YOU ARE PART OF BRITISH CANOEING ’ S FEMALE DEVELOPMENT GROUP . CAN YOU TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT IT ?
21
“ The Female Development Group aims to expand the knowledge and experiences of female paddlers and those that support them .
“ Every Friday we run a # FemaleFriday feature on British Canoeing ’ s social channels to highlight subject areas that impact female training or day to day life .
“ Our Female champions across sprint , slalom and paracanoe also help us to promote our messaging across the disciplines and we ’ re hoping to create sanitary boxes for clubs to support female paddlers attending clubs too .”
WHAT ’ S THE BEST THING ABOUT COACHING ?
“ Seeing an athlete achieve what they set out to do , whether that be in a training session or a race . Seeing an athlete achieve their goal is phenomenal !”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT THE SPORT AS A COACH ?
“ I wish I understood the benefits that being stronger would have had on my paddling ability . I don ’ t think I ever took the time to really amalgamate how improvements in the gym would bring about improvements on the water , be that technically or powerfully .”
WHAT WOULD YOUR ADVICE BE TO ANY FEMALES WHO MIGHT BE CONSIDERING GETTING INTO COACHING ?
“ Don ’ t ever believe you can ’ t ! I doubted myself during the first couple of years , but I believed in my strengths as a coach and overtime I ’ ve been able to see these come out in myself , which has furthered my confidence .
“ If you care about others and have compassion which are probably classed as ‘ female attributes ’ then don ’ t be scared of having and showing them . They are great attributes to have and should be seen as a strength in coaching .” Q
A
Canoe Focus Late Summer 2021