Maidstone Canoe Club is proud of the depth and breadth of coaching skills our members have, and we work hard to provide an extremely supportive environment for coaches and trip leaders. We’re affiliated with British Canoeing and our coaches are able to offer training and assessment in a range of paddling disciplines, and certification for British Canoeing awards.
Coaching at the Club is co-ordinated by the Coaching Development Group, which aims to ensure the Club has sufficient appropriately-qualified coaches to offer a full program of events. The Coaching Development Group meets every couple of months (see calendar for next meeting) and welcomes anyone interested in how coaching is delivered at the Club. There’s also a Coaching Development Group mailing list. It’s not just for coaches and aspiring coaches, but for anyone who wants to contribute. Some of our areas of interest include:
The Club offers a range of coaching throughout the year, and the CDG tries to arrange a clear progression pathway for Club members who want it. We also arrange trips at various levels of ability so there is always something for everyone.
Maidstone Canoe Club is incredibly supportive of new coaches, and will generally fully-fund your coaching qualification (as long as you run a few courses in return). We can help with getting the pre-requisites you need to become qualified – your first aid, DBS checks, and personal performance awards. Please contact the Coaching Group Chair for more information and advice.
Great! You’ve got your first coaching qualification. Now what? Taking a group out on your own for the first time can be an intimidating prospect. We’ve got coaches at all levels of experience, and offer support and mentoring for all our newly-qualified coaches. Our beginner courses are fundamental to how the Club operates, and we help all new coaches to get up to speed on delivering them.
It’s easy to get in a rut when coaching – doing the same thing in the same way over and over again. As part of the Maidstone Canoe Club coaching team, you’ll have the opportunity to share ideas with a broad range of other coaches, both from your discipline and others. We run regular Coach Paddles, where coaches get out on the water together and try out new things in a non-judgemental and supportive environment. Continuous Professional Development is a requirement for all British Canoeing coaches, but we make it fun!
If you’re looking to move up the coaching pathway, or take part in another discipline, we can help with that too - our coaches are at all levels and can offer advice and training in most areas. The Club also often financially supports coaches moving on – speak to anyone on the Club committee about this.
Our current list of coaches can be seen here.
If you’d like to get involved in coaching at the Club, or want to pop along to a CDG meeting to see what it’s about, please request to join the mailing list on our contact us page and say hello!