In Spring 2024, Proteus Canoe Club received funding through the England Slalom Club Support Scheme to support a 10 week Slalom Start programme. The programme set out to open up the sport of canoe slalom to young paddlers new to the sport to build their skills to a level where they could take part in club activities of all disciplines, and compete in entry-level slaloms and Proteus race nights.
This National Inclusion Week, we caught up with Mick Stegeman at Proteus to find out the impact of the project and their plans for the future.
Can you tell us a bit more about the Slalom Start Programme? Where did the idea come from?
We had an idea to launch a Slalom Start programme to teach and coach Canoe Slalom to first time canoeists. The ultimate goal was to support them to become active members of the club as they gain competence, experience and develop a love of paddling.
Keeping our paddlers safe and warm was a primary concern, and club kit donated by members over the years was in a bit of a sad state and in adult sizes. The funding we received allowed us to purchase new spraydecks and centre cags for the programme. This enabled seven young first-time canoeists to start a 10-week slalom introduction programme, leading to them all becoming new members of the club.
How successful has the Programme been for these seven paddlers? What has the impact been for them?
I think it has been enormously successful – we had a tough start with cold weather, high water and lots of mud but all seven that started kept coming back! We were simply astounded with their determination and their rapid progress. Everyone in the group grew in confidence, and while everyone developed their skills at different rates, all were able to compete at our race nights and in national ranking slaloms by the end of the programme.
Our paddlers have continued paddling since the programme, most regularly training in slalom, others continuing in our fun sessions. We have seen them compete in wild water racing and try paddleboarding, C1 and C2.
If you measure success in competition terms, our paddlers have had lots of podium positions at the events they’ve attended but the real success is seeing them develop their abilities and friendships, and they can now choose to take their sport as far as they want to. They are canoeists now and will always have the skills that they have developed with us.
What impact has the Programme had on the club? Will the club be running new Slalom Start Programmes, or focus on another area?
The club has been enriched by the arrival of the new members, their parents and even siblings have been involved, and all have helped at club events and sessions. Our existing members have been fantastic too, this is the first programme of its type for a number of years and it has drawn on the experience, assistance and dedication of a lot of club members. We have got to know each other better and it has really brought us together.
Slalom Start evenings have now become our entry level training and race nights, increasing the amount of water time we get as a club. Without doubt, we will run the programme again – we have siblings of the first group interested and we want to offer the opportunity to participate in canoe slalom to others.
The way we see it, the Slalom Start programme develops the skills necessary to handle whitewater, react to changing conditions, make the right decisions under pressure and prepares paddlers for every discipline. Ours is a diverse sport, there is something for everyone.
What advice would you give to a club looking to try out something similar to engage with young paddlers? Is there anything you’d do differently?
Get on and do it! There is some preparation to do and we took our time over the winter to prepare well. Safety for everyone is paramount, so we spent a lot of time on the “what if?” questions. Don’t underestimate the value of involving parents – our experience is that they want to know as much as the paddlers do, and this really helps to improve the safety and overall experience for everyone.
Ask other clubs – we gained a lot from the Paddle UK Coaching Conference, and from the Clubhouse. This was my go-to place when I had questions, especially talking to larger clubs – I had no idea that so much knowledge was out there.
Get the qualifications – the club invested in instructor qualifications for lots of members, and it was so important to know that we could rely on our members to support and rescue while we were coaching.
Anything we’d do differently? Next year we will start in May instead of April – we battled high water and cold weather which made the first sessions quite tough for paddlers, coaches and supporters. Hot chocolate makes a world of difference at the end of a session!