDAY: rock climbing in a wild and remote place is an experience that lingers in the imagination for a long time. It has been known to change lives.

THURSDAY: to come to Newgale and not surf is unforgiveable. Work with our highly-skilled instructors on a surfboard or in a kayak and feel the rush. In the evening, share the experience of the course with your mates, and enjoy a tasty BBQ – and perhaps Sir would like some circus skills with that?

FRIDAY: review and goodbyes

Course Principles

To demonstrate the importance of the team values that are the key factors in developing good team morale – mutual trust, honesty and supportiveness

To understand the importance of working with others, which is essential to good team working - particularly relating to goals, plans and communications

To understand the importance of clear roles and responsibilities, ensuring skills are recognised, appropriate roles are allocated and changes are made as necessary

To develop communications and problem-solving techniques within the team in order to recognise the problem, identify solutions and be able to communicate

To appreciate the significance of leadership and its influence on motivation, team effectiveness and delivering results

To demonstrate the importance of challenging activities to assist in stretching and inspiring individuals while having fun

Bespoke corporate team-building programmes

The wide-ranging outdoor activities available at Newgale YMCA offer plenty of scope and an ideal venue for corporate team-building and related activities - including educational programmes linked to apprenticeship and staff development schemes. Newgale YMCA Centre Manager Matt Healey would be pleased to discuss how the centre’s highly-skilled staff could tailor bespoke outdoor activity packages to meet the specific needs of companies large or small. Contact info@newgaleymca.co.uk or telephone 01437-720959.