[Helen Hoskin 3]

Booking forms for the coaching conference in January 2010 will be out very soon now. Have just been in touch with the Canoe England office a few minutes ago to ask about this.
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Woods would be silent if no bird sang except those that sing best

[Helen Hoskin 3]

Booking form now available on Canoe England webpages.
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Woods would be silent if no bird sang except those that sing best

[ChrisHughes]

Or you can jump straight to it from here
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Website and Forum Creator 2005

[Helen Hoskin 3]

Thanks, Chris. Below is my logbook entry from last year's conference. It explains why I'm so keen to go again this year. Not long now.


Canoe England coaching conference January 2009

I arrived at the national watersports centre at Nottingham just in time to watch sunrise on Saturday morning. I had been looking forwards to the weekend for ages; but now felt nervous as I didn’t know anyone else who would be there. I found my way to the registration desk and immediately recognised Phil M. from Canoe England. It didn’t take very long to make lots of new friends. The staff at the centre were lovely. I felt very welcomed and well cared for from reception, catering and site staff.


We had a welcome meeting and then an hour long session with Craig Handford who is a sports science consultant. He spoke about self perception and we used Myers Briggs self descriptors to work out our preferred learning styles and Craig described some of the learning preferences associated with the different groups and how they might influence our coaching.

After drinks and cookies, Tim Brabants spoke about his training and experience of the Beijing Olympics and what life has been like for him since winning his gold medal. His photographs and anecdotes emphasised the incredible amount of hard work by himself and his support team.

Dinner time was a chance to meet lots of coaches from all over the UK and find out about their centres and clubs.

Saturday afternoon, I had chosen a workshop from a choice of six workshops entitled, Working towards successful coach paddler relationships; led by Dave Larkin from Teamshot. The session was interactive with a group challenge that required us to work closely to share information in order to complete the task. Almost instantly personal strengths within the group became apparent. Our second task was to film a role play of a conversation between a paddler and a coach. The outcome was different dependent upon how the coach responded to the paddler. We then watched and analysed the films.

I then opted to attend the session for the Canoe England volunteer and recognition awards. These were awarded by Tim Brabants to volunteers from across the country for their dedication to paddlesport. The ones that stood out to me were those awarded to people who had been working hard in their clubs and centres for many, many years. Two awards were also presented to Tim’s coach, Eric.

After this, I quickly went off to sign in for my room and a quick hot choccie before the final session of the day. Mike Devlin showed pictures and video clips from his paddling in the Falklands, South Georgia and near to James Ross Island. The pictures were stunning. Mike spoke about the conflict in the Falklands and the effect that has had on the islands. He also showed pictures of a deserted whaling station, of ice and mountains. My favourite had to be a compilation of penguin pictures which were so cute. What struck me was Mike’s experiences of not being able to complete trips due to the weather as we often hear when someone has achieved their goals but not often of the hard work and many attempts that precede achievement.

Sunday was another busy day. I attended a BCU course in the morning, “Coaching the Mind”, led by Paul (Reg) Gray, which is based upon a chapter from the coaching handbook. Again this was interactive and we looked at attention. All of the group received certificates for our coaching logbooks.

The afternoon was yet another highlight for me. I had opted for the forward paddling for recreational coaches workshop. We worked with Gareth Field and Len Hartley. I had a go on a paddling ergo machine, then we went in open boats for a while and then sea kayaks on the regatta course.
Only a few of the group wanted to go on the water due to weather conditions and therefore the rest of us had very intensive coaching on our personal paddling skills. I already understood about contact with the boat and so we worked on rotation and the shape of the paddle as it moved through the air. Although it was a bit cold, I was disappointed when it was time to get off water as I’d enjoyed improving my personal paddling which I’ve been aware has been a bit neglected recently. It was also interesting being coached by coaches who had never met me before the session. I came away with lots to work on and feeling very positive.

Driving up to Nottingham was well worthwhile and I can’t wait for the next conference. What a fantastic weekend!
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Woods would be silent if no bird sang except those that sing best

[Helen Hoskin 3]

Canoe England have added a message about the conference on the main website. The conference is going ahead. The message gives more information about the decision.

It's still bring your paddling gear as planned if you're booked for a session on the lake!
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Woods would be silent if no bird sang except those that sing best