Young Instructor Programme

The young instructor programme is designed to improve employability and encourage young people to learn more about; leadership, communication, resilience and to develop a new set of practical skills within the water sports world. As a voluntary role, this programme needs commitment from the individuals to engage with all opportunities coupled with significant commitment from SWSA to provide as many opportunities to those on the programme to grow and develop. 

A large part of the training is to develop personal skills and achieve professional qualifications through practical learning. Our aim is that this learning will be consolidated by the participants by supporting and running “Kids Club” sessions on Tuesday, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings alongside holiday activities. All whilst being supervised by SWSA staff. This will allow participants to take ownership over the delivery of sessions and will provide opportunities to better understand the needs that different participants have.

Working in the water sports Industry is not just all about playing on the water (a lot of it is), but about the bigger picture. Preparing for sessions, looking after equipment, issuing equipment, wash and cleaning equipment. This is a key part of the programme, is gaining a practical understanding the operating of a Watersports centre. 

There will be plenty of opportunities to develop personal skills in, Sailing, SUP, Kayak, Canoe, Powerboating and any other activities on offer. This will be through formal training and access to our equipment to practice in your own time (under appropriate supervision / and suitable conditions based on experience and ability). This is down to the individuals to put the time in, we will support you all we can. 

The programme runs over 2 years / seasons and is a voluntary role, offering lots of opportunity to develop and progress. For the right individuals there is the opportunity for paid roles within the organisation at the end of the programme.

Year One

Commitment from individuals

• Initial / pre season Training in the Easter Holidays – TBC.
• One training day / session a month (whole cohort)
• One weekend a month (on a rota)
• One evening a week – Kids Club (Summer Term and Autumn Term)
• 2 weeks, during the summer holidays.
• To engage in other training and volunteering opportunities. 

Commitment from SWSA

• Personal skills (Canoe, kayak, sailing, SUP) development
• Development of soft skills, including working with groups.
• Opportunity to attend courses / sessions that are running and have free places on (for example a sailing course that we have 5 out of 6 spaces filled and they can take the 6^th) National Governing Body (NGB) Courses.
  • RYA - Powerboat Level 2 (2 days)
  • RYA - First Aid (one day)
  • Paddle UK - Paddle Sport Safety and Rescue (one day)

Year 2 

(Selected from those that have completed First year)  

Commitment from individuals

• Pre season Training in the Easter Holidays – TBC.
• One training day / session a month (whole cohort)
• One weekend a month
• One evening a week – Kids Club (Summer Term)

Commitment from SWSA

• Continued development of personal skills.
• NGB training (when personal technical skills are of the right standard)
  • RYA assistant instructor
  • RYA Instructor
  • RYA Safety Boat
  • Paddle UK - Paddle sport instructor
  • Paddle UK - Paddle sport leader

After the summer holidays, depending on qualifications there is an opportunity for paid work assisting in the delivery of the Kids Club and other activities. 

Qualifications 

Each of the qualifications listed above will be achieved through training at Stranraer Water Sports and will be assessed by staff and / or external trainers. These qualifications will enable the participants to continue their watersports journey as instructors both within the UK and abroad.

The Young Instructor Programme (First and Second years) will begin during the Easter Holidays, 2025 and will run through to the summer of 2026. There is a high level of commitment required to achieve the qualifications listed above which means we would expect involvement of participants on average a few hours a week. Predominantly we would meet with participants on Tuesday or Thursday evenings (although this will develop as the organisation grows and develops), however, there may be requests of additional days, for example, to take part in training and/or assessments. If you wanted to come down for more days then we would be happy for you to do so too!

We encourage anyone who is enthusiastic about watersports to apply for the programme! If you have previous experience - great! If you don’t have as much experience but you’re willing to work hard - that’s also great! We do require participants to be between the ages of 14 (by the end of the August 2025) - 24 in order to be eligible for all training and qualifications.

Understandably we expect this programme to be very popular and as a result we will need to run an application and interview process. If you do feel like you’d be a good fit for the young instructor programme in 2025 please send your CV to tom@stranraerwatersports.com by the 14^th February, interviews will be shortly after. The programme will start during the Easter holidays (dates, TBC)