| We are delighted to announce that we have recently been awarded two major grants to help the club introduce more people to the exciting sport of kayak racing. The first grant of £9600 of National Lottery funding comes from Sport England and this has already funded the purchase of five beginner racing kayaks and is supporting three volunteers in taking coaching qualifications. |  |
 | A further £4400 is to follow from an East Herts Council Community Grant towards the purchase of five more kayaks suitable as follow-on racing boats. Together, these will enable the club to run a programme of beginner training with the aim of tempting people into joining the club and taking up the sport regularly. |
BSCC is strongly focussed on kayak racing on rivers and canals ("flatwater racing"). This often appeals to those who have not settled into the more mainstream sports, delivering a unique blend of serious competitive challenge with the perennial fun of "messing about in boats". It is equally accessible to both sexes and a very wide age range, making it ideally suited to family groups. Personal fitness need not be high at the outset, but canoeing delivers a great deal of exercise to those who participate regularly.
 A new group of juniors begin training at the club | Racing requires a particular type of kayak.The grant has enabled us to purchase four extra boats of the most stable kind, suitable for new paddlers. From here, the beginners can gradually progress to lighter and sleeker craft which are harder to balance but can go faster. But the equipment alone is not enough - the magic ingredient is hours of teaching by racing coaches who can pass on the skills and techniques needed to master the sport. |
Unfortunately, both have been in limited supply at the club of late. A shortage of coaches brought recruitment into the club to an almost complete stop in 2018. A record number of people were keen to come along, but the club simply did not have enough coaches to teach new paddlers as well as training existing ones. Like most racing canoe clubs, BSCC is 100% volunteer-powered, and it typically costs in excess of £700 for a coach to became qualified - often at their own expense.
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Club chairman Andy White said: "We are delighted to have secured this investment to enable us to support our volunteer coaches - qualified coaches are the heart of the club, and without them we cannot thrive. Having the new beginner equipment will allow us to teach brand new paddlers in groups of similar ability which will be more efficient for the coaches and more fun for the participants".
| Thanks to the smart new boats provided by the Sport England National Lottery grant, and with the new trainees already acting as assistants to established coaches, the club is now offering weekend beginner courses for adults and older teens new to the sport, and a programme of four taster sessions on Sundays for youngsters (usually age 10-15). A two-day Starter course took place in September and there will be another in October - a third may take place in November depending on demand and the weather. More will follow in the spring. See our Join Us page for scheduled dates. |  Participants on a weekend Starter course in September |
The club is hugely grateful to Sport England and East Herts Council for their support - and of course to everyone who plays the National Lottery.
Anybody interested in giving kayaking a go should contact the secretary so that we can get you along to the club as soon as possible.
