Paddle Scotland is the Governing Body for Paddlesport in Scotland and a founding member of Paddle UK (formerly British Canoeing).
We are a membership organisation comprising 4,000 individual members including over 2,300 qualified coaches.
We have a network of affiliated clubs and delivery partners throughout Scotland offering a range of paddlesport disciplines.
Paddlesport for All: Our Vision for Paddlesport in Scotland
'Paddlesport for All' is the Scottish Canoe Association's four year strategic vision for paddlesport in Scotland.
Building on our work of the last five years, 'Paddlesport for All: Our Vision for Paddlesport in Scotland' is designed to guide every aspect of the SCA and the Scottish paddling community as a whole, including volunteers, clubs, delivery partners, coaches and athletes.
Our Vision, Mission & Values
Vision
Everyone can paddle
We believe that paddlesport is something that everyone should be able to enjoy regardless of background or circumstances. We want to make the sport more accessible and will work in partnership with organisations to seek out how to remove real and perceived barriers that prevent people taking up and flourishing in our sport.
Mission
Working together to support the Scottish paddlesport community
The Scottish Paddlesport community is a strong and welcoming community of people and organisations and we will achieve more when we work together. We will continue to work with and support clubs, Delivery Partners and other organisations in their work to get people on the water.
Values
Inclusion, Leadership, Collaboration
We want paddlesport to be inclusive and for everyone to feel it is something that they can engage with on a lifelong basis. We aim to provide leadership to our sector particularly about best practices and how to keep people safe. We work collaboratively with all organisations that share our vision for the growth of our sport.
What We Do
Delivery Areas
Our eight delivery areas encompass the full range of activities, services and projects we deliver on behalf of members, partners and the wider community. We apply our approach to these Delivery Areas to help us achieve our vision and mission.
• Members, clubs, communities and organisations
• Recreational paddling
• Competition paddling
• Learning and development
• Safety, wellbeing and safeguarding
• Environment, access and facilities
• Grandtully Station Park
• Performance programme
Our Approach
Striving For Equality, Diversity And Inclusion
We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy paddlesport and are committed to promoting opportunities and to understanding and removing barriers so that everyone can paddle.
Focusing On People
People are at the heart of everything we do. We will continue to support members, volunteers and staff to enjoy paddlesport within Scotland.
Representing, Advocating And Supporting
We will continue to consult and engage on all matters relevant to our sport and our community.
Leadership And Coordination
Through our actions we will demonstrate effective and appropriate leadership within paddlesport.
Innovation
We will continue to develop new events and ways to support paddlesport participants and organisations including through online and digital platforms.
Caring For The Environment
We will be a leader in supporting the preservation of our Environment for future generations of paddlers.
Resilient Operations And Infrastructure
We will continue to ensure that all our systems and processes are fit for purpose in order to support our desired outcomes.
Good Governance
We will ensure that we operate within an appropriate and transparent governance framework.
Collaborating And Working Through Partnerships
We will increase the number of partnerships we have with other organisations, not limited to the sport sector.
Our Goals
A resilient and embedded culture of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across paddlesport
'Paddlesport For All' describes our ambition for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) to be central to our sport. Whether it’s through the work of our dedicated equality groups or through our focus on inclusive paddlesport and work towards achieving the advanced level of the equality standard in sport, in four years time we will see our culture of EDI as further embedded and resulting in us naturally providing opportunities for everyone to paddle.
A larger, more cohesive and more diverse community of paddlers
Our strategy will mean more people benefit from the community, social impact and wellbeing aspects of paddlesport. Diverse communities will be built through their connection to paddlesport.
Increased engagement and reach
We will broaden our reach beyond our traditional membership and club communities, engaging in newer occasional recreational participants. For every coach or leader qualified through our programmes, hundreds of participants will experience paddlesport.
More opportunities to participate and progress through our sport
Scotland has some of the best paddling environments in the world. 'Paddlesport for All' will create more opportunities for people across all of Scotland, who want to take to the water for recreational or competitive activity.
Modern, vibrant and sustainable clubs and paddlesport organisations
We will continue to support and evolve our network of affiliated clubs, Delivery Partners and other paddlesport organisations to be modern, vibrant and sustainable, meeting the needs of communities and customers.
A greater awareness of water safety
A key element of 'Paddlesport for All' is that people can safely engage with in paddlesport. We will build on our safety resources and messaging to respond to the growing volume of new paddlers and work in partnership with other organisations to help keep paddlers safe.
Stronger partnerships
'Paddlesport for All' will help grow our existing network of partners with whom we work closely to work towards our respective missions. We know we achieve more by combining resources and expertise.
Our People
To achieve our vision and deliver our strategy we have a great community of people to make this happen.
Board of Directors: Our volunteer board members have a diverse range of experience of different aspects of the sport, voluntary sector organisations, business and governance.
Staff Team: Our distributed team of professional staff run our operations.
● Chief Executive
● Chief Operating Officer
● Head of Pathways and Performance
● Development Managers
● Marketing & Communications Manager
● Operations Officers
● Performance Coaches in Slalom and Sprint disciplines
● Grandtully Station Campsite staff
Development Groups: Our network of discipline development groups comprise over 50 volunteers with specialist interest and experience in various aspects of the sport. Together they input to and deliver a wide range of projects and are supported by the staff team.
● Discipline Development Groups for Canoe Polo, Marathon Racing, Slalom, Sprint, SUP, Surf, Wild Water Racing, Freestyle, Ocean Racing
● Event Organising Groups
Equality Groups: To support our drive for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion our Equality Group plus seven equality sub-groups have been formed, comprising volunteers with specialist interest in helping people with various protected characteristics to benefit from our sport.
Read the SCA Plan 2022-2025
'Paddlesport for All', as introduced above, is the SCA's long-term strategic vision for paddlesport in Scotland.
Underpinning every aspect of what the SCA does is a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in Scottish paddlesport. Our vision “everyone can paddle” reflects this and we strive to fulfil this aim throughout all aspects of this strategic plan. The SCA recently achieved the Advanced Level of the Equality Standard in Sport.
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