Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

General slalom chatter...rant about the bad, rave about the good
Arrowcraft
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:46 pm

Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Arrowcraft » Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:02 pm

There are 60 slalom clubs listed.

At the Winters Farm Div 4 last weekend there were only 14 Div 4 paddlers (6 men & 8 Women) all from Wydean or Tauntun.
At Wagon Lane there were 10. (8M & 2W) from 4 clubs. 17 at Bala Mill, 27 at Stone.

It looks like Taunton, Llandysull & Staffs & Stone have reached out to find new members and introduced them into slalom racing.

If every club set themselves a goal of finding 10 new young paddlers (5 boys and 5 girls) in the next 6 weeks, we could have 600 paddlers starting to rave in div 4 next year which provides the lifeblood of the sport for the future. If we do that every year our sport will grow. the divisional system becomes more competitive and the athlete development pool feeding into regional squads will expand and the elite end of the sport will improve further.

most clubs charge about £100 per year membership. Financially, it makes sense to bring in new paddlers, increase membership including family membership and would enable some experienced paddlers to coach (for a small fee (£3-5 per session) so they stay in the sport longer rather than retiring at 18. BC memberships increase etc...the future is in growth. At the moment, our sport is in decline.

Perhaps the people at Stone, Taunton, Llandyssul can say how they recruit new junior members and we can develop a wider pathway into the sport in more regions.

If every slalom paddler sets themselves a task to bring 5 people down to have a try a canoeing and we aim to retain 1 of them, could we, as a sport, bring 500 new slalom paddlers into the sport by the end of October. Just to enjoy slalom, not to rush them into squads and all that stuff which ultimately has put us into this position. Just to enjoy slalom as a hobby and see where it leads them.

Is there any appetite for this?

JimW
Posts: 570
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:17 pm
Location: Pinkston

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by JimW » Sun Sep 19, 2021 11:49 pm

I don't know all the details of how it works, but Pinkston Panthers always try to run some summer sessions during the daytime in the school holidays to attract some new paddlers. I think we employ a coach for the sessions, who then encourages them to go along to club night if they have enjoyed their daytime sessions. Some years go better than others.

As far as I can tell this year we have had a few transfer over and join in the club sessions, but importantly they have been talking about it to their mates so their mates who weren't on the courses are also coming along now. Last few weeks we have beginners int he 20's, I counted up from a photo on the flat and added the people I knew had already got off for a beginner whitewater session when it was taken, and reckon I got to 28 beginners. Should also mention that this is over a wide age range, we have some late-teenagers and some parents in the group who are loving it as much as little ones.

The challenge now is to keep them interested through the long, cold, dark Scottish winter and get them racing next year. We are hoping that a programme of weekend daylight activities might help with that. So far this is our most successful year, still very much learning about growing the club...

I think it is harder for established paddlers to bring mates along, because there is going to be a skills gap from the off, which means you are unlikley to end up paddling the same sessions, unless coaching which some might find creates a wierd dynamic. So it is probably most important to get some completely new beginners in somehow, and then get them to tell their mates so they are all at a similar level to paddle together.

JBS
Posts: 49
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:01 pm

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by JBS » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:50 pm

Sounds to me like Arrowcraft should be asked if he would accept being co-opted onto the committee to help oversee and implement his excellent idea!

Arrowcraft
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:46 pm

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Arrowcraft » Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:59 pm

JBS wrote:
Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:50 pm
Sounds to me like Arrowcraft should be asked if he would accept being co-opted onto the committee to help oversee and implement his excellent idea!
What committee are you referring to? But if I can help I am more than willing to be involved to some degree or another. Perhaps you can DM me.

Steve Holmes
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon May 21, 2018 11:05 am

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Steve Holmes » Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:57 pm

We would love 10 new paddlers that are willing to travel to races. However we would need 10 new boats and sets of kit and 2 new coaches. Any donations or volunteers gratefully received!
We have had a slight increase in the numbers willing to travel to races and move away from the club site, but it will be a slow process whilst we try to generate a buzz around events.
Given that 3 years ago on the Saturday there were only 4 div 4 paddlers at Wagon Lane (3 K1M, 1 K1W) maybe we're not in as bad a place as it seems? Slalom in the North is struggling generally. I would be more worried about the loss of the mid division paddlers. In the 2020/21 season there have been no div 2 races in the North or Midlands of England. The Northernmost div 2 in England was Cardington, and the Southernmost in Scotland was a 1 day event at Pinkston. Unless paddlers in the NorthEast have got really dedicated parents they won't have raced at all for 2 and a half years and will be unlikely to still be paddling.

