ThePADDLER 46
MENTORSHIP IS NECESSARY , AND THIS IS WHY
At the same time , British Canoeing has just released a host of new leadership awards . These spans all aquatic environments , from swimming pools through the coasts and on to advanced whitewater . The leadership award scheme broadly focuses on a leader ’ s ability to deliver a safe and enjoyable adventure for their participants , which they will do by being skilled on the river and by their awareness of three major situational factors that allow them to make good tactical choices :
1 . Understanding of the people they ’ re guiding ( motivations , competencies and psychological states ). 2 . Awareness of the environment ( what is happening around them now , what will be happening later , and how this could affect their plans ). 3 . Awareness of the challenge level ( how hard the participants are finding / going to find what they ’ re doing and does this fit their motivations and competencies ?).
By regularly monitoring these situational factors , a leader can make solid tactical choices on where to go and manage the situations they encounter , be those individual rapids or rising water levels . When put together , this should , in theory , allow for a great trip every time . They are building the ride that the participants will get on and hopefully enjoy . This model works well for stand-alone trips , but if you ’ re involved with someone ’ s progression longer-term , maintaining this level of control will damage those who have been taken under the wing . Mentorship is necessary , and this is why .
THE ROLLERCOASTER THEORY
Rollercoasters are pretty damn good . When a person gets on a rollercoaster , they accept that they are about to be a passenger on the wildest train ride conceivable . By carrying stomachchurning speed through tight turns and steep drop-offs , the whole ride has been designed to leave you exhilarated whilst providing an ironclad guarantee of safety . No matter how much it rattles the nerves , participants are generally safe in the knowledge that the worst thing that can happen on a rollercoaster is that you receive a faceful of vomit from the person in the car in front .
On a rollercoaster , each person accepts that they will have absolutely no control of where the car is going . This is ok because safety is guaranteed by design . When we move this concept into the adventure sports setting ; however , leaders can only limit the environment ’ s risks ; they can never wholly remove them . Imagine if you were on a rollercoaster that you had no control over , but you knew that the ironclad safety guarantee was no longer there . At what point would thrills become terrors ? When does the excitement of anticipation become a disabling fear of the unknown ?
Paddling is obviously nothing like a rollercoaster . You have control of your boat , for starters , and it is your skills that get it round the track , no matter how nicely laid out the line is . In a boat , if your skill level isn ’ t up to the presented challenge , it can put you in real danger . When , as a participant , you feel that you are in a dangerous position , for the sake of your sanity , you have to find a way to take more control .