Youth Canoe Club

Woodmill is a pillar of the Paddlesports community and a great place to interact with other paddlers. This is partly because of our location but mostly because we love to paddle! Every person who joins our paddling community will be given a paddler development log book. This is to help guide your development and set you up as a proficient paddler able to go off and explore on your own.

Why not purchase our Youth Canoe Club Class Pass? Click here to buy 12 sessions for the price of 10!

Aimed at developing children who can paddle confidently, our Youth Canoe Club sessions are fully supervised by one of our qualified instructors. The sessions are structured around the paddler development programme and introduce children to all Paddlesport disciplines.

If you've paddled before, you're in the right place! If not, why not try our Kayak or Canoe hire?

We recommend you bring a change of clothes and a bottled drink. If you have your own clothing, feel free to bring this along. Otherwise, all specialist kit and equipment is provided.

January

1st Session: Games, Games, Games: This session is based around having fun while on the water. During this session loads of games will be played. Not only will you get to have fun on the water you will come away with new skills too. For this session you will be able to choose which ever craft you want to play these games in/on.

2nd Session: Moving water: During this session you will have the choice Between canoe and kayak to paddle on moving water in. This session will look at putting your skills to the test progressing on from flat water to moving water. You will look at breaking in and out of the flow, using your edge to help you and also looking at ferry gliding. whether you are new to moving water or sharping up those skills you already had you will come away from this session move confident and more knowledgeable about moving water.

3rd Session: Kayak skills: During this session you will be looking at different kayak skills. This session will look at everything from forwards paddling using core rotation to more in-depth skills if you have already got the basics. This session will look at giving you knew skills or developing any skills you may already have.This session will also look at the key teaching points for each of the basic skills so that they would be able to help teach someone else these skills. Looking at the skills needed for the British canoeing discover award.

4th Session: Kayaking next steps: During this session you will be taking the next step within kayaking it will be time to level up those current skills. Focusing on hanging draws, edging skills, turning with edging and looking at recovery strokes. This session will also cover the key teaching points for each skill so they would be able to help teach someone else these skills. Focusing on the skills that would be needed on explore award.

February

1st Session: Tandem canoe skills: During this session it's time to pair up and take on tandem canoeing. During this session you will look at the skills needed to paddle a canoe tandem, how you and your pair can work together to move the boat forwards, backwards, sideways and turn it. This session will test your teamwork skills and look at ways to develop your communication skills.

2nd Session: Raft Building: During this session you will have a go at building your own raft. You will be given some barrels poles and rope and given the chance to build a raft that you will take out on the water. If the rafts make it to the water a number of different games will be played with some challenges too. Competiton can be had by finding out which team can build the most successful and creative raft. This will definitely be a wet session.

3rd Session: Solo canoe skills: During this session you will be looking at solo canoe skills. Focusing on how you can move your craft effectively forwards, backwards and sideways. Everything you may have previously learnt in tandem canoe or even solo canoe can be worked on and developed further. This session will also look at the key teaching points of these skills and look at how they could be taught to other young people.

4th Session: White water Rafting: This session will be based around getting out on the inflatable rafts and having ago at paddling them as a team on Whitewater. practicing how we can turn the raft and move the raft well as a team. Parts of the weir will be explained and you will get to experience parts of it for the learning to make sense. This is a session based around teamwork and loads of fun!

March

1st Session: Sup Skills: Come along and learn the basics of paddling Sup’s. This is a perfect session for anyone who has never paddled a Sup before or for anyone who's paddled before and wants to brush up on their skills in a safe and friendly environment. This session will look at the basics of paddling a sup and how to paddle most effectively.

2nd Session: Kayaking next steps: During this session you will be taking the next step within kayaking it will be time to level up those current skills. Focusing on hanging draws, edging skills, turning with edging and looking at recovery strokes. This session will also cover the key teaching points for each skill so they would be able to help teach someone else these skills. Focusing on the skills that would be needed on explore award.

3rd Session: Kayak moving water: During this session it will look at putting previous learnt flat-water skills to the test on some white water. This session will look at breaking in and out ferry gliding and use of edge. This session can be done on sit on top kayak or sit in kayak depending on where your confidence level is at.  

4th Session: Raft Building: During this session you will have a go at building your own raft. You will be given some barrels poles and rope and given the chance to build a raft that you will take out on the water. If the rafts make it to the water a number of different games will be played with some challenges too. Competiton can be had by finding out which team can build the most successful and creative raft. This will definitely be a wet session.

5th Session: White water Rafting: This session will be based around getting out on the inflatable rafts and having ago at paddling them as a team on Whitewater. practicing how we can turn the raft and move the raft well as a team. Parts of the weir will be explained and you will get to experience parts of it for the learning to make sense. This is a session based around teamwork and loads of fun!