We asked Jim a few questions - here's what he had to say:

Why did you want to do the Performance Coach award?

The main reason I put myself forward for the award was to push and develop the sport and, in turn, further develop coaches and clients as well as personally. Basically to help the sport and help everyone who partakes in it!

How did working through the process help you develop?

Working through the process has really helped me to improve my long term coaching skills, and realise that clients reaching the answers is often more useful than coaches answering the questions too directly. It has helped me to realise that there is still just so much more to learn and develop and that will never change! I love SUP so any way to develop it helps!

The community event really helped to get me thinking about questioning and sending clients away more than perhaps I had up til that point - it helped me to realise just how much more there was to learn about coaching and still just how much more there is to learn yet! If there is the opportunity to do these again in the future rest assured if am not working I will jump at the opportunity and recommend them to everyone! The mentor sessions were really helpful to get me to look internally at my own self and why I coach the way I do which isn’t really something I had thought much of in depth before (despite thinking I had…). The coach developer days were really helpful to have feedback from my coaching at the performance level and in turn take away and reflect on the feedback to improve and further develop. How often do coaches really in all honesty get the chance to have feedback on their coaching?

What was the assessment like?

The assessment was lovely - in truth I don’t get stressed for assessments - I just enjoyed a really nice day on the water helping motivate great paddlers develop their skills and abilities. I had the luxury of being on the water with another great two coaches as well my assessor Sam and Lara who IV’ed.

From Richard (one of Jim's long term students):

The performance coaching has been one of the most influential days on the water for me ever. Beforehand, I described being at a plateau, I could do the things I could do, but no longer felt I was making progress on the rapids I was consistently failing at. The breakthrough was getting the benefit of being coached in a much more challenging environment.

Corrections to my feet positioning and when to change / move, better height management at the right moments, timing when to move my weight distribution on the board, better use of support strokes and working on each of these in more challenging water made such a difference. The margin of error is so small, that it took a lot of practice and lots of swimming but being able to make small adjustments and immediately get the feedback from the river and Jim meant the learning and understanding was really sticking.

I've since run the Middle Findhorn, probably my best ever WW run on a SUP - really happy with my choice of lines, confident in sticking to the line and probably never felt more in control doing so. Even pulled off two or three of the most complex moves I've ever managed, and you know it was good when the guys sitting in Kayaks are amazed you made it standing! It was no coincidence; the performance coaching has definitely unlocked "next level" performance and fun in equal measure.

Find out more:

If you are interested in the Performance Coach journey, the process can be started via a Community of Learning event. Our next event is at Grandtully Station Park on November 7th & 8th 2024.