00:00:02 My name's Ben Lidstone-Scott. My job title here at Calshot Activity Centre is Lead Instructor, which is effectively a coach, coaching all the different activities here. There's quite a long list of activities, but they include things like sailing, climbing, wind surfing, skiing, snowboarding, as well as some of the offsite activities, like mountain biking, sailing across to the Isle of Wight. So a whole range of different activities. My job title now as Lead Instructor, unfortunately means I do less teaching. The longer you are in this industry, the less you actually teach your activities which you enjoy doing, you seem to spend more time in the office writing programmes or organising people. When I first started here about three and a half years ago, I did do a lot of teaching, so it's quite rewarding when you've got a group for the whole week and you manage to get four or five of them to the top of the climbing wall.
00:00:49 My sort of pathway to get here - originally from North Norfolk, on the Norfolk coast, so I spent most of my childhood sailing and wind surfing, so that was where my interest started from. Did GCSEs at school, and I was actually Deputy Head Boy and there was a lot of pressure to go on and do A-Levels, which I didn't really want to do, 'cause I wanted to do something a bit more practical. I knew I wanted to come into the outdoor industry, but part of me wanted also to go into Graphic Design. And I was a bit torn of what I wanted to do. So I decided not to do A-Levels, much to my Headmaster's disappointment, and I decided to do a GNVQ in Leisure and Tourism. I started doing it and realised it wasn't really for me, I wasn't enjoying it, and I think it probably wasn't challenging me enough.
00:01:30 In hindsight I probably wish I'd done A-Levels. I actually started the second year, did about a month or two months of the second year, and really decided that wasn't going to help in this industry. I think if I was going to work in a Leisure Centre, sort of a swimming pool, life saving, that sort of stuff, it probably would have helped. So if I'd gone into the leisure industry a lot more, that probably would have helped, but I realised it wasn't really furthering my career - and I was quite career-driven, because I wanted to get out there and start working straightaway. Which is why I chose to get some qualifications and get a job, because to get into this industry you need to have some qualifications at a lower level, both in your personal qualifications, and qualifications to actually teach the activities.
00:02:15 So I did some training for four months to get my sailing instructor's and wind surf instructor's, and that's enough really to get your first job. And then moved on to a Centre near London called Aqua Sports, where I worked for two years, as Senior Instructor. Where again I started getting further qualifications, so my sailing instructor's was now a senior sailing instructor's. I started updating my wind surf qualifications. And then I got a big bored there, I wanted to move on, I wanted to work near the coast, which is why I came here in 2005, and been here since.
00:02:42 Part of me would like to train to be a teacher as well, but because I haven't got a degree, you do find when you want to then go on and become a teacher, it's very difficult if you haven't got a degree. So often I ask myself the question whether I should have done a degree, but I think if I'd spent three years at University I wouldn't certainly be here now, I'd be a lot further down the line, I'd be more of a junior instructor, and maybe not quite in the place I am. You don't necessarily need to have a degree in this industry.
00:03:09 In the next five to ten years my plan really is to start moving on, and hopefully lecturing in colleges, which now offer - like GNVQs, but more orientated to the outdoor industry, which I don't think were around when I was at college. So hopefully start guiding youngsters and lecturing in those courses. But I will need to do a further qualification to do that, so I'm probably looking to go back to college part time from next September to do a course - qualification which allows me to teach students from 16 plus. And that's my sort of game plan for the next few years.
00:03:43 Success is an interesting one. I think for me, at the moment, success is when I get my group at the beginning of the week, and at the end of the week they turn around and say they've had a fantastic time, and you can actually see some changes in the whole team throughout the week. That's success.
Ben Lidstone-Scott
Ben Lidstone-Scott
My name's Ben Lidstone-Scott. My job title here at Calshot Activity Centre is Lead Instructor, which is effectively a coach, coaching all the different activities here. There's quite a long list of activities, but they include things like sailing, climbing, wind surfing, skiing, snowboarding, as well as some of the offsite activities, like mountain biking, sailing across to the Isle of Wight. So a whole range of different activities. My job title now as Lead Instructor, unfortunately means I do less teaching. The longer you are in this industry, the less you actually teach your activities which you enjoy doing, you seem to spend more time in the office writing programmes or organising people. When I first started here about three and a half years ago, I did do a lot of teaching, so it's quite rewarding when you've got a group for the whole week and you manage to get four or five of them to the top of the climbing wall.
My sort of pathway to get here - originally from North Norfolk, on the Norfolk coast, so I spent most of my childhood sailing and wind surfing, so that was where my interest started from. Did GCSEs at school, and I was actually Deputy Head Boy and there was a lot of pressure to go on and do A-Levels, which I didn't really want to do, 'cause I wanted to do something a bit more practical. I knew I wanted to come into the outdoor industry, but part of me wanted also to go into Graphic Design. And I was a bit torn of what I wanted to do. So I decided not to do A-Levels, much to my Headmaster's disappointment, and I decided to do a GNVQ in Leisure and Tourism. I started doing it and realised it wasn't really for me, I wasn't enjoying it, and I think it probably wasn't challenging me enough.
In hindsight I probably wish I'd done A-Levels. I actually started the second year, did about a month or two months of the second year, and really decided that wasn't going to help in this industry. I think if I was going to work in a Leisure Centre, sort of a swimming pool, life saving, that sort of stuff, it probably would have helped. So if I'd gone into the leisure industry a lot more, that probably would have helped, but I realised it wasn't really furthering my career - and I was quite career-driven, because I wanted to get out there and start working straightaway. Which is why I chose to get some qualifications and get a job, because to get into this industry you need to have some qualifications at a lower level, both in your personal qualifications, and qualifications to actually teach the activities.
So I did some training for four months to get my sailing instructor's and wind surf instructor's, and that's enough really to get your first job. And then moved on to a Centre near London called Aqua Sports, where I worked for two years, as Senior Instructor. Where again I started getting further qualifications, so my sailing instructor's was now a senior sailing instructor's. I started updating my wind surf qualifications. And then I got a big bored there, I wanted to move on, I wanted to work near the coast, which is why I came here in 2005, and been here since.
Part of me would like to train to be a teacher as well, but because I haven't got a degree, you do find when you want to then go on and become a teacher, it's very difficult if you haven't got a degree. So often I ask myself the question whether I should have done a degree, but I think if I'd spent three years at University I wouldn't certainly be here now, I'd be a lot further down the line, I'd be more of a junior instructor, and maybe not quite in the place I am. You don't necessarily need to have a degree in this industry.
In the next five to ten years my plan really is to start moving on, and hopefully lecturing in colleges, which now offer - like GNVQs, but more orientated to the outdoor industry, which I don't think were around when I was at college. So hopefully start guiding youngsters and lecturing in those courses. But I will need to do a further qualification to do that, so I'm probably looking to go back to college part time from next September to do a course - qualification which allows me to teach students from 16 plus. And that's my sort of game plan for the next few years.
Success is an interesting one. I think for me, at the moment, success is when I get my group at the beginning of the week, and at the end of the week they turn around and say they've had a fantastic time, and you can actually see some changes in the whole team throughout the week. That's success.
Ben Lidstone-Scott is a Lead Instructor, coaching all the different activities at Calshot, "there's quite a long list of activities, but they include things like sailing, climbing, wind surfing, skiing, snowboarding, as well as some of the offsite activities, like mountain biking, sailing across to the Isle of Wight". He has always been focussed on a career in the outdoor recreation industry, and has a solid plan for the next 5 years.
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