The Paddlesport Leader is aimed at paddlers taking on formal leadership responsibilities in benign, sheltered water environments and aims to support leaders to run safe, quality, enjoyable trips based on their group’s needs and aspirations.

The Paddlesports Leader Award is a great bolt-on course to existing  Paddlesports Instructors (Level One Coaches) to become independent coaches on sheltered water. It is also a stand-alone qualification for competent 3-star standard paddlers  (award not needed) with logged leadership experience to be qualified to lead all lower ability paddlers in any form of paddlesports craft. A great club award.

Paddlesports Leader Training Course

Our two-day Training for the paddlesports Leader award is recommended but not essential to take before the assessment. The training course will help make sure you are to standardfor more information on the training please click this link

Assessment Structure

This assessment is run with a friendly - learning approach. We will be testing your personal skills, leadership and rescue skills along with incident management. The assessment typically takes place over two days on both Open Water with force 3 winds Beaufort and flat moving river. An enthesis on the journey and your organisation is observed. It is expected that you will be using one craft for the assessment and you will be leading  & rescuing people paddling various crafts to include Open Canoes, General Purpose Kayaks, Touring Kayaks and Stand up paddleboards. 

We will also chat with you about your leadership experience of which you need to have logged an effective amount in the given conditions. 

Remit

On completion, a Paddlesports Leader is qualified to lead all levels of paddlers in any craft including Canoes, kayaks, stand up paddleboards, crew boats and straight running boats. There is an emphasis on less able paddlers under the care of a paddlesports leader to be able to learn with handy tips and through doing. 

British Canoeing information

Please click here to see the British Canoeing website and read through the course Guide etc for more information.