The Scottish Canoe Association’s annual Paddle show is growing this year, and being transformed into Scotland’s Festival of Paddlesport. It will take place on the weekend of 24th-26th October, at the Dewars Centre in Perth and, most excitingly, at the adjacent Perth Leisure Pool.
Across the weekend there will be a number of events taking place in the pool; one of these will be “Come and Try” sessions. The show this year is aimed not only at existing paddlers, but also at all those who have dabbled in paddlesports on holiday, used to paddle years ago, or have never event sat in a boat but would love to try. On top of that, we’re bringing in a whole host of slightly unusual craft for existing paddlers to try out – corracles, kit boats, packrafts, surf skis.
For this – and particularly for the new paddlers – we need your help. We’re looking for 3-4 coaches Saturday and the same number on Sunday, ideally from different clubs and with knowledge of a variety of disciplines. There will not be any structured coaching, these really will be fun sessions, but it’s about helping people in and out of boats, giving them the very basics of how to control a boat, and keeping an eye out from a safety perspective (there will be qualified lifeguards on site as well).
There is also the opportunity for club representatives to introduce themselves to potential new members. If you have members who are going to attend the show, and who would be willing to be a point of contact, then please let me know – this would just be a question of them letting organisers know when they arrive and leave, being given a sticker with their name and club, and being willing to come to the SCA desk if they’re called over tannoy because someone wants to know about clubs in your area.
Anyone who is interested in coaching at the pool please contact me directly onLaura.bennitt@canoescotland.org for more details. If you have potential club representatives please also let me know.
Equally if you’d like to help out in any other capacity please get in touch!
Many thanks
Laura