{"id":16309,"date":"2018-05-10T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=16309"},"modified":"2018-04-30T14:30:28","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T21:30:28","slug":"how-not-to-teach-whitewater-kayaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2018\/05\/10\/how-not-to-teach-whitewater-kayaking\/","title":{"rendered":"How Not to Teach Whitewater Kayaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the best parts of coming into your own as a paddler is becoming confident and proficient enough to share the stoke of kayaking with others. It doesn\u2019t take long to realize that going kayaking and teaching kayaking are two totally different skill sets, and being good at one doesn\u2019t necessarily translate into being good at the other. That would be the case for me, now a full-time kayak instructor, when I casually dipped my toe in the waters of teaching more than four years ago, I wasn’t great.<\/span><\/p>\n

I started as a safety boater, then moved to an instruction shadow, before finally leading on my own. The lessons I could only learn through trial and error as a recreational paddler\u2014the need to wear socks under a dry suit, She-Wees require practice in a controlled environment, and showing off for the camera usually results in documented proof of dorking\u2014seemed to reappear in virtue as I came in to my own as a kayak instructor. <\/span><\/p>\n

Growing and improving as an instructor means making mistakes, and I\u2019ve made my fair share to learn the important lessons along the way. In hopes of keeping you out of some of the pickles I\u2019ve been in and at the risk of sounding like a chump while sharing some of my more impactful instruction blunders, I share with you a few key lessons I\u2019ve learned about how not to teach kayaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Forget your breakdown paddle<\/strong>. I could regale you with an epic recollection of one of my most embarrassing river blunders to date, but here\u2019s the quick and dirty: I forgot my breakdown paddle, and unlike the many days before where I didn\u2019t have my breakdown and it didn\u2019t matter, on this particular day, it did. There\u2019s nothing worse than being in the midst of a great day with a fired up group and losing your paddle, only to realize you left your breakdown (read: spare) at home and the only option is a crappy hike out. If you\u2019re lucky, like I was that day, the paddle you lost to the river bottom will pop up and start to float past you, and you\u2019ll just barely be fast enough to jump in your boat and grab it to narrowly save the day.<\/p>\n

But seriously, this one is easy. All you have to do is ask yourself what you would do if someone lost or broke a paddle on the stretch of river you\u2019re teaching on. Use that question as a guide to determine the necessity of a breakdown or not. Really, if you\u2019re teaching, it\u2019s nice to have a backup to keep your student in the moment rather than having to cut the day short, regardless of how easy it is to take off the river. And if you opt for hand paddles instead of a breakdown, you better be able to rescue, wrangle, assist, and attain with those hand paddles just like you would with your paddle; otherwise, you need a breakdown instead.<\/p>\n

For me, all I needed was a little scare from the river to learn my lesson; the breakdown now has a permanent spot on my gear checklist for just about any and every section of river I paddle.<\/p>\n

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Tell your horror stories. <\/strong>In my early days as an assistant instruction, I used to share experiences like, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve run this whole rapid on my head dozens of times!\u201d or \u201cI\u2019ve had a swim here and it wasn\u2019t bad at all,\u201d as a means of trying to quell nerves and level with paddlers who were exceptionally anxious about the rapid ahead. In retrospect, I\u2019d say this had a 50\/50 success rate, with some people latching on to the idea of \u201cWell, if that\u2019s the worst that can happen\u2026\u201d and feeling confident, and others shrinking back as the idea of being upside down in a rapid or taking a swim was merely highlighting their biggest fears.<\/p>\n

Think hard about sharing your stories of crashing and burning with your students, and know why you\u2019re sharing them, and when. Instruction isn\u2019t about you and how you\u2019ve survived, it\u2019s about empowering your students to persist through their own challenges, not carry yours in the back of their mind. I\u2019ve had just as many students shut down and clam up from hearing personal stories of epic swims or surfs because their fears latch onto all that went wrong with the story, not the eventual triumph. Use caution and tread lightly, and save the stories of bloody noses and dislocated shoulders for another time.<\/p>\n

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Hold them back. <\/strong>A few summers ago, I had a great beginner lesson with a father and son who caught on quickly to my instruction and showed immediate aptitude with everything I threw at them. The class was great, the students were fired up, and when we finished for the day, they asked about possible next steps to paddle on their own. Knowing they were out-of-towners who probably wouldn\u2019t have a group of knowledgeable boaters with them, I suggested a beginner stretch of river nearby that offered minimal challenge or safety concerns.<\/p>\n

A few days later, I learned that they had considered my suggestion of river section, and politely paddled somewhere else instead. \u201cI hadn\u2019t even thought about suggesting that run!\u201d I remember exclaiming, and I really hadn\u2019t. They apparently had an excellent day paddling and exploring another Class II river in the area with no notable incident other than a whole lot of fun.<\/p>\n

As a kayak instructor, it isn\u2019t my job to hold my students back; it\u2019s to enable them. Unless the desires of the paddler are completely reckless and dangerous, I have to be able to assess and understand the motivations of my students, and that means offering pathways for various progressions apart from my own. The section of river my guys went to was well within their skill set, and the worst that would have happened\u2014and maybe even did happen, for all I know\u2014was a swim and some bumps and bruises.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, I\u2019ve learned to present multiple options to my students who are hungry for more while asking questions about potential outcomes instead of not talking about them at all. \u201cIf you head to River A and have a swim in all the major rapids, are you alright with accepting those consequences? How about the impact on your group? What if you lose gear?\u201d Having a frank discussion about acceptable outcomes with students that are motivated has turned out to be a more positive way to channel motivation of exceptionally fired up students than just saying \u2018no\u2019 right off the bat.<\/p>\n

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Forget what it\u2019s like to have baggage.<\/strong> Earlier this year, I began physical therapy for some nagging shoulder and shin issues that were keeping me from playing hard. My physical therapist took me through a full-body assessment to check my all around wellness. As she poked, prodded, and pulled me in or out of positions, she would gently remind me to relax, sometimes multiple times while I tried to achieve the same position. In my head, I was yelling, \u201cI AM relaxed!\u201d and grew frustrated. After patient manipulation, though, it became clear to me that I wasn\u2019t relaxed at all, and I had a lot of work to do in order to achieve the relaxation that would precede the desired strength and fitness.<\/p>\n

I had to laugh about my frustration on my way home from the session. I often find myself repeating a mantra of relaxation to my students as they uncomfortably try to work their way through new and unfamiliar exercises. While I strive not to take the beginner\u2019s mind for granted, it had been a while since I had felt the blockade of external baggage blocking my performance in a seemingly unrelated exercise.<\/p>\n

The simple experience of not being able to relax my muscles or deepen my breath during my physical therapy session was an apt reminder of what it\u2019s like for many of my students as I poke, prod, and gently remind or repeat mantras for success; sometimes a lack of progress isn\u2019t for lack of trying, and can be attributed to baggage elsewhere in the student\u2019s life that just so happens to bubble to the surface while trying to improve. Remembering what it\u2019s like to be new or frustrated by never forgetting what it\u2019s like to be a work in progress is imperative to staying relevant and effective to your students.<\/p>\n