2008 Youth Challenge Kayak Program

We have completed another year with the youth center. Almost….
The center is undergoing some renovations and some management changes so we have to wait until we can meet with the kids and counselors to present the kids with their ORCKA certificates and achievement awards.
We are also going to let them know that there will be winter sessions available at the Cornwall Civic Complex.
We will also bring another movie for them to watch (perhaps black book!)
In the mean time we wait…
Funny thing, after a summer of evening with the kids you suddenly find yourself missing them:)
Well we will be seeing them soon enough and hopefully we will see them in the pool this winter.
Of course there is always next year!

stay tuned,

Robert
 

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Well this is it. The reason why we practice our skills!!
On September 1st (that would be a Sunday morning) at 9 AM. Sylvie, Cheryl, Jennifer, Zachary, Emily and I went down to the Boys and Girls Club of SD&G (Cornwall Youth Center) with all the CReW gear and all our enthusiasm. When we arrived we were greeted by Julie, Melanie, Justin and Chris. (Maude would join us in Valleyfield). Nat (the fun and always entertaining staff member from the center) and Jamie (her husband) showed up with Jaylee (our youngest participant).
We were disappointed to see that Daylan could not join us (he had missed an appointment with his employer and had to complete the engagement on the Sunday… Well, that is how we learn….)

So with a small contingency of kids and almost as many volunteers :), we headed down the road for a 45 minute trek to the Riviere St-Charles.

A warm sunny day and fresh fast moving water was waiting for us when we arrived.
Step 1:
Introduce everyone to the river and a description of the features.
Step 2:
A talk about river stewardship: This river has come a long way. It is man-made and is entirely on private property. Keep it clean and respect the property around it.
Step 3:
Let’s get wet! Swimming the river. Before we play on the river, we need to make sure that everyone knows what happens if you wet exit and need to swim. one by one they got in the river and swam the first half (fast and deep enough) and headed down river. Feet first on their backs. They all loved it and were eager to do it again! So we took them to the top.
Swimming from the top is a bit tougher. Faster water, shallow ledges and square sharper rock. Well they all pulled it of but discovered why I do not like swimming in rapids! Rocks kicking you in the butt hurts:).
So now they knew why knowing how to swim the rapid properly was important. Amazingly many did it again throughout the day.
We split the group among the instructors and assistants. Sylvie, Aime-Jean, Cheryl, Jeniffer and I spent the rest of the day playing and teaching the kids.
After a good warm up in the eddy at the take out and a review of basic paddling and rolling, we hit the rapids.
1- Rolling in the rapids. Everyone is going to end up upside down so lets break the fear and make sure they can all roll in the faster, boilier and wavy water. Guess what they can do it! Chris was getting frustrated as he had not yet figured out a roll but this would soon change.
2- Exiting and entering eddies: Learning to cross an eddy line takes a bit of doing at first. And everyone was getting dumped each time. Chris was our initial superstar there but still ended upside down every now and then. A bit more frustration for him since he could not yet roll. After an hour everyone could enter and exit eddies and faster current.
3- Teaching Chris to roll. It does not happen often, but once in a while you get a student who is going to make something easy. Cheryl took Chris aside and worked on the roll in the eddy. Within 5 minutes Chris was rolling!
Then lunch. The kids were treated to Pizza, Juice and Granola bars.
After a bit of rest it was back on the water!
I spent another 5 minutes with Chris to adjust his roll and the result was a demo quality roll! Way to go Chris.
The afternoon plan: Getting on a wave for a surf and running the river.
The frustration of trying to surf was offset by the fun of running the river. So we switched back and forth all day.
By the middle of the day most of the kids were beat and they spent time out of their boats so that they could enjoy a little refreshing swim time.

