Cardington Slalom - Div 2/3/4 - 9th & 10th May 2009

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:54 pm

And while we are advertising slalom coaching......VKC have regular slalom coaching sessions.

These are every Tuesday evening 7pm to 9pm through summer and every Sunday morning 10am to noonthrough winter. They are at VKC Club gates in normal river level conditions and at Duckmill when the sluices are open - the best places to sharpen your reflexes on the very sharp eddy lines that will have you downside up in a blink of the eye! We typically string training gates out there for the session. I usually document all training details on the VKC Forum so if you want hours of reading about what was done and how it was done, go there

The sessions are free to VKC members and £5 per session to non members.

We are, as always , short of equipment so you need to bring your own.

PP

John Sturgess · Post by **John Sturgess** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:25 pm

Gareth

Sorry to sound like a dinosaur - but when I ran the Slalom Coaching Scheme the arrangement of mentoring was automatic - with people the trainee coaches felt they could work with as you describe

John

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:01 pm

And pictures are now online here:-

Cardington Sunday 10th may 2009

uite a few of those on the bank this time so take a look and see who you can see!

ENJOY!

c2canoeslalom · Post by **c2canoeslalom** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:59 pm

Was that before my time John? I have to be honest....I've only started to take a real interest in formal coach education in the last couple of years despite paddling for quite a bit longer.

jke · Post by **jke** » Mon May 11, 2009 11:56 pm

John Sturgess wrote:There was also meant to be a bank-based Level 1, run in conjunction with water-based Level 1 (a lot of the coaches I trained were non-paddling parents- a normal situation in sport as a whole). But people I know who have tried to access that report that organisers are not offering that option.

Can I suggest that the majority of UKCC L1 providers are not particularly competition orientated. The more you get into competition the more coaching becomes bank based.

John Sturgess wrote:I take your point on willingness or otherwise to travel but I am currently doing some number-crunching for Mark Shaw which indicates that youngsters who get promoted to at least Div 2 then do more events, not less; and are far more likely to stay in the sport long-term.

I would agree with you here. My challenge is for there to be enough div 3s close enough for youngsters to gain promotion within the year.

John Sturgess wrote:Nevertheless my number crunching indicates that there has been a resurgence this year in entries in the Tandridge/Reading/Winchester/Frome region; possibly because the events are better spread out this year; possibly an effect of the new inter-club initiative to promote competition down there?

In my case I think it's because we've had two or three years of reasonable interest and we've been able to maintain some momentum. The club needs to become established competition-wise. It needs to build up the infrastructure ie. the coaches, the regular training programme, the equipment. And the races to go to but that's largely out of its control.

As far as equipment is concerned, the club bought two new junior boats last year. This year so far I've now got 12 paddlers in div 3 mostly juniors and mostly don't fit junior boats and they all want to use the one adult 3.5m boat (mine) for competition. Do other regions have a fleet of modern boats to be used? Certainly not the case in the SW. And gone are the days when you bought one boat in which you did everything, and slalom paddlers are also starting younger (smaller). [Edit: I drafted this and then went to a committee meeting where they've just agreed to buy another boat. Progress.]

From a coaching point of view there needs to be a situation where up and coming coaches can learn from established ones. Or mentoring. I expect that happens automatically in the established competition clubs but for a small club (in terms of competition) that doesn't happen. You may remember I did a L1 course 3 years ago but that in theory entitles me to help someone else. Well I'm it. Apart from one or two who help me. What is needed after L1 is lots of examples of what to do during the session. If you do it in isolation you run out of ideas.

jke · Post by **jke** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:00 am

John Sturgess wrote:John

PS: in reading through that, I was puzzled by your comment about being 'a club which isn't supposed to do slalom'. In terms of Junior presence on the ranking lists last year, Frome is the 8th largest Junior Slalom Club in England, and 9th largest in Great Britain.

John

Yes I know.

Two or three years ago I was told by someone who should know better that the club didn't do slalom which grated somewhat.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:36 am

Spiderman wrote:As we have to literally build the riverbed, setting up Cardington needs many hands. This is why VKC is constantly moving towards getting this facility in place permanently.

Cardington is used by many other groups during the year, not just for slalom. The fact that the course has to be built each time allows it to be set for beginners and more advanced depending on the requirements. I feel that it is very selfish to expect a course to be set for one group of users only.

Typical picture here

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:59 am

Sorry you feel that way Jeff. Yes, I am very selfish indeed. I have only one group in mind - Slalomists - the same group that it was intended and bragged about to be built for. Hardly the case in the long run. This weekends course was set for Div 2 standard of paddling yet it was perfectly safe, fun and exciting for beginners to tackle in the Div 4 event. The water quantity is controllable, the position of any gates is variable, there is absolutely no way on Gods green earth that being able to vary Hippo positions will make any difference to its ability to be used by any particular group.