Recruitment is one thing, but retention is another matter, as is convincing club paddlers to go to races.

However, they are looking for members on the slalom committee and there is a workshop at the ACM on paddler numbers, so there are opportunities for people to help do something about it.

We have found that running a "fun day" involving coaching, food and a friendly race for a couple of clubs helped generate a bit of enthusiasm and got parents and kids mixing with people from other clubs. Hopefully we'll sort one or two more out over the winter.

Steve Holmes
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon May 21, 2018 11:05 am

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Steve Holmes » Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:17 pm

Looking at the 2018 results, the middle Stone slalom pulled in 22 div 4s on the Saturday (including 2 C1s) and Bala just 2. So comparing 4,22 and 2 with 10, 27 and 17 then it’s possible we’re in not so bad a place?

Arrowcraft
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:46 pm

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Arrowcraft » Tue Sep 21, 2021 5:01 pm

Hi Steve

I understand that there are 2 challenges. New paddlers and retention.

New paddlers is a matter of effort and process and repetition. Retention is in my opinion a matter of honesty and a slight change of focus on expectation from the sport. I know from asking 35 people from team to div 2 paddlers why they left in 2019 that it's more to do with dropping off team/squad than anything else. This can be addressed if we can find an answer to "what's left in the sport for me?" at that point.

The key is to develop a pathway into the sport of canoe slalom and then replicate it widely and frequently. Develop slalom teams rather than general paddlers and make it an inclusive sport.

Steve Holmes
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon May 21, 2018 11:05 am

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Steve Holmes » Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:16 am

There’s not much we as club coaches, or even the slalom committee, can do about the talent pathway. I do think that the dissolving of the RTA and tougher entry requirements for (the group previously known as) the SRS things may ease on this front. The Slalom School scheme, for all its training camps, has much less of a squad “feel” about it, and I don’t think that when a paddler no longer qualifies for it there will be the same effect (time will tell).

Just my thoughts: we maybe need to make events more fun, and mix things up a little. At Wagon Lane and Marple there were team events on the Saturday straight after racing, which generated a real buzz - 6 teams at Wagon Lane grew to 11 at Marple. The wave hopper trials they held at Wagon Lane and Howsham in 2019 also worked (IMHO they went on too long, I think 1 run per person rather than 2 would have been sufficient). There are other things that could be done for minimal effort on the day - raise the poles for a “plastic boats only” open class, flat water div 4s could try SUP slalom, run a short course “paddles up” style race. Organising evening events (where there is space) like BBQs, rounders, the famous Yorkshire “Mini Olympics” at Howsham go some way to making newcomers feel included and creating a social atmosphere that paddlers (and their parents) want to come back.

I will endeavour to get to the ACM for the discussion on participation, there have been some great people already getting the ball rolling on this front, and it will be interesting to hear their ideas and try to come up with some solutions.

CeeBee
Posts: 331
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:12 pm
Location: Falkirk

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by CeeBee » Wed Sep 22, 2021 10:29 am

There’s not much we as club coaches, or even the slalom committee, can do about the talent pathway. I do think that the dissolving of the RTA and tougher entry requirements for (the group previously known as) the SRS things may ease on this front. The Slalom School scheme, for all its training camps, has much less of a squad “feel” about it, and I don’t think that when a paddler no longer qualifies for it there will be the same effect (time will tell).
And therein lies my biggest concern. Paddlers in Scotland have just applied for the squad (closing date was Sunday 19th September mid way through a short season which is ludicrous when paddlers still have Div 1 and Prem races to compete at - closing date should have been mid October after all events had finished).

We can already feel the pressure that the juniors feel under to hit targets and that they feel a failure if they don't achieve them. Some of our paddlers will be accepted for the squad which is great for them but a disaster for those just below them that are left behind. I fear that some of our paddlers will then give up which is such a shame as the sport is already small enough. It is creating divisions between paddlers and families who have come through slaloms together. This is likely to mean that we cannot offer some of the club sessions we had planned as we need enough paddlers to take part to generate the income to pay the coaches. Our coaches like coaching all the paddlers but losing the better paddlers is also disheartening for them after the investment they have put in to get paddlers to this stage and those paddlers left behind miss out training with the paddlers they aspire to become.