What did these kids accomplish? Self Confidence and pushing their limits.!!!!
Melanie: who we were impressed by all summer took each challenge through the day. She ran the river, discovered that diagonal waves will kick you to the down stream side and that despite the occasional bruise from the rocks she could do this and do it well! Nicely done Melanie:)
Chris: His image of self confidence was challenged. This guy is one of the kids who always “knows what he is doing”. The river showed him that there is a lot to learn. But learn he did! He is now rolling and has run parts of the river. And more importantly he has acknowledged his limits and has said that he will be back to challenge them again! We are very proud of Chris!
Jaylee: This is a very nice girl who is learning to paddle and we will see her show us many good things in the future. As she gets dtronger she will be rolling and playing with the rest of them. Her enthusiasm
and love for the sport guarantees this. See you next year Jaylee!
Maude: Here is a girl who wants to paddle but lets her fears take charge. Will this stop her from kayaking? I do not think so. She can roll very well, control her boat as well and can paddle on the river with the rest of them. A little more time on the river and she will be on her own playing without a care.
Keep it up Maude!
And then we had the 2 that stood up to every challenge that the river could hand out:
Justin: This guy gave us a summer of distraction and self doubt. Well, today it all fell into place. His rolls were there (just work the hips more and keep the upper body relaxed Justin) and his boat control was coming together. More importantly he was listening and controlling his boat.The result: He got on the wave at the bottom, could run the river without problems and then stepped up to the big challenge: The tubes!!! At the top of the river there are 2 tubes that provide all the water for the river. (More on this shortly)
Julie: Julie is a person that we enjoy having in our program. She is always there and learns well. Her enthusiasm for the sport is clear. She is also quick to help the other kids when needed. She stood up to the river and to us. Asking for more challenges and new experiences she took on Bob (a small hole and good place to start hole riding). Well done Julie! Julie also stood to the rivers bigger challenge.
The Challenge:
Dropping in from the tubes. At the end of the day, all the kids headed up to the top of the river to look down from the tubes and decide whether or not to drop in. This is an intimidating move that requires that you get in the boat above the tubes then drop 6 feet onto the tongue and rive the water down through the wave below and on into the hole know as manic.
After the visit to the top, Julie and Justin stepped up to run do the run. Cheryl did the demonstration for them in style and waited below manic as a safety boater with Sylvie. Aime-Jean set up safety at the eddy on the right side of the tubes. This is the only place where getting stuck is unpleasant so safety here is important.
Justin’s ride was clean. He rolled up just before manic, punched the hole, rolled again and then made his way down the river! Sweet!!!!:)
Julie, who was still unsure got in her boat and pulled it off just as well!!!!
Way to go.
The day ended with some more river play at the bottom. Everyone had fun, learned something new, overcame fears and laughed a whole lot!
We are proud of everyone who came out with us and thankful for the chance to take them all out on the water.

For a complete collection of phots go the
In the next weeks we will meet them all back at the Youth Center to give them their ORCKA certifcates and chat about the next season and winter.
Until then,

Play safe and see you on the river,

Robert
 

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Every week we set different goals for our kids. Some weeks it is all about rolling, others are about confidence and self esteem (nicely hidden into teaching about S-turns, ferrying, or catching eddies), river stewardship (keeping it clean and respecting access through private and public property) ad of course we sneak in the bits about healthy lifestyles (exercise and food).
Week 8 is all about making sure that our kids (and I believe also our friends) have the necessary confidence and basic skills to enjoy the whitewater skills.
August 26th:
9 kids arrived at the water front. The last week of summer found us with kids that were distracted by the prospect of starting school and ending their summer holidays and only 6 got on the water. So without too much time wasted on land we got them into the water for a warm up and a review of skills.
The importance of good strokes and edge control was reviewed and then we worked on some more interesting techniques. Julie impressed us with her need to learn new stuff so, under the guidance of Cheryl, she worked on the double pump. By the end of the evening that was getting well on the way.
Unfortunately the days are getting shorter and dusk came up very quick. By 8:15 everyone was coming off the water.
August 27th:
Sylvie was the instructor of the evening and she made sure that we continued to complete the portions of the ORCKA Moving Water level 1: course that the kids had started.
The challenge is to keep their attention off water and Sylvie did her best and it worked! A talk about water safety, river signals, equipment care/maintenance and the use of the throw bag This was followed by a practical throw bag exercise and the fun task of repacking all the throw bags.
On the water we worked again on the skills that we needed to see on whitewater.
At the end of the evening we talked about the End of season trip to Valleyfield:)
The kids have been looking forward to this trip and we made sure that they knew what to bring and were to meet.
The Plan: Sunday (September 1st) everyone meets at the Youth Center at 9:00 AM. We load up the kids and get them to Valleyfield for a day on the Riviere St-Charles.

