Well here I am in a position that had I thought about it a year ago I wouldnt have expected to be in, after 8 years break I have returned to paddling slalom.. but gosh how things have changed. Boats have got smaller, there appears to be a good coaching scheme in place and im getting beaten by J14 whipper snappers!
here-in lyes the problem, there appears to be a great coaching scheme for under 21s, which I appreciate is getting youngsters ready for the world competition stage, but what is there for people like me? I want to be te best I can be but how can I? any suggestions?
further-more I still cannot find a short C1 second hand... come on guys but you need to make your sport more accsesable to everyone, not just the yoof! dont get me wrong the sport is great, im hooked again, and there may options available to me, in which case you need to be marketing them better.
Starting slalom again!! - Coaching
As Slalom is on the whole a club based sport coaching in has historically been gained through clubs. However I am aware that is not the case for everyone and there are it appears an increasing number of what I would call the "more mature" paddlers who are finding it difficult to access coaching.
One answer would be to join an established club where coaching is on offer, another would be to encourage some of the top class paddlers to run coaching sessions for you/and others, hoever this would probably cost.
The Slalom Committee did run a number of sessions early this year for youngsters not as yet on any programme, this was very successful and well attended. Perhaps we need also to look at the other end of the age group,again offering coaching for those not on programmes. Running these is always difficult as it depends on a small group of already incredibly busy people and the goodwill of the World Class paddlers to coach.
What whould the interest be?? There needs to be enough willing to attend (obviously there would have to be some charge).
As for short boats, they havn't been around all that long therefore second hand ones are still few and far between and are sold quickly, some people have successfully cut down full sized ones - ask around.
The Committee are always open to suggestions as to how we can help all paddlers, be they new into the sport or top of prem, 12 or 40 but unless we need to know where the gaps are so talk to us. (see the year book for contact details)
One answer would be to join an established club where coaching is on offer, another would be to encourage some of the top class paddlers to run coaching sessions for you/and others, hoever this would probably cost.
The Slalom Committee did run a number of sessions early this year for youngsters not as yet on any programme, this was very successful and well attended. Perhaps we need also to look at the other end of the age group,again offering coaching for those not on programmes. Running these is always difficult as it depends on a small group of already incredibly busy people and the goodwill of the World Class paddlers to coach.
What whould the interest be?? There needs to be enough willing to attend (obviously there would have to be some charge).
As for short boats, they havn't been around all that long therefore second hand ones are still few and far between and are sold quickly, some people have successfully cut down full sized ones - ask around.
The Committee are always open to suggestions as to how we can help all paddlers, be they new into the sport or top of prem, 12 or 40 but unless we need to know where the gaps are so talk to us. (see the year book for contact details)
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66-1146487544
Pykey, if you are Northampton based as your details suggest then I would start with the Northampton Canoe & Kayak Club. They meet at the Nene Whitewater Centre which is pretty good for slalom training. The web site isn't clear whether slalom coaching is offered or not but they run there own slalom event in August at the Nene and so I would expect there to be some home grown talent.
Short C1s are still undertaking a lot of development following the rule change so keep checking the For Sale page or the noticeboard at Holme Pierrepont if you ever get down there. Unfortunately there are so few C1 paddlers that the second hand market is no where near as plentiful as the K1 market.
A cut down 4 metre boat would be the obvious option in the short term if you can't afford new, or tap up either Steve Hesford or Dave Radmore before the end of the season to see if they are selling on their demo boats.
Short C1s are still undertaking a lot of development following the rule change so keep checking the For Sale page or the noticeboard at Holme Pierrepont if you ever get down there. Unfortunately there are so few C1 paddlers that the second hand market is no where near as plentiful as the K1 market.
A cut down 4 metre boat would be the obvious option in the short term if you can't afford new, or tap up either Steve Hesford or Dave Radmore before the end of the season to see if they are selling on their demo boats.
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jon lords hammond
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:44 am
Glad to see you back, sorry, but not suprised to here of your predicament, you see people like you(and myself) are an irrelevant blott on the landscape of slalom as the sport exists for only one purpose, pursuit of olympic gold, which is one of the main reasons i spend lots of time doing another sport which caters for all ages and abilities as oppossed to one which only exists for a tiny minority to pursue olympic glory, but then, there was no shortage of 'FOOLS' rushing into the Yukon in the 1870s to search for that elusive put of gold at the end of the rainbow
Thanks for the responses so far, Northampton is a no no, I dont think that they have any slsom paddlers and the coaching that I am after is probably a platuae above which they can offer. we did have a succesful slalomscene in northampton but this dispanded back whn i stopped paddling so many years ago.
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raeofsunshine
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:12 am
Hi, you are more then welcome up at Teesside i know its a treck but we are a friendly (if you are up for a laughas well as serious training) squad. Fison's frost bites and summer series slaloms are always fun.
Rach (i was parked next to you at hpp- the div 1 lady who dropeed her sun tan lotion under your car!)
Rach (i was parked next to you at hpp- the div 1 lady who dropeed her sun tan lotion under your car!)
HPP is a good place to go as in the evening there are usually some good folk to train with who will help you back into the sport. If you can speak to Nick Smith who will cut you down a 4 m slalom boat for about 70 quid as far as I remember. I believe he makes a very good job with it and the boats are competitive. Speak to anyone in a C1 who is doing good things and usually they will help you out. Or put a notice on the HPP board outside slalom control.
As far as coaching - when I lived at HPP I ended up getting coaching from anyone who was around who had C1 experience - I paid Craig Brown for a winter's work along with Andy Hamilton and it made a massive difference for both of us - Im sure some of the top paddlers who are around who have the experience will help you out if you ask nicely on the odd occasion. Most of the coaches you see around (who have the relevant C1 experience) are invovled with the performance/potential setup, so accessing them is very hard. The problem is most of the 'old school' paddlers (ie. those of us well over the age of 21) arent paddling anymore - gone are the days when there was loads of C1 paddlers doing evening sessions. Ady Jones is another name who is often down there of an evening he's always a good source of coaching and helping out. I found that just paddling with other C1'ers allowed you to experiment with things and help each other out.
Alternatively, a much cheaper option - get someone to stand on the bank and video you paddling - great for self analysis especially if you have someone better than you paddling with you who you can compare with.
I think the slalom yearbook identifies all the coaches in each region with Canadian experience so you could maybe try that.
As far as coaching - when I lived at HPP I ended up getting coaching from anyone who was around who had C1 experience - I paid Craig Brown for a winter's work along with Andy Hamilton and it made a massive difference for both of us - Im sure some of the top paddlers who are around who have the experience will help you out if you ask nicely on the odd occasion. Most of the coaches you see around (who have the relevant C1 experience) are invovled with the performance/potential setup, so accessing them is very hard. The problem is most of the 'old school' paddlers (ie. those of us well over the age of 21) arent paddling anymore - gone are the days when there was loads of C1 paddlers doing evening sessions. Ady Jones is another name who is often down there of an evening he's always a good source of coaching and helping out. I found that just paddling with other C1'ers allowed you to experiment with things and help each other out.
Alternatively, a much cheaper option - get someone to stand on the bank and video you paddling - great for self analysis especially if you have someone better than you paddling with you who you can compare with.
I think the slalom yearbook identifies all the coaches in each region with Canadian experience so you could maybe try that.