Course Description
Born and raised in Scotland and now living in Canada, Gordon Brown is a world class coach known for his charming accent, wit and incredible coordination in a kayak.
His contributions to the world of sea kayaking include the award-winning DVD skills trilogy Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, and an indispensable book, Sea Kayak: A Manual for Intermediate and Advanced Kayakers.
An interview with Gordon Brown.
A series of short precise skills videos:
Samples of more comprehensive videos:
This course is specifically designed for paddlers (and other) who wish to improve their coaching knowledge and skills.
You will get the most from this course if you are:
- currently a paddling instructor wishing to improve/enhance your coaching tool kit
- an Intermediate or better skills paddler (sea kayak)
Dates
Starts: 9:00 am
Ends: 4:00 pm
Price
Course Includes
- Fully Outfitted Coast Guard Approved Kayak (We have a variety of styles of kayaks and canoes that you may try out during your course.)
- Beach Camping Accommodations
- Course Materials
- Coffee/tea and snacks
Extra Course Options
- All meals: Breakfast Aug 26 – lunch Aug 28 served in the lodge-$150
Course Content
General Content Information
Course Outline and Coverage
- Introduction and background
- Learning and Teaching theory and strategies
Observation and Analysis
- The use of observation and analysis as a tool
- The use of video, flags and markers
- Analysis via the use of shapes
- Positioning for observation
- Signs and symptoms
Verbal Input and Instruction
- Quantity of input
- Timing of verbal interjection
- Individualisation
- Cutting the fat out of delivery
- Verification and evaluation
Demonstrations
- Use of demonstrations
- Types of Modeling
- Expert/video/cope
- The need for the individual to customize the demo
- The relationship with verbal instruction
Practice
- The setting of practice sessions
- The purpose of practice
- Types of practice
- Length and frequency of practice
- The use of strategies to increase the benefit of the practice in a stressful situation
Questioning and Command Words
- Use for verification and direction
- A tool for self learning
- Measurement and understanding
- Command words and sound bites
- Prompts and directions
- Types of questioning
Feedback
- A question of timing
- Quantity of feedback
- Intrinsic or extrinsic
- The use of video
- The power of specifics
Goal setting
- Short, medium and long-term goals
- The importance of ownership and negotiation
- Timetabling
- Individualisation
- Process/performance/outcome goals
- Goal reviewing
Decision Making
- Classification of decision making
- Option narrowing
- Heuristics
- Recognition primed decision making
- Naturalistic decision making
Putting it all into practice
We’ll be spending about half of each day on the water looking at the practicalities of applying the theory to kayaking and some of the difficulties around what we do, or think we do.