This club ethos runs strongly through our junior and under 23 coaching where we strive to help with canoeing skills, long term athletic development and life skills too. We hope to support each new paddling generation in their character development as well as their canoeing.
Our under 23s and older juniors mentor younger juniors through joint sessions and hands on helping with aspects of coaching. This interaction with older role models builds confidence, friendship and helps to spread the message that excelling in paddling can take many forms and is not limited to results. We also teach that a valuable part of growing up is building a robust character with a growth mindset and for juniors that means taking on challenges and learning from both success and failure.
We have huge experience and expertise in coaching junior paddlers who paddle for GB but we always prioritise long term development of athletic ability. This means giving opportunities for all our juniors to develop a wide range of movement patterns so they can move with confidence and dexterity. What a great foundation for life!
To develop such diverse athletic ability in addition to training sessions on the water we offer a range of cross training activities. It has been shown over and over again that specialisation in one sport as a junior has detrimental effects to their long term athletic development as well as potentially leading to burn out. For this reason there are weekly climbing, running and gym opportunities alongside the many paddling sessions. Cross training is hugely valuable and we encourage juniors to continue with other sports in parallel with their paddling.
In the holidays there are training mornings and training days. These give the younger paddlers the opportunity to do more than one session in the day. An example might be a paddle and a gym session with breaks between for a talk which might be on paddling or it could be on a connected topic like nutrition. For a full day we ask juniors to bring a packed lunch. These are great social opportunities.
We also organise training camps abroad for paddling and other activities such as cross country skiing. There is always a beginners cross country ski camp and a Portugal paddling camp over the winter months organised by the Club. These offer opportunities to learn not just from the activities but also about being away from home which helps develop life skills.
The most important aspect is that those coming to the Club enjoy being here. The coaching team aspires to set stimulating challenges and make sure it feels like a supportive environment where there are plenty of opportunities for fun and building friendships.
If you would like to fid out more you can speak to the Club Junior and Under 23 Development coach Tim Scott. He can be contacted on [email protected]
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