Shropshire Paddlesport Blog

Anita had a cracking race at Anker Valley on Saturday being second lady home in 00:45:31. Unfortunately Ellie was ill and had to retire (learning from Jess Walker in Australia there!). However Anita’s efforts put SHP 4th in the ladies team event.

Everybody’s top 3 results count so with a few more bodies we could do quite well in the next three races. Only four lightnings entered Anker Valley so there are lots of points to be had in those classes. The Blackman’s efforts put Gailey juniors third when Grace & Rose came first and second respectively just 20 seconds apart.

The next races are Fladbury on Saturday, our own race in Shrewsbury on the 7th February and Burton on the 28th Feb.

Deb and I had a very enjoyable weekend up at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham for the coaching conference. Given how little publicity there had been about the event it was reasonably well attended - I guess there were probably 60 or so coaches there from clubs across the country.

It was a combination of common (everyone in together) sessions and breakout sessions where you could go and do a half-day or a day on whatever interested you. On the Saturday we had a state of the (BC) Union session from Lara Tipper (the Canoe England coaching manager) followed by a sports-psychology lecture. Then we got to sit and listen to Tim Brabbants do a short lecture on “what I did over the summer”…

In the afternoon Deb and I split up with her going off to do the session on “Working towards successful coach / paddler relationships” while I went and did the Coaching Young Paddlers module with Phil Hadley (which also counted towards one of my CPD modules for my L2 coach award).

The day ended with Deb and I going out exploring central Nottingham in search of a mexican restaurant we’d found on the internet (and me driving the wrong way up a one-way street but we’ll not mention that), and then (unsurprisingly) we ended up back in the bar at the centre until late.

On the Sunday we both elected to do John Handyside’s Level 1 Race Coach course - this is the one they”ve been writing for the last few months and was the first time that they had run it for real, so we’ve now got that one under our belts.

All in all a good weekend and something we’d definitely do again - it’s *really* useful to sit and chat with other coaches and find out how they are doing things as we all seem to be running up against the same challenges and opportunities.

The Hasler rules are changing again. The critical bits that affect us are that they have dropped the combined division k2 races (div 4/5/6 etc) and there will now be K2 and K1 classes for each individual division.

For information they have also finally dropped the restrictions on promotion above div 2 for junior boys, above div 3 for women and above div 4 for junior girls. About time too in my humble opinion. However promotions and demotions within the top 3 divisions will be made by the Rankings Officer in consultation with the Regional Hasler Adviser.

There are also minor changes made to the races that should be offered in the top 3 divisions at each Hasler race; now it should be either div 1 & 3 K1 and div 2 K2 or div 1 & 3 K2 and div 2 K1.

Well normal service has now resumed and the canal is back to being very wet and watery. Last Saturday’s session was iced up and Giles grabbed some photos. Here they are!

A new flat water racing calendar has now been published and the club calendar has been updated accordingly. Key changes are the revision of the sprint regattas to whole weekends and the inclusion of Leamington and Hereford haslers in May and June.

We’ve just heard that there are still places available at the Canoe England National Coaching Conference which is being held in Nottingham next weekend (January 17th and 18th). This is either a 1 or 2 day event (take your pick) with multiple tracks running through it depending on what you want to get out of it.

The weekend programme is as follows:

Saturday Morning 09:00 – 12:30
09:00 Registration opens
09:30 Welcome & introduction - Lara Tipper Canoe England Coaching Manager
10:00 The Olympic Experience - Tim Brabbants
11:00 Coffee
11:30 Knowing me – knowing you - Craig Handford, Sport Science Consultant
12:30 Lunch

Saturday Afternoon Workshops 1:30 – 4:30 (Choose 1 and prebook)

• Forward Paddling Clinic for Recreational Coaches - Gareth Field & Len Hartley
• Forward Paddling Clinic for Competition Coaches - Ian Wynne
• Coaching Flat Water Slalom – Tools for Coaches - Greg Hitchen & Scott Bradley
• Coaching Young Paddlers - Phil Hadley
• Working towards successful coach / paddler relationships - Dave Larkin (TeamShot)
• Performance Planning for Paddlesport Coaches - Gilly Mara

Saturday Late Afternoon 4:30 – 6:00 (no prebooking)

• Level 3 Racing / Slalom Drop in Centre: Individual advice and action planning for coaches who are part way through their Level 3 Racing or Slalom Award. Coaches need to book a 15-minute time slot.
• Canoe England Admin Drop in Centre: Get your individual questions answered, or admin issues resolved
• Canoe England Update: An update on Canoe England and BCU Developments, and Vision by Lara Tipper, English Coaching Manager
• Canoe England Volunteer Awards: Awards presentation for the winners of the Canoe England Volunteer and Recognition Awards

Saturday Evening 7:30 – General Interest Lecture (No prebooking)

• ISLANDS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD: MIKE DEVLIN, SEA KAYAKING EXPLORATION

Sunday Morning:
09:00 – 10:00 Registration & welcome (for those not in attendance on Saturday)

Sunday Morning Workshops 10:00 – 12:30 (Choose 1 and prebook)

• Coaching the Mind - Paul ‘Reg’ Gray
• Fitness for Paddlesport Coaching - Gilly Mara
• Coaching FW Freestyle:Tools for Coaches - Matt Chadder
• Using an Ergo in your Coaching - James Hinves

Sunday Afternoon Workshops 1:30 – 4:30 (Choose 1 and prebook)

• Club Head Coach Workshop - James Hinves
• Working Towards Successful Coach Athlete Relationships - Dave Larkin
• Forward Paddling Clinic for Recreational Coaches - Gareth Field & Len Hartley
• Forward Paddling Clinic for Competition Coaches - Ian Wynne

Full Day Options Sunday 10:00 – 4:30 (Choose 1 and prebook)

• Racing Discipline Specific Modules – An Introduction to Coaching Racing John Handyside (Candidates must hold a BCU Coaching Qualification)

The full weekend programme is available from the Canoe England website here and the booking forms are here. The cost is £40 for one day or £70 for two days. Accomodation is available at the National Watersports Centre or at a variety of other places in Nottingham.

Deb and I are going up for the whole weekend and staying over Saturday night at the Centre.

Deb and I were up at QH earlier today (Friday) and although the canal is frozen it’s only just the top few millimetres and so we’re assuming that it’s all going ahead tomorrow. Deb is going on an ice-breaking tour first thing to see if we can get up as far as the railway bridge at least.

Don’t forget to bring your thermals !!

[Saturday morning update]
It’s now 08:00 and it’s still minus 8 degrees C here in Pontesbury, so I’m guessing that the canal is going to be considerably more frozen. Deb and I will go up to the shed anyway as we’re on the coaching rota but we’re not optimistic that it’ll be possible to take racing boats out today. Joe and Chris are doing a session in opens remember and we can always take the Bell Boat out for an ice-breaking trip if people want to paddle.

In a comment to one of our end-of-year posts we’ve just had a message from Phil, Caroline, Holly and Oliver. They say ”

Santa really loved his maltese mince pies!!! The weather here was a bit warmer than in Shropshire (just a bit). During the day, temperatures were reaching 20+ in the sun!! Very cold at night though and with no central heating or fire in a house that is designed to be cool in the summer, it is very cold watching the TV! But don’t think we will get much sympathy somehow!!!

Just seen in 2009 standing on the roof of our house watching the fireworks and the stars!! Oliver even saw a shooting star.

Happy New Year to all at Shropshire Paddlesport“