What has happened in Scotland for the last few years is that once the paddlers join the squad, the club never or rarely see them (there are some exceptions but they are rare). So the paddlers and families that have become familiar with the sport and attend club sessions, help at club sessions and summer camps and know how to run events are missing and we start again with the next cohort. I've reached the stage that I'm not willing to do this anymore as it is so disheartening and is not creating a sustainable club. There are also not enough events in Scotland at a regular enough frequency and travelling south is unaffordable for many.

On a positive note, we have 120 children through a summer program in June, July and August which was a lot of work but has been successful and great to see the enthusiasm with the politics for families starting out. We have been running improvers sessions in August and September on Monday, Tuesday and Saturdays. Again a huge amount of work but it has been rewarding and the sessions well attended with about 30 paddlers over the week. Hopefully when they stop paddling once it gets cold in October, many of these paddlers will restart in mid March and compete in Div 3/4 slaloms next season. Only time will tell.

Steve Holmes
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon May 21, 2018 11:05 am

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Steve Holmes » Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:43 pm

Maybe if we start recruiting at 13, then realistically they’ll not get onto the squads as they’ll be too old, and can just race for fun forever!

Flyhigh3
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:14 pm
Location: North

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Flyhigh3 » Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:50 pm

Steve Holmes wrote:
Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:43 pm
Maybe if we start recruiting at 13, then realistically they’ll not get onto the squads as they’ll be too old, and can just race for fun forever!
Or may have a foundation in many different paddling disciplines so they can go back to it if/when they decide to stop slalom, and are paddling because they find it fun or enjoyable...and if they stay they get good because they enjoy the training and the environment... there needn't be incompatibility between squads, enjoyment and excellence.....good coaches (and clubs) build environments where athletes/paddlers come away feeling they want to go back

Team races were definitely 'fun' .....

Arrowcraft
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:46 pm

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Arrowcraft » Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:30 pm

Some great ideas there guys and they all have potential. I was watching the extreme slalom at the World cups this year and initially thought what a waste of time, a div 3 could do this...then thought, we should be doing these at div 3's, 2's and 1's.

Certainly there is scope to make events more fun in an ability appropriate way. Team events is a good idea. we used to have slalom sprints, that were fun too. But these are all things that we can do ONCE we have people attending coming along to a club and having a go, then signing up to learn to race. They will help with retention.

The change of approach by the squads will certainly help. To be honest, I disengaged from the RTA's SRA's and god knows how many other irrelevant little squads there seem to be dotting around the place. The idea that a paddler can only make it onto the team if they start on a squad at 12 is laughable frankly. But that's about spotting potential and talent. I think the point was spotting not trying to create...but there you are. with a wider pool and competition, the best paddlers will be coming to the top by the time they're 16 - 18. Ideally, the elite teams will have nothing to do with the structure of the sport. The club system being developed seems to be a good idea in that they bring coaching methods, systems and resources to clubs and bring all paddlers on that way. That seems better for retention and paddler development.

So the question remains...what can each club do to find 10-12 new members (Say 6 boys and 6 Girls to make up two teams each) in the next 6 weeks?
To achieve this a club will need 12 lots of kit. (Boats, floats, decks, hats and paddles)

Clubs are located in communities. I once recruited 15 paddlers from a local junior Rugby team when their season finished. I also reached out to other sports and recruited healthy kids that just happened to be falling behind at netball, hockey or football. Some kids are decent sports people but not great at team sports...slalom might be perfect for them.

Could we develop the schools program and recruit 6 from Year 7 in two or three rival schools and get them competing against each other in micro races every 4 weeks that get harder as they develop. perhaps with regional and national championships. School sport is a big deal and unless you're good at footie, you have limited chances to play for the school. Lots have pools too. Then do the same next year etc etc.

Some clubs do it very well and seem to have a constant flow of Div 4's. Staffs & Stone come to mind for example. I know that they reach out to schools and get kids down paddling a couple of times a week. Could other clubs do that?

In terms of coaching. Am I right in saying that you don't need to be a BCU coach to actually coach canoeing at a club or competition? So if your club has a div 1 paddler, pr higher, they could probably cover the coaching of slalom?

