Burley Griffin Canoe Club – Intro to Club Paddling

Burley Griffin Canoe Club has no difficulty in attracting new members. Recruitment is often through a 3-hr Taste of Paddling course, basically a Come &Try, that attracts 40+ people/year, mostly novices to our sport. Many, along with others join the club, resulting in 50-60 new members each year.  Our new members participate in an Induction, run fortnightly, which covers safety, shed etiquette and use, member and club expectations, as well as an introduction to the club fleet and paddles.  We put them onto the water to try out some boats and to introduce, injury free paddling technique using prop-blades. The Induction is followed by access to three coached sessions/week with opportunity to progress to our two more serious training groups.  

What happens?  Generally, we see these members intermittently before they disappear.  A 2022 survey of club members identified that having a more social club and a more structured progression for beginners was important. It also identified that around 1/3 of members would like to assist newbies, though not just for a come and try/float. This took us by surprise – we are a volunteer strapped club and here is a huge pool of potential helpers! We had to listen!

Our coaches who work with the beginners got together to come up with a new plan geared around paddling as a sport to enhance fitness and health with options toward racing. We called it Introduction to Club Paddling and expanded it to a 5-week program, 2 sessions/week, no extra cost for members and with the requirement that participants needed to commit for the majority of sessions.  Advertising per website and club email elicited about 20 responses, many joining the club to take part.  We had to cap numbers at 17.

Getting volunteers to help run the program was critical to its success. Our coaches already have many coaching commitments, so BGCC used this opportunity to get club members involved, share the load and hopefully train up some new coaches.  Five interested club members, all experienced flatwater paddlers, put their hands up to help, which with our L2 and four of our L1/Foundation coaches, provided a ratio of 2:1 paddlers per coach/helper. 

These are good odds, but success of these programs also depends on how well the teaching team can work together. We lucked out. While our L2 coach provided mentoring here and there, the development of the program and teaching of the skills was a group effort driven by the rest of the team. Through sharing experiences of our own paddle learning challenges, and discussing different approaches to learning how to paddle, we were able to develop interactive sessions geared towards taking people with no/little paddling experience to paddling in racing kayaks with acceptable technique in 5 weeks. We’re lucky to have a range of kayaks from Epic ski’s V8’s & V7’s, TK’s, Horizon Flyers and our Vadja 52’s & 46’s so we could challenge paddlers regardless of their experience.

Different members of the team took the lead on different aspects of the learning so that each session was led by the most experienced person in that area. This provided the paddlers with a wide range of learning opportunities and access to alternative approaches if one style was not working for them. The teaching team worked seamlessly towards this end, reducing the complications of team teaching where there is too much advice from too many people! And three of the helpers are now completing their coaching quals and one has since received his guide quals.

Finally, we stressed commitment to the program from day 1 (for both participants and the teaching team). The first 2 sessions were compulsory, and we were explicit in explaining how each session built from those before it; participants were thus expected to come twice a week. Day 1 arrived and during our introductions the majority of participants stated they wanted to learn good technique but were mostly interested in recreational paddling & fitness. Only a few were interested in racing.  This is normal so we were not too alarmed but the teaching team decided there and then to keep emphasising the fitness advantages of paddlesports so that we did not end up with the same results as the Taste of Paddling course.

The first week was all about technique. On Saturday we started with an on-land demonstration and discussion of injury free technique using prop blades and the kayak trolley.  The group then rotated through three technique activities; (1) broomsticks on the pontoon practising good posture, stabbing the catch, correct elbow and wrist positions, exit dynamics, on a stable platform. This activity allowed our two coaches to direct the movement of the stroke with each person without the constraints of a boat and possibility of falling in as well as provide a comfortable setting for thinking and questioning all things technique! We used our L2 coach to drive this segment to ensure that our participants had the best possible technique instruction as well as being able to answer the gnarly questions; (2) in kayaks learning brace strokes. This segment also gave the teaching team insights on balance issues and prepared us to better recommend appropriate boats later; (3) a segment requiring participants to fall out and learn how to swim the boat home, empty it and get back in again. The goal here was to make sure that everyone was comfortable with falling out and make the experience fun rather than our previous history of novice paddlers being scared of falling out.All paddlers rotated through these three activities. Interestingly, the group who did the paddle on water last had the advantage and already showed a better understanding of technique that we had seen in previous groups. The session ended after boat cleaning with a morning tea, recap and feedback with questions. Most participants stayed around and chatted.

On Wednesday, we reinforced what was learned on land before heading out onto the water to practise. Coaches worked with each individual, correcting and helping them to learn how to use the paddle to move their boats efficiently. This Saturday-Wednesday pattern of learning something new and then revisiting and practising it was repeated through all 5 weeks. We often found paddlers trying different boats on the Wednesday and the group quickly showed that it was enjoying the challenge and eager to push the edge.  Teaching this group was fun and we saw no fatigue or burnout amongst the teaching team.  If anything, they were inspired by the group and the original session plan was continuously updated as we learned to challenge the group more.

Week 2 saw a the introduction of leg drive, run by one of the helpers who showed a unique, and subsequently successful, take on how to teach leg drive. The session started with demonstration on the erg, introducing the idea of being wedged in the boat, bringing in the idea of rotation from week 1 and introducing the idea of core and stability. This was practised on the ergs and then in the boats. 

Week 3 reinforced the stab catch-leg drive-core continuum and we introduced starts to the on water drills, to get the paddlers to feel the power of the catch when properly executed and the dynamic of the leg pushing the boat past the paddle with rotation of the entire torso. We ran a couple of 50 m sprints and our group, who initially only wanted to paddler recreationally, showed to be very competitive!

Week 4 was all about falling out and self and assisted rescue. One of the helpers does a great deal of ski paddling and he took the lead, teaching remounts and assisted rescue. This session was full of shrieks and laughter as we wallowed in the warm water trying to get back into our boats! 

Week 5 saw the introduction of team boats and time trials. We finished off with a spectacular morning tea and graduation ceremony.

After the 5 week course, the group started a Whats App group and started pestering us for a training squad! So we started a 3 sessions/week squad training program for them. Session 1 is run by our L2 coach, session 2 by one of our new Foundation Coachs and session 2 by an experienced Beginner coach. The three coaches co-ordinate a plan for each week, building towards a goal – which incidentally has become racing at the next PNSW Winter Series race! The group as a whole has taken to racing!  The squad is following a program to build paddle fitness and distance – while working on technique as well as race skills, starts, turning, and wash riding. Five of the group decided to do the Frank Harrison race in late January (16 km) and seven participated in the PNSW Winter Series race in Wagga Wagga.  They organised a Friday evening float down the Wagga Wagga race course with a group dinner and then raced the following day.  Several have already registered for the PNSW race at Windsor with great discussion on which division they should be aiming for.  The group is currently organising an overnight kayak trip in Kangaroo  Valley.  Their enthusiasm has infected the rest of us at a time when we had lost sight of linking racing and having fun weekends away.  For the coaches, it is so rewarding to see their continued involvement, enthusiasm, working as a group and loving every minute of paddling and training as well as their continual improvement in technique, speed and progression to faster boats.  A far cry from their original goal of recreationally paddling with good technique!

Patricia Ashton Level 1 Coach

Margi Bohm  Level 2 Coach

Article by Patricia Ashton

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