MANY PADDLERS call Terrace home and just last week, three new students were introduced to the sport during an intro kayaking course.

The program was a great success with the new students eager to learn about the sport of kayaking.

The class was introduced to a wide variety of skills, including forward sweeps, draw strokes, t-rescue etc. and the class had a chance to learn the kayak roll.

The course took place in the pool, which is a great safe place to begin.

Kim Ward-Robberts is a local paddler and instructor and during the session, she also took her BC Kayak Instructor Course-Open Water (NCCP Level 1).

“The fundamentals of kayaking are very important when you progress in the sport, many people think learning to roll is the only skill you need, but any kayaker will tell you...we are all working on our forward strokes,” says Ward-Robberts.

The skills learnt in the pool are easily transferable to the lake and whitewater.

There were six participants in the re-certification instructor course which was taught over two and a half days.

The first day was spent on the Skeena River (working on basic paddling skills) and the next day, they paddled the Kalum River and worked on more advanced river running skills and group leadership.

Ward-Robberts says that the key thing for her during this course was reviewing essential coaching techniques and the practical component of group management. This included risk management, site selection and emergency action plans for this region’s rivers.

“For me personally, I want to be able to provided quality instruction in a safe environment,” says Ward-Robberts.

“Don Barrie was able to articulate key points for safety and group facilitation. He is a great instructor and we all learnt a lot from him.”

Overall, the entire weekend was a success, as they utilized key partnerships such as Sport BC, Canoe Kayak BC and the City of Terrace.

From this session, ideas bloomed to grow and expand the Skeena River Runners into a CanoeKayak Club, to provide winter pool sessions in the near future for new members, to host kayaking clinics in the northwest and to provide river rescue clinics for members.