From Surviving to Inspiring: Skye’s Story

This Mother’s Day, we’re celebrating Skye — a Bristol-based Coach Core apprentice who turned her own difficult past into a powerful force for good in her community, and whose determination to build a better future changed not just her own life, but her children’s too.  

Skye grew up in the care system, spending her childhood in a children’s home and navigating what she describes as a “bad upbringing.” Trauma and instability, experiences that so often become barriers to independence, were simply part of life. At 16, she became a mother for the first time. With little in the way of a safety net, Skye was navigating early parenthood at the same time as trying to find her footing in the world. 

But she found a way to flip that narrative entirely. 

“Before I used to think that was my weakness… now I’m proud of what I’ve been through.”  

That pride didn’t come easily. When Skye joined the Coach Core apprenticeship programme, by now a mum to a 19-year-old daughter, Morgan, and a teenage son, Kash, she faced real challenges, particularly in English and Maths. There were days she was ready to walk away. It was her tutor, Dave, who kept her going.  

“Some days I was like, we can’t do this. And he was like, yes, we can.”  

With that consistent, patient support behind her, Skye pushed through. She completed her apprenticeship and achieved qualifications at Levels 1, 2 and 3 in Youth Work alongside her Maths qualification. But what she built beyond those certificates is just as remarkable.  

A Community Built on Empathy  

Today, Skye runs women-only fitness classes in Bristol — sessions that are fully booked weeks in advance. She has raised over £600 for gym equipment and has her sights set on opening her own women-only gym. But more than the logistics, it’s the why behind what she does that sets her apart.  

Many of the women who come to Skye’s classes are self-conscious, lacking in confidence, and searching for a space that feels safe. Skye understands that feeling from the inside out.  

“I can relate to a lot of trauma that these kids have gone through… when people tell you what to do, they don’t really know what you’ve been through. People can relate to you more.”  

The little community she has built in her local area is a testament to that connection. When Skye put in an award application, women from her classes sent emails of support. She says they made her cry.  

The Mum Behind the Mission

This Mother’s Day, Skye’s story takes on an extra layer of meaning. She became a mother to Morgan at 16, long before most people have figured out who they are, let alone how to raise someone else. She learned as she went and kept going regardless.  

Before starting the apprenticeship, she had to step back from a gym job to be at home as her son, Kash, was going through a difficult period, and her family came first. Even while working 74 hours in a single week to make ends meet, she stayed the course.  

What she didn’t anticipate was the effect her determination would have on Kash, now 15.  

“I think it even improved me and Kash getting on, because I think he’s seen where I was making such an effort to study and stuff. I think that’s helped him finish his school and stuff as well.”  

In choosing to invest in herself, Skye showed her children what resilience looks like in real life. Not in a motivational quote, but in late-night studying, in pushing past self-doubt, in getting back up. And they were watching.  

Skye’s story is a reminder of what becomes possible when the right support meets the right person at the right time. She didn’t just complete an apprenticeship. She built a career, fundraised from the ground up, created a community where women feel seen and, somewhere along the way, became the role model her children needed.  

That’s the Coach Core difference. And this Mother’s Day, we’re incredibly proud to celebrate her.