Glenmore Lodge Paddlesport Team Training Week: Community of Practice
After a long, hard-working winter in the mountains the Glenmore Lodge Paddlesport season has kicked off. Just as with winter mountains, the stoke mindset for a summer of paddling kicks in. Some of you out there stay in that space year-round, whereas up here in Scotland it tends to ebb and flow through the winter.
To get us going we gathered our team together and set a few themes for different days of the week. Monday was a general catch and round up with a theoretical session from former GB Olympian Snowboarder Lesley McKenna. She set us to task with a look at our Coaching as a Team:
With multi-craft representation and delivery, the paddlesport team then split on Tuesday. The Whitewater Kayakers hit the Upper River Moriston with a follow-on focus of getting the team working together and strategies for controlling, managing, and removing negative emotions that inhibit our performance. We were fortunate to have the added value of Ed Smith and Paul Robertson along to give us some of their questionable wisdom. The Open Canoeists took to Perthshire Garry gorge using a variety of paddling and trad skills, sharing practice on technical and tactical models for these skills. Paddling on what was a new section of water for most also meant that control of adrenaline and anticipation was another focus…
On Wednesday there was another team split with Sea Kayakers heading to the Falls of Lora to share and learn what white water paddlers can and cannot do with a sea kayak and what sea kayakers already know about paddling their craft in a high tidal flow environment.
The other team were Stand Up Paddleboarding and they had an outstanding (get it?) day around Portknockie and Bow Fiddle Rock on the Moray Coast, focussing there on the team and craft being managed in a rocky coastal location with swell, wind and wildlife. This was useful preparation for our new SUP courses that are running in June.
The final two days were spent cruising the Great Glen in open canoes under sail and paddle. They sampled one of the new ‘Rest’ points, as well as one of the older ones…combined with an overnight camp…stories yet to be told…
As our week came to a close, Glenmore Lodge was gearing up for its annual hosting of the Scottish Canoe Association Club Volunteer Conference, which involved over 120 paddlers from clubs all over Scotland and had a real buzz about the place. It was also a great warm up for next the Scottish Women’s Paddle Symposium based at Glenmore Lodge in May that’ll see 150 female paddlers come together for the weekend.
It’s always fantastic to have so many enthusiastic members of the paddlesport community converge at the Lodge for events like this where folks come together to share knowledge, socialise, and of course get out on the water for some paddling.