See you all there.

Robert

Back on the water with the youth center.

Cheryl and I are going it alone tonight. When we arrived we were greeted by 9 kids again.
This time we were greeted by a group of nine. The first 6 to arrive were selected for the evening and so we got the gear ready for Branden, Kyle, Mark, Chris, Julie and Justin (number 2).
Tonight the plan was kayak polo. We started with the regular warm up and followed with a brief explanation of stern squirts and their value in kayak polo. And then it was game time!
With a group this size it is easy to set up a game. Well, the game was excellent though after 40 minutes the stamina was gone and it was time to change plans. During the game we were happy to see people considering those around them. 2 players could not roll and 1 did not want to go over so the others played with this in mind. If someone dumped and could not roll someone else was there for them. Julie got in place quickly when Chris went over. Nicely done Julie.
And the pushing part of the game was reserved for those that could roll.
Watching the game made me really proud to be able to be a part of their lives. The kids really are something esle. They can be tough, and many other things that we do not repeat, but when they are doing something they are quick to help the ones that need it.
After the kayak polo many called it quits so I took Julie, Justin and Chris up the river. We did not get as pfar as the last night but everyone got to ferry to the first big eddy in the river and for some (Chris) it was a first. Chris is a fine young man who is eager and quick with the “I know how to do this” thing going on. But when he crossed the river and experienced the awesome strength of it and the power in a huge eddy line he was appropriately humble. It looked good on him and he showed well. Another young adult hat I am proud to know. Justin got to practice his rolls as he got dumped by the eddy lines. Nicely done.
Once again, excellent confidence developers.

By the end of the session everyone was smiling or too tired to smile. So we handed out more memberships and headed back home to enjoy the memories of week 7.

See you on the river,

Robert

TUESDAY August 19th: Cornwall Ontario:
6 kids take their paddling to the next level!

This week my 2 additional instructors are on vacation. So Cheryl and I got the gear down to the waterfront to meet the kids for the week. We were joined there by Jennifer who has jumped on the program and is also a great help.
1 instructor means that I was not going to put more than 6 kids on the water that night
8 kids showed up and after some discussion and humming and hawing, 2 decided not to get in that night. Daylan, Branden, Kyle, Justin, Sean and Mel followed me, Jennifer and Cheryl onto the water.
After the usual warm up we looked and the group, sized everyone up and decided that it was time to push their limits a bit more and head upstream and across the river.
The upriver climb is not an easy paddle and for those who have issues with confidence or are still unsure of themselves it is a bit intimidating. On the other hand, the act of moving upstream here, forces a paddler to use the good strokes they have learned and apply the boat control necessary to complete the task. Everyone pulled it off.
Afte the first hour of heading upstreasm they were rewarded with a bit of Cornwall History. Right in the middle of the river, way back in the 1950’s there was a rotating train bridge. Unfortunately the bridge collapsed and today we can clearly see the ruins. Paddling over the massive bridge wheel is something else. (Not only did I make them work hard I even had the audacity to add a bit of history into the mix:)
From there it is time to use the edge control they have learned. A ferry across the river and hitting the massive eddy on the other side. Go figure, they all pulled it off!
And finally the reward: A sweet paddle through the only rapids in Cornwall. Very fast water, massive eddyline with big whirlpools to keep it exciting. All followed by a fun wavetrain.
Highlights: Encouraging Justin to go for it and, despite his fears and anxiety, plling it off. Encouraging Kyle to raft through the rapids with Cheryl. Daylan and Branden keeping the lead and controlling their boats like seasoned pros. And the one that stands out the most: Melanie: This is a tiny girl who does not make a lot of noise, always smiles and can paddle with the best of them! Her first rapid and off she went. She took on every challenge getting up river with a smile and a few grunts and in the end made it to the top without issue. I stayed a few feet behind her and she whohooed her way down.
Nicely done everyone!

