On and off-water training camp free of charge for Senior/Junior National Canoe/Kayak Slalom Team + Canoe/Kayak Slalom Medalists from Senior/Junior Nationals and Junior Olympics. Coaches are welcome. Others can apply (registration fee applies) if interested. Training will be governed by USACK, USOC and Positive Coaching Alliance guidelines.

Coaches? Athletes?
How do you design training? Are you curious? Creative? Or do you just open the book and apply what has been done before?

The USOC Coaches' Magazine Winter 2009 edition addresses these questions and more....

View it as a Web page:
http://coaching.usolympicteam.com/coaching/kpub.nsf/v/0209 or download it for your files.

Subscribe free of charge at
http://coaching.usolympicteam.com/coaching/ksub.nsf

How is a performer's ability to learn affected by comfort and perception?
One perspective can be found at this link http://www.feldnet.com/Readings/AFeldenkraisLessonattheConservatoryofMusic/tabid/131/Default.aspx
Similar experiences have been reported by paddlers after Awareness Through Movement lessons and related on-water projects designed to address perception and comfort in meeting technical challenges.

http://vids.eu.org/view-id-1927847.html
Great link for a view of old-school wildwater racing at the 1989 World Championships, held on the Savage River in western Maryland.
Thanks to Jim Stuart for finding this and passing it along!

Silvan Poberaj has been US National Slalom Team Coach since the early 1990s and is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest slalom coaches in the world for his work with US and Slovenian athletes.
Go to http://www.whitewaterslalom.us/warming-up.html to read his article on Warming Up In Slalom. Poberaj gives very specific information for effective warmup for racing and different types of training, including clear explanations which will help readers understand how each component of the warmup contributes to the final performance.

go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOt3VOmgBr0 for a perspective on the importance of teamwork and possible options for team building

go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVFSEsD2OHo for some video of another type of canoe paddling

The Feldenkrais Method® for Paddlers:
Mobility On the Water
Cathy Hearn, Feldenkrais® Practitioner

Some Mobility On the Water lessons originated as a sequence. This lesson is part of a series entitled World of Rotation. You may want to do the related lesson: Sequential Spiral: initiating rotation from different levels of the spine before moving on to the following. If you are a canoeist, you should also do the Tilt and Spin lesson for the cross-stroke spin.

Rotation with Mind in Top Hand: application to upstream gates
First published 11/05

After an easy warmup, do the Body Scan in the Boat at rest. Observe sensation, contact, place in space of lower body, torso, upper body components. Paddle again straight, forward, backward and turning, noticing boat tilt/lean, sensation, contact and place in space of body parts, especially knees, hips and butt as you paddle.

The Feldenkrais Method® for Paddlers:
Mobility On the Water

Cathy Hearn, Feldenkrais® Practitioner

The use of The Feldenkrais Method® in conjunction with the coaching of paddling technique aids in developing each athlete’s awareness of boat, body, paddle and water. An increased ability to sense subtle distinctions allows us to better understand and control the technique currently available to us, while making it easier to invent and to utilize efficient new technique.

My fundamental premise in working with individual paddlers is that each of them has developed a great strategy for their own unique combination of boat, body and mind. Each knows the best way for his/her own situation. I communicate my respect for the solutions that they have developed and applied, and encourage them to honor their own expertise. I explain my philosophy of working with them to develop additional customized options which will help them to be more efficient and to deal more easily with a variety of paddling challenges.