Shropshire Paddlesport Blog

One of the things about being based on a skinny canal is that working with *really* big boats is a bit tricky - if you try to put something like a K4 in the water at the shed then you have to go all the way up to the winding point by the aqueduct before you can turn it in that direction and if you’re going down the canal you’re limited to picking it up and turning it around by hand.

So, as a result, we don’t have K4s at SHP, however when Deb and I were at Nottingham for the coaching conference we got talking to some people from other clubs and came away with an invitation to “come down and play in one of ours”. So with her “girly rep” head on Deb set up a trip and last Sunday she, Ellie, Alice and Emily took a trip down to Burton to have a go in their K4.

As it turned out it was an absolutely beautiful day for paddling and the people from Burton were incredibly welcoming and helpful (even to the extent of lending is one of their Junior girls so that not everyone had to be on the water all the time). Much paddling was done and no falling in happened so all in all the day must be viewed as a success.

We even have pictures…

The club duathlon will be held at Queens Head rather than Shrewsbury due to river levels. It will start with registration from 9.30 with the lightning brief at 10.30 (race at 10:45) and the seniors brief is 11:15 starting to run at 11:30.

This means that there will be no club session on Saturday. However anyone who wants to take part in the race or is able to help is more than welcome to come down anyway!

Contact Deb or Bruce for more information.

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.

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.

Hopefully most of you have seen the email from Nigel (via Mike) but we’re currently putting together the coaching rota for the next two blocks of Saturday evening pool sessions which will be running after Christmas.

Anyone who is available to either lead (counts towards the pay-back hours on your coaching contract) or assist with any of these sessions can you please get in touch with Nigel as soon as possible please.

Joe will be running an open canoe session on Saturday morning using boats borrowed from Walford College.  We don’t often get the chance to paddle touring opens during club sessions so if you’ve not paddled one before, come along and give it a go!

There will be no paddling on Saturday due to the GREAT SHED CLEAR OUT.

Work on the new shed is imminent and we need to move boats, kit, fridge freezers, dining room suites etc out of the shed so the contractors can start work.  They won’t start whilst there is ANYTHING left in the shed. 

All help would be much appreciated in carrying stuff to the new containers and loading trailers/vehicles to go to Walford for off-site storage and to the tip.

If we can’t empty the shed this weekend, we don’t get a new one.  Since the old one is falling down, its kind of important.  Please come and help!

After two weekends of hard work we now have ten Level Two Trainee coaches.  Well done to all concerned and many thanks to Phil, Darryll and Dave for steering us through it all.

But no thanks to Cleo - the canoe capsizing chocolate lab. (who is fabulous, but a liability on the gunwales of an open canoe).