Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Adventure Sports Coaching - Canoe Week

By way of contrast from the last residential at UCLAN's outdoor centre, Tyn Dwr in Llangollen, the first year Adventure Sports Coaches participated in a week of canoeing under the watchful eye of Dave Luke and Chris Charlton.

Despite the poor weather and heavy rain that saw large areas of Cumbria in flood and which effected Wales also, the team were able to enjoy a full week of skills development.

A number of venues were used including the Llangollen Canal, Llyn Mymbyr and the Afon Llugwy which allowed for a number of areas of knowledge development to occur.

The students were given the opportunity to learn about boat control through activities that emphasised the adoption of good posture and the need for effective power transfer. The versatility of open canoes was highlighted by showing the students alternative modes of propulsion including poling and sailing.

By the end of the course, it was appropriate to put a number of the students through their BCU 2* paddlesports performance award. The judgement being that after 10 days of kayaking and canoeing combined, they had reached a suitable level of understanding to apply the skills learnt elsewhere. As such, and basing it on the principle of function over form, those students who sat the assessment were successful.

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