Meet the Team!
Chief Executive Officer
Meet Mark.
Mark joined Skilz when it first became a charity in 2017 as a volunteer trustee.
Mark has helped develop and run Skilz over the past 5 years and has been instrumental in the acquisition of the Arbroath Community Astro which has been a 4 year project working alongside other trustees.
Mark joined Skilz as our first Chief Executive Officer in November, 2022 and has a background in working with various charities such as NSPCC, Rossie Young People’s Trust & Shelter Scotland.
Mark has been working hard behind the scenes with all our partners to ensure the Community Astro is open early 2023, amongst other exciting initiatives to help drive forward Skilz as a charity.
Project's Lead
Meet Lauren.
Lauren joined the Skilz Team in 2019 as Project Co-ordinator after the successful "People's Project Campaign".
Lauren's role was to expand the current Glow Project within Angus and Dundee, which seen thousands of young people engage with Glow since 2019.
Lauren has created and developed numerous projects since arriving at Skilz such as our ‘Introduction to Sport’ for toddlers, our free to attend ‘Community Health & Wellbeing Programme’ and Lauren has been instrumental in the development of our school projects with the DJ Academy & Project Elevate.
Lauren is loved by all the Skilz family and we are lucky to have you as part of Team Skilz.
Project Assistant
Meet Ross.
Ross started with Skilz in 2021 as a sports coach delivering the Glow Project. In March 2022 Ross joined the Team on a Full Time Basis as a Project Assistant.
Ross has supported the delivery of all of our Projects. He led the relaunch of our ‘Introduction to Sport’ programme after the pandemic and has taken a leading role in supporting and developing the DJ Academy alongside Jordan. Ross also facilitates many activities throughout the week and is always willing to try new things and has even mastered the art of crochet!
Ross' quirky personality has created and developed positive relationships with those he works with.
We are proud of how willing Ross is to adapt to the many activities that we carry out.
Project Co-Ordinator
Meet Rachel.
Rachel has been with the Skilz Team since 2015. At the beginning of her employment, Rachel managed and co-ordinated the Football Academy. In 2021 Rachel's role changed and she has created and developed her own Project.
Project Elevate aims to support girls and young women to become more active by working with young people to find their interests and create a programme that offers variety and diversity. This allows the young people to experience different physical activities or sports that they may not have the chance to do so within their school PE class.
Rachel also delivers our Gentle Exercise and Advanced Walking Group.
Rachel has been part of Skilz since day 1 and we are so lucky to have her as part of our team.
Rachel is much loved by everyone that attends Skilz and always goes above and beyond.
Rachel is the 'Queen of Skilz Social Media' and always makes sure our content is engaging and tells the story of all the amazing work our team does in the community.
Rachel has been doing some amazing work through Project Elevate and is a wonderful role model for the young women she works with.
Coaches
Meet Arron.
Arron is one of our sport coaches and covers a wide range of sessions in the local community every week.
Arron has an honours degree in sport coaching and development and is a huge asset to the team.
Arron said 'I love that children get the opportunity to take part in free sport. I enjoy seeing how happy it makes them, particularly during the glow sessions.'
Arron is a dedicated member of the team!
Thank you for always being the kit collector and helping out whenever you are free!
Meet Elliot.
Elliot is one of our sport coaches and covers a wide range of sessions in the local community every week.
Elliot started with Skilz as a volunteer when he was a secondary pupil by supporting our Glow Programme two evenings a week.
Elliot said: "I like that no two sessions are the same and I get to do something different with the Glow sessions. I also like how inclusive sessions can be whether that be through a variety of ages in sessions or working with young people with additional needs and doing something outside their comfort zone!”
Meet Ross.
Ross is one of our sport coaches and covers a wide range of sessions in the local community.
Ross joined us in January 2022 and has brought a wealth of skills and knowledge to the role as a youth worker.
Ross said: "I love working with the kids and just seeing how happy they get when we deliver our sessions. Plus I love being a giant kid and getting involved in the games to make them laugh!"
We are privileged to have Ross as a member of the team. He builds positive relationships with our participants and has flourished in the Skilz Team!
DJ TUTOR
Meet Jordan.
Jordan is our resident DJ Tutor. Jordan has been involved in the development and delivery of our DJ Project since November 2021.
Jordan is self-taught and explored vinyl in his early career but as the equipment has improved and become far more accessible, Jordan has adapted his skills to more modernised equipment.
Jordan has been DJing for 15 years and began playing locally in Arbroath, but has since gone on to play regularly up and down the country as well as across the globe including Ibiza, supporting some of the biggest dance acts on the go including: Camelphat, Ben Hamsley, Ewan McVicar, LF System amongst others.
The highlight of Jordan's career so far is playing on BBC Radio 1!
Since then he has had one of his songs signed to Radio 1 Dance DJ Jaguar Label, which is due for release soon
Jordan said: "I love that I can pass on my skills I have learned to another generation that may benefit from it. I also feel a passion in music is often pushed aside because young people can't play an instrument or are talented in those conventional ways. Giving kids access to a different tool is exciting!"
Jordan has played a vital role in the development and delivery of our DJ Project and it would not have had the success it has without his input.
We are honoured to have Jordan leading such an innovating initiative and love his passion for his craft.