After the run they were all beat. Justin overcame some big fears, Kyle took a chance and had a lot of fun and Melanie is hooked!

So how does all this paddling and on water stress help them in life? That is easy. Step up to challenges that seem way bigger than you… Face them, measure them, challenge them with the same confidence we are seeing on the river, and these kids will go far and go with smiles too!

At the end of the evening I gave them all a year membership with CReW and all the paperwork that they need to bring home to their parents to approve.
I am expecting that we will see many of them through the winter and coming season

See you on the river.

Robert

This is Cheryl,
The youth center stuff was awesome the past 2 days. Here’s an update while I take a break at work!

Julie can mostly one hand roll and she’s got an awesome back-deck roll now (she learned it on her first try basically!) – definitely a huge improvement to just a few weeks ago (she’s much happier on the water now too).

Mel (the lil one in the fun 1.1/2) is still working on her roll – she’s always almost has it!! We think the issue yesterday though was that her kayak was FULL of water. She’s definitely very determined though, she must have tried rolling for half of the class non-stop! She’s also eager to try new things like double pumps

Justin’s roll is definitely getting solid – he’s confident on trying his roll without having someone right there to t-resue now too.

Sean was able to roll with Sylvie just watching.

Maude can back-deck roll

Bray is getting over fears! (seaweed lol!)

There’s definitely a huge improvement in all the kids which is awesome! There definitely offering 20x more pointers now to help everyone – the kids that can roll are helping those that can’t.

The highlight would have to be though when Sylvie had everyone learn how to save/be saved when you’ve done a wet exit. You can definitely see the group come together at that point…and you can hear the laughter all over the river!

Another day has gone by and we find ourselves back on the water in Cornwall.
Sylvie, Cheryl, Emily and I were greeted by a group of 8 enthusiastic kids.
Daylan, Brandon, Kyle, Sean, Justin, Melanie and Maude were ready to go and so we wated no time on our arrival and got them geared up.
1st thing on the agenda: Stretching. Sylvie is a natural for this and after 10 minutes of stretching we visited the next point of discussion:
Food and Drink. On the water (as in any physical activity) we need to remain hydrated. What works best for this? Fresh drinking water. And for the necessary energies we presented multi grain bars and fruit. Keeping a multi grain bar in your life jacket pocket along with a bottle of water will go a long way to get you through your paddling excursions. Spare food at he take out will complete the formula.
A risk with packaged foods is garbage. So, we reminded everyone of the need to carry out whatever you carry in. This was reinforced at the end of the evening when it was time to pick up the garbage left on the site.
Well after all this talk it was time to get on the water.
Again the group was split and after some hard paddle drills I took the more advance group across the St-Lawrence to challenge the stronger current. Every one did well. Maude learned the importance of edge control and the force of the eddy line. This was followed by an impromptu lesson in river rescues and getting back in a boat on the water. she did very well and was back in her boat in no time at all. The eddy lines below the international bridge on are accompanied by some serious whirlpools (really great if you are looking for some down time) and Maude popped in and out of view several times before she could be rescued. It was an important experience that ended very well and I am proud of her. She stood up to her fear, faced it, gave in to it and at the end pushed the fear back. That is a big deal.
when we joined up with Sylvie’s group we started to work on bomb proofing the roll.
The progress was astounding! Those who could roll were learning to hand roll and those that could not roll were suddenly rolling. Yes, that is right: Sean can roll, Justin can roll and I am expecting that Kyle will be right behind them in the weeks to come! Who hoo!

