Instruction Committee Floats Ideas for 2025
By Gary Steinberg, Instruction Committee Co-Chair
An energetic and ideal filled ad hoc instruction committee is developing ideas for 2025. We welcome your input, ideas, and participation! Contact Gary at garymsteinberg@gmail.com.
Committee members are Anna Normand, Tom Hackman, Lynn Miller, Risa Shimoda, Cotton, Dean Hawes, and Rolo Arrieta (Safety Committee chair). Our goals include supporting CCA members' paddling development, enabling participation in more club trips, recruiting and retaining members, and having fun!
We have recommended to the Board that CCA's approach to instruction include both programs and activities led by CCA members as volunteers, and also include contracting with professional instructors and organizations as we think appropriate to offer additional opportunities to our members. This could include CCA contracting directly with the service provider, or providing scholarships for members making individual arrangements.
Following are ideas and recommendations from the committee members. The Safety Committee has a number of proposals and plans, so the Instruction Committee will stay in communication with them.
- CCA Progressive Trips Series: "Stepping it Up" (Tom). This would progress from winter pool sessions to spring season Potomac trips such as Little Falls, to harder rivers like the Lower Yough (LoYo) or Stonycreek, and possibly later in the season to the Cheat Canyon and Upper Yough.
- CCA Trips, "New to X" (Group). Trips to Staircase, Little Falls, Hopeville Canyon, Patapsco, Stony, Bloomington, LoYo, etc.
- Kayak clinics led by a professional instructor (Group).
- Ladies over 50 clinics and paddling sessions (Risa).
- Paddling Coach during CCA Trips (Gary and others). People who are new to a particular run and/or want to work on skills during a trip could sign up for a coach to accompany them and provide support and/or instruction.
- Scholarships for CCA Members to take classes (Cotton, Rolo, Gary). CCA would pay part or all of the cost for CCA members for some classes. In the past we have provided money to help pay for folks taking a safety and rescue class, with the understanding that they would coordinate some trips. We might expand this approach to include supporting skills instruction, certification, first aid, etc. We would need to decide who was eligible for which scholarships.
Most of the above ideas require follow-up to make them happen, including getting specific about dates and people leading the effort, and on outreach to potential participants.
The Instruction Committee has a contract with Jordan Taylor for the following three classes:
- CCA Canoe Clinic on the Potomac, June 9
- CCA Canoe Clinic on the LoYo, Aug .18
- CCA Advanced Kayak Clinic on the LoYo, Aug. 22
Marilyn Jones, Treasurer, has processed a $750 (50 percent) deposit to Jordan to reserve the dates. The estimated cost per participant is $100 to $150 depending on number of participants. Ideally CCA would realize a small net profit on the clinic.
Pool Session Skills and Strokes Mini-Clinics (Rolo & Gary). These would happen as part of the Takoma Park pool sessions. We suggest the skill clinics fit into the larger plan for the pool sessions. There will be a pool session every Tuesday evening in January, February, and March. SoulTrak session schedule: Jan. 4, Feb. 11, Feb. 25, and Mar 11. Safety mini-clinics schedule: Jan. 28, Feb. 18, and coinciding with the SoulTrak sessions Feb. 25, Mar. 11
Below are some suggested resources that could be posted to the CCA website, all local except for Riversport on the Yough. Some of them offer camps for kids.
The DMV's local paddling schools offering L3 and/or L4 courses are CKAPCO, Calleva, Potomac Paddlesports, KayakDC, and Paddlesport Institute.
Last but not least, the Instruction Committee had a special shout-out and thanks to Rolo and the Safety Committee for their great work so far, and for helping to inspire and inform those of us focused on instruction. While the headings of "safety" and "instruction" are useful, the Instruction Committee noted that it is all related, and the coordination and synergy between the two committees has been great!