In recent years the BCU have totally overhauled the coaching scheme. This has affected everyone, coaches, assessors and most importantly new people coming into the sport. Overall the changes look to be a good move for the future of the sport, however, the associated costs to all has now significantly increased - let's hope this isn't going to reduce access to some to the sport.
The new coaching scheme is quite a bit different to the previous and has now modernised, reflecting changes in boat design and what people want to do. For example, in the previous scheme at Star level we were taught a combination of a sweep stroke followed by a bow rudder is used for turning your boat. This worked fine for long sleek slalom boats, but in a modern play-boat, by the time you've executed your sweep stroke, you've already turned 180 degrees (the bow rudder is not required). In essence, this is the general theme of the new coaching scheme, instead the focus is now on how to move your boat to achieve the required objectives. It is now possible to do your BCU 2 star in a variety of different boats (e.g. sit on top kayak, open canoeing and closed cockpit kayak for example).
For the coach, it means a need for a greater repertoire of skills and knowledge. That is, you need to know how to turn an open canoe, a kayak and a playboat. This is where knowledge of sweep-strokes, bow rudders, pry's and even stern dips may all need to be called upon.
The following pages in this website are intended to be a resource for all. Please feel free to contact me on bcucoaching@morphfx.co.uk if you wish to comment on any of the articles contained within.
Despite all the changes the BCU are currently undertaking, here's a collection of coaching pages that I have been compiling. I hope you find them of use!