What struck me the most on Wednesday was the complete change of attitude from the previous night. My kids were back!!! They were courteous to each other and the volunteers, as well as helpful and fun.
They worked together to accomplish their goals for the day and they made it all happen for each other.
The best part was the sounds of laughter on the water as they learned and played together.
Sweet!
At the end of the evening we were happy to see a collection of smiling faces and supper attitudes so we were pleased to be able to offer each of them a CReW hoodie. (We received the sweater order that morning).
Sorry but I did not take any pictures. We will make sure that some pics are taken next week.
Next week we will visit nutrition in some more detail as well as river rescues and then more fun!

I am looking forward to next week and seeing the whole group on the water again.

See you soon,

Robert Zwanenburg

www.cornwallwhitewater.com

August 5th (Tuesday) started off like any other day. Wake up, work , race home, hitch the trailer and 18 boats to the car and head to Cornwall for an en evening of fun with kids on the water.
When Aime-Jean, Cheryl and I arrive in Cornwall we were greeted by a bunch of long faces. Ohh, ohh…
So the challenge began. Let’s motivate 11 kids (another excellent turnout) that look down and out and ready to rumble.
What did we do? Trial and error. After a short stretching session we sent everyone on the water and pushed them hard during the warm up. Stretching had to be kept short so they could get moving on the water fast).After a warm up we separated the group into the rolling kids and those that want to be the rolling kids. Cheryl spent most of her time with the always adorable Jaylee who was just too happy to flip over and wet exit, over and over again. Very cute!
Aime-Jean took the half the group to the faster moving water and worked on entering and exiting current and eddies. I spent my time teaching the roll.
Rolling is definitely about desire, motivation and a lot of repetition. Sean, as always, was up to the task and worked on his hip snap till there was no hip snap left. I was not sure that he might get it that evening but it should be soon.
Melanie pulled off a few good rolls and Bray showed me that she was retaining what she learned!! Very cool.
Justin and Kyle should not be too far behind if we can keep their attention long enough
After an hour of lessons we started having a hard time with the attention thing again so we went to the next task: GAMES! If we could keep their attention long enough to set up teams we would be able to play a game of Kayak Polo to blow off steam. Daylan and Brandon go at each other during the polo like life time arch rivals. It is good to see them work so hard.
By the end of the evening most of the kids were tired and it showed. The attitudes were calm and there were many more smiles.
The lesson of the evening was respect.
Kids are funny creatures. (I should know, I think that I am still not much more than a kid. Just look a bit rough around the edges but still just a kid). When we get comfortable with each other we run the risk of taking each other for granted. And this was very evident that evening.
The “dog days of summer” are tough on kids. No matter how much you have available to you to keep busy, there comes a period in the summer when kids simply get bored. Tuesday was the peak of that period for them.
This combination is a recipe for disaster. So we ended the evening with a more serious tone that usual. I do not like to preach to people but tonight I let our young friends know that our volunteers care very much about them and want to be able to provide the best possible experience and learning environment for them and so deserve a measure of respect for the effort and time that they have committed to the program. When I invite people to come out and help me teach in Cornwall, they do so with open minds and more importantly, open hearts. This is something that needs to be recognized and acknowledged by the kids. Being able to do so is a very important step in the transition from Young person to adult and I hope that we are able to help them along in this way.
Tuesday evening was a learning experience for the kids (on many levels) but also a very important learning experience for me. I know how much these kids and their success mean to me. I hope that I have been able to convey this to them.
So we ended the evening with a review of their success and a few jokes.
I am proud of each and every one of them and am looking forward to the 4 weeks that we have left with them.

Robert Zwanenburg
www.cornwallwhitewater.com

We are now midway through the 2008 Youth Challenge Kayak Program.

The kids who come out are an interesting mix of young people from the area and all have unique characters that, when given the opportunity make a interesting and beneficial add-on to the success of the group.
We have seen confidence grow and attitudes improve. I have even received a declaration to quit smoking (that one makes me really proud)
The language improves during the summer (at least during our program) and the effort they put into the sport goes up to.
The changes are often subtle off and on the water: Individuals watching others struggle then swim are suddenly part of a group looking out for each other. When one swims others are close to help.
Passing little tricks on to help their friends with a roll or with a stroke and the one I really enjoy, is when one of them helps another who is less confident get in or out of the water.

