Trash Free Trails’ TrashMob Academy

Trash Free Trails’ TrashMob Academy brings teachers, mountain biking (MTB) coaches and leaders, local authority representatives and parents together at iconic MTB locations in the UK to learn MTB skills, connect to nature and develop their wellbeing!

Following a successful pilot scheme, Trash Free Trails’ TrashMob Academy is now underway! From Sunday 15th August, Trash Free Trails (TFT) will be running a series of exciting taster sessions designed to enable educators, parents and local authority representatives to get to grips with the brand new initiative, ahead of the scheme’s official rollout.

TFT’s TrashMob Academy is a youth engagement project that seeks to improve self-esteem, confidence and overall well-being through the development of nature connection, attitudes to the environment and attitudes to single use pollution, with the opportunity to learn MTB skills as the catalyst for change.

Upon signing up to the programme, teachers receive 6 nature connection sessions as presentation slides, for delivery as and when is most appropriate for the young people they are working with, and are put in touch with one of TFT’s coaching partners in their local area to deliver the MTB coaching sessions.

A sample of the session content is available for download on TFT’s website, along with a number of other excellent resources including “Information for Educators” - a detailed summary of the theories of learning and up to date nature connection literature that underpins the programme content. A report detailing the outcomes of the project’s pilot phase is also available, along with the TrashMob Academy’s pricing structure and how to get involved.

In order for the young people involved to make the most of interventions such as the TrashMob Academy, it’s imperative that the ecosystem of influencers in their lives are involved in that process. So, now that the programme has been through a rigorous and successful pilot phase, TFT are inviting those spark makers; the teachers, coaches, local authorities and parents that will be lighting fires in the young people they are responsible for, to come along and have a go themselves - ride bikes with qualified leaders from Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, connect to nature, and of course, collect some Single Use Pollution on the way!

These stakeholders are invited to come along and get a taster of what the sessions might look like when they deliver the content to their students, as well as having the opportunity to offer feedback, ask questions and find out more about the Academy and TFT as a whole. Representatives from TFT HQ, their ambassador team or A-TEAM for short, and coaching partners will all be in attendance so that everyone has a fun, safe and informative day out on the trails and in the “classroom”.