Inverness Canoe Club offers a variety of courses throughout the year, enabling members to develop their personal skills, as well as embark on the UKCC coaching pathway.
Each year we run an Introduction to Paddlesports course, as well as a Refresher Course. If you want to give paddlesports a try for the first time or have done some paddling in the past, but would like to refresh your skills, then these courses might be for you. Both will allow you to gain confidence in the pool, before progressing outside onto the Caledonian Canal at the Muirtown Basin. During the outdoor training sessions you will be able to try out sea and river kayaks, as well as open or ‘Canadian’ canoes. Having completed the training sessions, there will be the opportunity to put your newly learned skills into practice on trips on river, loch and sea. By the end of the course, most people will have enough experience to join in club trips and begin exploring the Highlands with the aid of their paddle!
The Introduction and Refresher courses take place in the spring, so that participants are able to take full part in club trips over the summer. Unfortunately, our volunteer club coaches do not have the capacity to run these courses more than once a year – but, if you do miss out on these opportunities, there are plenty of other ways to gain experience, including through some of the very good commercial providers locally.
The club aims to offer further skills and safety courses throughout the year, at as reasonable cost as possible, to allow members to develop their skills. New sea paddlers can benefit from being part of the coached group every Wednesday evening through the summer.
We also provide support for those wishing to gain coaching and leadership qualifications, providing that they commit to coach in the club in return. Our policy on support available to those seeking coaching and leadership qualifications has recently been updated and can be found here, along with an application form. Please contact the relevant discipline lead or any Club Board member for advice. Coaching isn’t just for “experts”, the Club is keen to encourage all members to consider becoming paddlesport instructors, after they have gained a basic level of paddling proficiency, so after just one year, you could be teaching someone else the fundamentals of paddlesport!
Dates will also be put into the Club Calendar and will be announced by email and posted on the WebCollect booking portal (make sure you are logged in to see). If you have any suggestions for future courses/training (whether following a BCU syllabus, or focusing on specific skills, such as rescues or incident management), please contact info@invernesscc.org.uk.
Anyone involved in the Club should think about attending the Scottish Canoe Association Coach and Volunteer Conference at Glenmore Lodge, which takes place every April. It is an excellent opportunity to receive some great coaching and maybe secure a skills qualification – and its a great bargain! You don’t even have to be a member of the SCA, just be an active member of the ICC.