Our SCA coaches are working with our sprint and slalom squads and have been adapting their working approaches to give the best support possible to the paddlers. Here are a few practical ideas for working remotely with your paddlers:

• Be realistic but creative. It may be possible to create land-based training that can help your paddlers to build strength, mobility and endurance. Think carefully about the demands of paddling your discipline(s) and think if there are ways you can deliver equivalent sessions online and/or at home.
• Routine. Particularly if you are working with younger paddlers, they are used to routine so this change will have completely disrupted these well-established routines. If you are delivering sessions at home (see our section on online platforms) then try to deliver these at the same or similar times as normal. We’ve had great feedback from our young paddlers about the simple act of having some clear times in the week when they’ll be doing particular sessions.
• Physically distant but closely connected. Try to use online platforms to bring paddlers together, both for training sessions as well as for social occasions. Building on the regular routines above, regularly connecting people is really good for their mental health as well as making it easier to get through hard sessions together. If you have any suggestions on how the SCA can improve on communications, please get in contact with us
• Build and manage coach-athlete relationships. Sophia Jowett, world expert in coach-athlete relationships has produced some specific guidance for building and managing relationships when working remotely that we recommend taking a look at.
• Do the things you never have time to do normally. Why not write a list of tasks and get on it. They might be really simple things like teaching people about equipment or certain principles. One of our slalom coaches is going to show his paddlers a video of an unfamiliar river then get them to work out where all the features are and design a plan to get down a course using their model so be creative!

1. Delve into the Digital Library – This FREE online tool includes a wide range of resources to support your learning and development across the disciplines, from videos, audio books, blogs, presentations, academic research and much more, there’s something for everyone!
2. Explore the eLearning packages – There are a range of knowledge bites including ‘Buoyage’, ‘Nutrition and Hydration’ and ‘Introduction to Environmental Awareness’. Alternatively, check out the ‘Develop your Coaching Craft’ and ‘Leadership’ eLearning, to support your coaching and leading. Now could be a great time to work through the ‘Personal Performance Awards eLearning’ so you’re ready to run the awards once we’re back out on the water!
3. Develop using the Coach Self-Analysis Tool – This tool enables you to gauge your current level of understanding, skill and knowledge in your chosen discipline. This tool then gives you a personal overview of your current practice, giving a holistic overview, as well as a specific breakdown in each of the areas. The analysis offers considerations of how you may want to support your continual learning and development.
4. Listen to ‘the Coaching Podcast’ – The Coaching Podcast, hosted by Lee Pooley, Sid Sinfield and Pete Catterall, explore a range of topics including ‘How can we make our assessments empowering?’, ‘Maximising sessions through good gate sessions’ and ‘How to get started and develop as a Coach?’.
5. Become a Guide or complete an APL application – Now is a great opportunity to gather your evidence and complete a Guide Endorsement Form or an ‘Accredited Prior Learning’ form if you’re looking to bypass training. Once we’re back on the water, you can then complete the final steps of the Guide Endorsement or take your assessment.

While coaches clearly have less contact with their paddlers, this is a great opportunity to invest in your own development. 

• Identify opportunities. There is a huge amount of content out there on social media, websites etc so before you start diving into these why not take a moment to consider what your learning needs are.  If you are working your way through a qualification, why not take the chance to review where you are at on this journey and see if there are new needs for your progression or feedback to take a second look at.  While you might not get the answers you were hoping for, it’s always incredibly powerful to ask your paddlers what they think your strengths and areas for development are.  One of the features of successful learners is that they don’t just work at what they’re already good at, they also work at the areas they need to improve.  So if, for example, you have very good technical knowledge, why not consider different areas like coach-athlete relationships, planning, pedagogy, skill acquisition and so on.
• Knock on doors. One of the joys of the modern world being so closely connected is that it’s easier than ever to ask wise people good questions!  You’d be amazed by how open many experts are to having separate 1:1 online calls or answering questions on social media if you ask them politely.  So, seek out your paddling and coaching heroes and ask them questions; the worst they can do is say no and my experience has been that they rarely do this!
• Share your expertise. On the flip side, you might find other coaches coming to you and asking for your thoughts.  Be a good coaching citizen, share and offer to help if you have some time.
• Curate your own learning. This is the trickiest part of online coach development, there is so much content out there, the hard part is knowing what to pick up and what to put down. Spending time identifying your learning needs at the start will make this much easier. Try not to flit between different areas too much and always check the validity and credentials of any information that you come across. We’d recommend taking a look at the British Canoeing online coach learning opportunities, sportscotland CPD offering as well as UK Coaching’s CPD offering which includes lots of free materials which were previously only for subscribers and is temporarily available for anyone.
• Ask for help. If you’re keen to learn and progress yourself during this time, please get in touch with us and we’ll happily direct you to the most relevant support for your needs.

We recognise the current restrictions resulting from COVID-19 are having an impact on paddlers working towards coaching and leadership qualifications. 

We are here to support learners at this time and are pleased to offer an extension of 12 months to all members with a registration for a coaching or leadership award expiring between 1st March and 30th June 2020. 

Further, all those who have previously completed leadership training with an expiry date between 16th March to 16th September 2020 will automatically be extended by 12 months. 

No action is required by learners and the records have been updated automatically. 

Whilst opportunities to gather practical experience are clearly limited at this time, learners can still make use of the leadership eLearning and other learning resources in the British Canoeing Digital Library. 

The SCA recognise this as a difficult time and could be worrying for individuals and anyone deploying supervised paddlesport activities.

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have provided further guidance on First Aid Qualifications.

For anyone who is required to renew their First Aid qualification from the 16th March 2020 and is unable to access a course, we are providing a FREE eLearning course that will be recognised by all National Associations.

The First Aid Extension eLearning is a 15 minute programme which requires both your full name and National Association membership number.  After completion of the course, your attendance will be communicated to your National Association and your record updated.

This online resource acts as an extension and is not a replacement for a face to face First Aid programme, The HSE, will be allowing extensions up until the 30th September 2020 and would expect within this time period a renewal course to be attended.

During the COVID-19 period specific guidelines have been provided for first aiders and we recommend that all first aiders read and follow the advice from the Resuscitation Council (UK).

Click here to Open Resource

British Canoeing E-Learning