Mike Mitchell
Posts: 180
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:44 pm

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by Mike Mitchell » Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:41 am

Can we find 500 new paddlers

Thanks for starting this off Arrowcraft

A group of us are already looking into ways of improving entry level events and getting paddlers into Slalom, so there are already some good comments on this post to take note of.

Firstly I would like to answer some of your questions as the Wyedean Slalom Coach.

1. Can we all finding 10 new paddlers. 2021 has been the best year at are club for getting new paddlers, since we started back in Slalom some 6 years ago. Back then I introduced all my Scouts to the Club and built it from there. Scouting is a good way of getting outdoor loving kids into the sport, but you need contacts or a leader willing to take them along. I have since given up Scouts to concentrate on my Slalom Group. So this year I started a Home Education group on a Wednesday. Starting with 2 groups of 15. So 30 in total. This has now reduced to about 15 and we paddle from 11.00-3.00 on a Wed. Most have now competed in Slalom and some are Div3. They also get the chance to paddle on my evening sessions. Then on a Thursday evening I have the Club beginners group, this started with about 12 paddlers and is now at about 6. Some of them are also competing in Slaloms. Age group 6-14 years. The home Ed I could fill with another 30 tomorrow, but haven’t the time, as I find it best starting groups in April and get them hooked over the Summer.
2. Costs. Its £30.00 for a junior membership and £5.00 a week for coaching, including all the Kit. [ we need more Slalom Boats] They can do 7 days a week for that as I am there every night, if not away somewhere. We only have boat and kit storage. No Club house so No overheads. Car parking is £5.00 a time.
3. Developing the sport. I believe we need to improve the experience at Div 4 and 3. Some events are fantastic but we need to make sure every competition goes away wanting to race again. This could be simple things like live results, getting results out fast, keeping to time, giving Div 4 priority over water time with coaching. Team events, C2, boater X. There are lots of ways to make the hole experience so good they cant wait to race again.
:D

alan1nckc
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:19 pm

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by alan1nckc » Mon Oct 04, 2021 3:35 pm

So far the discussion seems to have been how existing slalom clubs can increase their number of participants, or how to keep paddlers who have been in the squads.

My problem is how to start from scratch in a club where there have been no slalom paddlers for 20 years and where only two members have ever paddled in a slalom. (Actually that's 3 - we had one boy in the officlals at the Nene this weekend. He enjoyed it and did well, with home water advantage.).

Any thoughts on how to get a group motivated?

We already find most of our members seem to have a mental block about the idea that they can paddle anywhere that involves driving first. That's going to be an issue for slalom too.

JimW
Posts: 570
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:17 pm
Location: Pinkston

Re: Can we find 500 new paddlers for 2022?

Post by JimW » Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:16 pm

alan1nckc wrote:
Mon Oct 04, 2021 3:35 pm
So far the discussion seems to have been how existing slalom clubs can increase their number of participants, or how to keep paddlers who have been in the squads.

My problem is how to start from scratch in a club where there have been no slalom paddlers for 20 years and where only two members have ever paddled in a slalom. (Actually that's 3 - we had one boy in the officlals at the Nene this weekend. He enjoyed it and did well, with home water advantage.).

Any thoughts on how to get a group motivated?

We already find most of our members seem to have a mental block about the idea that they can paddle anywhere that involves driving first. That's going to be an issue for slalom too.
If the club don't already have some slalom boats, look on the facebook canoe slalom for sale group and get a few old boats - go for ones ones with some repairs, try and make sure they still float or only need a little bit of work to make them float, but look around and you will get them for less than second hand PE boats.
Then get the kids to just try paddling them on a normal club night, they should instantly notice the difference between paddling a 20-25kg PE boat and an 8-12kg composite slalom boat. Don't worry about gates until they ask, just introduce them to boats that are more suitable for kids and see where it takes you. Chances are natural competitiveness will out and they will start to ask you about actually doing slalom once they have had some time messing about in slalom boats.

Adults are much harder to encourage, probably about 10% of parents will join in at some time, but those totally settled in whatever paddling they already do will be much harder to get to have a go. It will take more time, especially as adult sized boats come up less frequently, but the main thing is to get some kids started and let it grow from there.

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