Post
by John Sturgess » Fri Nov 26, 2010 10:29 am
This attempt to divide divisions into ‘racing’ and ‘developmental’ is in my view not only a red-herring, but a dangerous red herring; because people then use the classification to support different agendas. It’s like Sport England banging on for years about Excellence vs Participation as if it is an either/or issue, when it is a symbiotic relationship: each benefits the other and benefits from the other.
All divisions are racing divisions: paddlers go there to race. All divisions are developmental divisions: paddlers develop as racers by racing. As a sport we need to ensure that all events are capable of fulfilling both functions appropriately.
As a paddler I did not develop very fast: I spent 17 years in the ‘old’ Div 3 (when there was a Div 5). But when the starter said ‘go’, I went!
The important distinction is not between ‘racing’ and ‘developmental’ but between racing on ‘proper slalom water’ and racing on the sort of water a paddler paddles on the way to ‘proper slalom water’. As things are set up at the moment, Prem and Div 1are raced on proper slalom water; Div 3 and Div 4 are not; and Div 2 comes somewhere in between.
As Coaches and Clubs we aim - or should aim - to get paddlers onto ‘proper slalom water’ as soon as possible: that is what they came into Slalom for, not to paddle on flat water. And if we are looking at a ‘2012 bounce’ we need to remember what all these enthusiastic recruits will have seen on TV, and decided that they want to do.
On average a ‘good’ club that begins the season with 10 new junior paddlers going to their first Div 4 after paddling through the winter expects in their first season to get maybe 1 into Div 1, certainly 5/6 into Div 2, 2 still in Div 3, and 2 have quit. The next year will see of that same 10 3 or 4 in Div 1 (slightly less if they are starting at age 9/10 rather than age 12/13), 3 or 4 in Div 2, and another 1 quitting without getting out of Div 3, or paddling very rarely and still in Div 3. Promotion rates with ‘good’ clubs in the South are the same up to Div 2, but fewer get up to Div 1 at that speed, reflecting lack of opportunity to train and race on rougher water.
I am afraid that where progression like this is not being achieved, we are as a sport, as coaches, and as clubs, failing to deliver what people, in particular children and young people, are entitled to get for their club subscriptions, entry fees, and BCU membership.
We tend as a sport to focus on the occasional child who goes up too fast, gets scared, and quits. There are far more who go up too slowly, get bored, and quit.
As a sport we do not have a recruitment problem, we have a retention problem. If the sport as a whole retained as well as the clubs with the largest junior sections, the sport would double in size in five years (and indeed, by focussing on clubs, Scotland has trebled its total of junior ranked paddlers in 4 years).
The evidence from research worldwide is that what keeps young people in sport is the feeling that they are getting better; from results, but even more so from being told by a coach who knows them, who they see on a regular basis, who they trust, that they are getting better. The second biggest factor is the social one of training and competing with the same group at their club, and getting to know them well.