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From: Mark Zen <canoeist_at_netbox.com> subject: [Paddlewise] Leaders and Coordinators (fwd) Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 09:04:34 -0700 (MST) · This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:47 PDT

i forwarded richard's post to our club prez, and here was his response:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 14:29:18 EST
>From: DennyAdams <DennyAdams_at_aol.com>
Subject: Leaders and Coordinators

Richard,  I had your disertation fowarded to me by a friend who no doubt was
paying me back for my somewhat lenghty diatribes for which I am known. I
thought that since you went to the trouble of sharing your thoughts that I
would throw you some things to think about. 
            The frist is an idea I remember from a philosophy teacher I had
back in high school. That was 30 years ago so forgive my not having a sourse
for the quote. It went something to the affect that man is the only animal
that sees fit to bond and imprison himself with his own ideas. I am often
guilty of this myself. 
             I say this as the Prez of a small paddling club that grew to a
medium club group in the time I've served. A natural tendency is to want
bylaws, governing boards, committees and the type of structure that comes out
in your piece. After consulting several times with our long time members and
our club lawyers and as well with my counterparts in larger organizations
(American Whitewater, Colorado White Water Association, The DC Canoe Cruisers
and  the Adobe Paddling Club of NM) I am very glad that we haven't. Your
observation of growing larger but not having the trip schedule grow is true of
a comparison of our club of 300 family memberships, and our much larger
counterparts in the region (CWWA and Adobe) each who have fewer and offerings
of lesser intrinsic value. 
          The best advice I can give is to try to understand why most people
come to a club. Is it to join a burocracy and to be treated like children. If
your (I speak generally here) expectation of your paddlers is for them to
comply like sheep to the monsterous superstructure of their club's government
then the consequence is that your membership will be comprised of buracrats
and sheep. This leaves out many of the folks that I meet in paddling.
           I sense that you are possibly Canadian (or even British) which
would explain this overy structured (to us western yanks) approach toward
paddling. I paddle occasionally with a Brit couple from the White Rose Club in
Leeds. Both are instructor trainers. They (Brit Clubs) do things very
differently.  They even have a law requiring a certified instructor being
along on a club trip. Non-clubbers are exempt--interesting. My few Canadian
aquaintences take more after them than they do Americans. In any case please
do not take offense by my remarks on sheep. Merely understand that many
intelligent and capable people, who eventually will become more responsible
paddlers do not like being treated like sheep--even if they would be safer
were they compliant as one.
           Despite the growth of clubs it should be noted that in comparason
to the astoundishing growth of our sport club growth is small. At least in the
US. More people are forgoing the clubs and seeking out the comercial paddling
centers to learn paddling. I cannot help but believe that much of this
phenomina is linked to a public perception of clubs being wrapped up with
cliques, extraneous rules, and small headed leaders. 
          I know too many paddlers, most of them in the advanced to expert
catagory, that take pride in not being in a club.  Who can blame them when we
have club types that talk like they own the river (have authority over who can
boat on it at a certain time or place), can control how people boat, and need
an officer to oversee every aspect of boating. My experience with them are
that they if anything are more responsive to the needs of beginners on the
river than many of our club trip leaders and instructors. I think this sense
of responsibility comes from learning on ones own as opposed to a structured
system. Again this is just observation and opinion.
           My experience has been that people join clubs to have others to
boat with. That at least was my reason. I had this neat boat but nobody to do
shuttles with or to watch and see how they did it. I myself had a problem with
doing runs that I perhaps wasn't ready for, and of taking off the front of
trips because folks were slow.  Thank goodness my clubmates had a better
attitude than what I read into your remarks. Likewise many of the folks that
go on the club trips that I lead have some things to learn. Personally I would
prefer that they do there stupid beginner mistakes around me rather than on
their own somewhere where they would not have someone to help them out.  
          While our club is a paddling club our official tasks are auxillary.
We meet, socialize, show videos, offer classes under the ACA, and share member
lead trips that are anounced free of charge in our newsletter. Our trip
leaders are free to choose the nature of their party. Some are tightly run,
others not. some are large, some small. Some are family oriented, others for
adults only. Each leader seems to have their own following. The important
quality is that they are member driven as opposed to Club driven. I do not
exercise authority over a trip leader.
         They do not however take responsibility for the members while on the
river. This, in our country, is an assumption of liability~on the part of the
leader and indirectly the Club. The focus of our membership application is a
waiver which defines this relationship and we have similar waivers signed
before putting on the river. The only official members of the party are those
that sign the waivers. So far this system has worked and is the best path to
follow legally. 
           As for instruction I find that discussion interesting. I lead club
trips and I am also a ACA instructor. The folks that I teach in formal classes
tend to disapear on me. In contrast I have problems on my club trips from
having them filled up before they are announced. One yearly outing I have to
cut at 50 paddlers.  Few of these had me as an instructor. Either I am a
horrible instructor or the people I teach are not desiring to paddle with a
teacher and do righter supervising there every move. Most do not know me as a
trip leader where I am easier going.
        Those that paddle on club trips with me over the years are far
stronger paddlers than my former students --merely from osmosis learning. Many
are active trip leaders and several have taken on officers roles in the Club.
This has me convienced that the less structured approach to breaking into
paddling has better results. I believe in instuction but I also recognise that
it is secondary to getting to go paddling regularly with competent
companions--even if they lack textbook form. The tendency of my stronger
protoges is to take advanced classes after a few years of struggling through
on rivers. Very few of our beginner students that do not take advantage of the
trip program make it up to the advanced level classes. Almost all of our
Club's advanced and expert level paddlers started by going on trips first and
then getting instruction later.  
            I will leave it at this. As you have shown there is much one can
write on the subject. Good luck! Dennis Adams, Rocky Mountain Canoe Club,
Colorado, USA


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