Since the concept of an artificial slalom course came about with Augsburg in 1972, this ever decreasing discipline, that is the sport of slalom, has been overrun with rafters and playboaters all saying "Its mine! Its Mine!" As a hardcore slalom paddler with no time for namby pamby relatively skilless impersonations of a cork under a bathtap or floating down a course on the equilalent of a giant airbed, I am one of those who say go bob about or float around somewhere else. The sport of slalom has been taking a constant hammering from various angles and I for one will continue to fly the slalom flag in the hope that it survives in no lesser format and to no lesser standard than it does today. It is an Olympic discipline, it breeds fantastic athletes and they are bred on small whitewater courses - just like Cardington is a couple of times a year! We need regular access to it and we dont wish to spend hours and hours setting it up beforehand.

Yes. I am very selfish indeed. Selfish because I would like the best for slalom and for those involved in it. Fly the flag!

Munchkin · Post by **Munchkin** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:37 pm

To be honest I think being able to vary the hippos is good for all groups including slalomists. The omniflots at HPP can be moved to create new features and I am sure the same will be the case at Tees when it opens. Albiet that the main features remain almost the same.

Cardington is a very small venue where, if items were fixed, there would be very litle variation in the features. You would be able to train there without the faff but you would have trained on the same features day in and day out. Great for the next Cardington slalom, not so great for any other slalom though!

I also don't think that fixing something for a very small group of slalomists at one club is a proportionate measure. The facility is there for all to share. We argue that fishermen should not be able to stop kayakers from using the rivers, why should slalomists be able to stop other users?

As for river runing being skillless I completely disagree, one of your own up and coming paddlers learnt much of her skill and water confidence from other white water disciplines before trying slalom, not from slalom itself. She is not the only one I know of.

The best way of gaining access to groups at Cardington would be to convince the EA to reduce the hire costs!

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:47 pm

Not wishing to hijack this thread about a very good event.

The question regarding slalom coaching was started HERE there are plans for the UKCC L3 to role out this year which will be discipline specific and I do know of at least one paddler/coach that is going down that route.

Cheers Graeme

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:58 pm

Spiderman wrote:there is absolutely no way on Gods green earth that being able to vary Hippo positions will make any difference to its ability to be used by any particular group.

I think that you are trying to be deliberately argumentative here. I am sure that you are fully aware that the hippo layout is utterly different for slalom and playboating. Playboaters require stoppers to play in. Slalom courses tend to be more twisty. The layout for the Scouts & Guides fun day is utterly different again.

And Munchkin has already shot down most of your other points much more tactfully than I would have!

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Tue May 12, 2009 3:48 pm

Not forgetting the main reason for it being built was actually as a flood relief channel! The slalom course was a side line to that!!!

Well done to the organisers at the weekend I undertand there was a huge entry, mainly late entries and not many willing helpers - good on those who worked so hard well done xxxxxx

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Wed May 13, 2009 3:31 am

I am not being deliberately argumentative Jeff. I just have a different opinion to you thats all. We are all entitled to our opinions thankfully

Just depends what you do with them. I am giving mine to people in authority at the local authority, the BCU and the EA in the hope that Cardington can be used readily for training. But that is just one of the irons in the fire locally as we are moving on changes to most local water features for the benefit of canoeing - even payboating! (yuks!). Risk assessments have already been undertaken and way too many meetings held lready. Time for action I say but anything involving committees never moves quickly enough. We saw work being done at Duckmill and thought maybe its the new jetty! No. It was another division of the EA who knew nothing of such proposals and, to the contrary, were excluding access by the planting of reeds!!!! Left hand, right hand stuff ...ho hum...press on regardless.....

PP

jim croft · Post by **jim croft** » Wed May 13, 2009 5:08 pm

Cardington Artificial Slalom Course

There seems to be some myths and misconceptions on the price structure etc. C.AS.C Committee have a long lease on the flood relief channel from the Environment Agency and the Equipment Hut from Bedfordshire Borough Council. Part of our agreement is when not on site the “riverbed” must be cleared of all obstructions as it’s primary use is a flood relief channel. I have noted some think the EA hire the course to users this is not the case – C.A.S.C hire out the course, it has also been said it is expensive. Costs:- £190 per weekend Friday Evening to Sunday Evening, £100 for Saturday or Sunday only and £40 per day during the week plus £2.50 per small tent £3.50 large tent & £4.50 per caravan these campsite fees go to the council they also supply drinking water and waste disposal in the car park.. (Most ranking slalom events charge extra for camping to help cover the high costs of hiring toilets). What do you get for the Hire Fee: full use of all the equipment in the equipment hut plus use of a land line telephone for emergencies and a duty officer to open and close the site, the hiring group can also operate the sluice to a level they require (subject to water levels. Car parking at club events 2 cars are allowed at the head of the course and as a concession we are allowed to bring cars into the park by the lock overnight. The gate into the park must be kept looked at all times unless manned. The height barrier to the car park has to kept locked too unless manned because of the risk of travellers.
Please note the local council bend over backwards to help us make full use of the facility as clearly states in the park byelaws no cars or camping in the park.
If you require any more information contact me direct.

Jim Croft Cardington Management Group Chairman.

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:55 am

That is all detailed and valuable info Jim, thanks for that.