SUP Mag UK lo-res free to readers April 2014 lo-res free to read | Page 40

Good will, hard work
and determination
The guys at Starboard UK helped me out on the kit side
and offered advice and support – I just needed the training
side of things in place.

Central
SUP –
playing
its part
The UK club scene was
going from strength to
strength and Central
SUP played a key part.
Last year the highly
anticipated UK SUP
Clubs Race Series was
born – something
Central SUP helped
create. To top it all off
we found another
venue for a third
branch of Central SUP.
West Midlands Water
Ski Centre provides us
with top notch
facilities and access to
a great body of water.
The first ever Midlands
based SUP Festival, as
part of the UK SUP Club
Series, will happen
here in May –
something we are very
excited about.

A conversation with Steve West put me on the road to
becoming an ASI instructor. Scott and I headed to Norfolk
like a couple of giddy school girls and attended our course.
It really opened my eyes. I thought I could paddle, but a
couple of days under Steve's watchful eye told me I had no
clue. His teaching made sense and my paddle technique
is something I always refine.
With our ASI tickets won Scott and I made the journey
home, discussing how we would build our SUP empire. That
was early April and our funding was hopefully going to be
approved later that month. We would purchase more boards
and aim for a May start.
We realised the club would work best affiliated to the BCU
– this would give us a support network, which we had seen
work elsewhere.
Roles were simple; Scott was vice chairman and I was
chairman, with my wife secretary.

Launch day
At the beginning of May we launched the club. It was
wet and cold but our supportive friends came down and
joined up. From that point we had regular club
paddles around Tamworth.
Weather was poor that year but interest grew steadily
and numbers began to increase. This was a very steep
learning curve – we made mistakes and learnt from
them.
As winter drew in we had good membership numbers
and a thriving club atmosphere. We taught people how
to paddle and managed to become the first ever SUP
club to secure funding from Sport England. Our regulars
started to contribute to the club and our SUP family
grew from there.

This year is shaping up
to be the best yet for
SUP and we can't wait.
Why not start your own
SUP club and join the
family?

C h r i s K e n y o n i s t h e f o u n d i n g c h a i r m a n o f C e n t r a l S U P.
Yo u c a n f i n d o u t m o re a b o u t C h r i s a n d t h e c l u b b y v i s i t i n g
http://centralsup.net/

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