Now we have their attention and we will be adding a bit more to the experience.
It is not possible to highlight enough the importance of safety in Kayaking. That means good communications, river reading, self rescue and the proper use of throw bags.
Diet and off water physical conditioning (reinforcing exercise and stretching) is also going to be looked at closely in the coming weeks.
Todays kids think that power drinks and protein bars will help them to be athletes. We do not believe this and will be showing the alternatives.
Needless to say this is all leading up to out trips to Valleyfield Quebec where they can apply all their skills on whitewater.

When the program is complete each participant will receive a year membership with CReW and hopefully we will work to maintain their interest through the winter and into the following year.
This week they will all receive program hoodies during their lessons and the Youth Center will have a copy of Billy’s new book to add to the library there.

I am very proud to be a part of the Youth Challenge Program and have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Pleas allow me to pass on the thanks to all the people and orgs that help me make it so:
Billy and Carly Harris for their efforts on and off the water. Great people and great friends.
Jackson Kayaks, H2O paddles, Level 6 and The Ottawa Paddle Shack, who have been with us since the beginning and ensure that the kids are outfitted with the best gear available.
Mountain Equipment Coop, The Ontario Ministry Of Health Children In Action Fund, Pat St-Pierre Auto-Pro and The Cornwall Youth Center for the generous grants and donations that allow us to cover the cost of a season on and off the water.
This year we were also joined by Immersion Research and Shred Ready. Great gear that cover and protect the kids.
The youth center for welcoming us into their world and allowing us to teach and play with the young people in the area.
Cheryl MacGregor (assistant instructor, general helpful person), Aime-Jean Lavigne (Instructor and Friend), Sylvie Lebel (my lovely wife, best friend and instructor), Zachary and Emily Zwanenburg (yup mine too!), and the volunteers at the youth center who give their time to help us ensure that the kids have a season to remember.
If I have missed a few people and I am sooo sorry but be sure that in the hearts and mids of the kids that you have influenced this summer you will not be forgotten.

Another month coming and soo many more new experiences to enjoy!

See you on the river soon,

Robert Zwanenburg

www.cornwallwhitewater.com

Keep watching our club picture section for pics and videos of the season:

After spending an evening with Billy and Carly the kids came back ready to rock. So we rocked them.
Sylvie and Cheryl took the kids who wanted to continue to work on the rolling while I took those who were a bit more ambitious and took them up the river and under the international bridge.
Cornwall is not known for its whitewater but is has 6 knots of current flowing through a relatively shallow passage under the international bridge and next to the island. End result: big huge eddy lines whirlpools and at least a good wave train to ride through.
We have been drilling these kids about strokes and endurance. We have pestered them with forward and back strokes, sweeps, draws, edge control and rolling. So far, for many of htem it seemed pointless.
The work required to get upstream using the small eddies along shore is significant. Without the skills they have learned it would not be positive.
Despite some whining and cursing from Mark everyone (Mark, Daylan and Brendan) made it upstream of the bridge of the bridge with me. After that it was time to ferry out across the St-Lawrence and into the 2nd eddy behind the bridge pillars. There was fear, some yelling and some laughter as one by one they peeled into the eddy. The whirlpools are big and powerful and generated some serious concern but they all did great. From there we peeled out into the current and ran the wave train. (If you have along boat the surf on the top wave is great!!!) The kids were hell bent on getting through and touching the island (everyone has to have a goal:). After reaching the island and soothing a few nerves we headed back out into the waves to get back to Cornwall.
I could not have been prouder. We saw some rolling (that is always fun to watch someones first whitewater rolls), some great edge control and some solid nerves.
By the time we reached shore they were cooked but had accomplished something big. Nicely done boys.
Back at the shore Sylvie tuned up some rolling. Our newest addition, Melanie, is rolling after her first 2 sessions. Who hoo.
So as always we had a great time.

Now I will have to step up the instruction to be able to keep up with the kids! Sweet!

See you next week on the river.

Robert Zwanenburg