Beyond the coach award
After completing the British Canoeing Awarding Body (BCAB) Coach Award, you can continue your development by working through other BCAB discipline specific qualifications or training modules.
Some of the qualifications you can pursue include:
- Freestyle Coach
- Wild Water Coach
- Open Water Canoe Coach (Moderate Water)
- Open Water Canoe Coach (Advanced Water)
- Sea Kayak Coach (Moderate Water)
- Sea Kayak Coach (Advanced Water)
- Stand Up Paddleboard Open Water Coach (Moderate Water)
- Stand Up Paddleboard Race Coach (Moderate Water)
- Stand Up Paddleboard Sheltered Water Coach
- Stand Up Paddleboard White Water Coach (Moderate Water)
- Surf Kayak Coach (Moderate Water)
- Surf Kayak Coach (Advanced Water)
- White Water Canoe Coach (Moderate Water)
- White Water Canoe Coach (Advanced Water)
- White Water Kayak Coach (Moderate Water)
- White Water Kayak Coach (Advanced Water)
These discipline specific courses are designed to allow you to tailor your own learning and train specifically for the roles that you want. The cost of British Canoeing discipline-specific coaching courses can vary depending on the course and provider. It is a good idea to speak directly with the provider to ascertain which course is best for you and what the cost will be.
One example of a discipline specific course would be the White water rafting guide
British Canoeing Raft Trip Leader
For those aiming to become a British Canoeing Raft Trip Leader at Grade 3/4, British Canoeing offers training courses to help develop essential skills. These programs focus on leadership, along with the personal, safety, and rescue skills needed for this certification. Delivered by qualified British Canoeing Grade 3/4 Raft Trip Leader providers, the training also includes guidance to create a tailored action plan that supports your progress toward assessment success. These courses are comprehensive and typically range from 2 to 5 days, with longer courses allowing additional time for practice and skill development.
Level 1 Raft Guide: 4 days / £350
Types of job available
Actually the job market for a canoe teacher is not as varied as you might expect. Most adventure activities are the same, though some may provide employment in other industries who happen to require those skills as a sub section of the role. For example you may be a police officer most of the week, but you may be called in as a specialist diver too. Typical employment includes:
Canoe / Kayak Coach - probably a seasonal role, and often piecemeal. Teaching mainly youngsters how to start or develop their paddling skills.
Chief Instructor - as above except you are probably going to be session leader and guiding the other coaches on how you want the sessions to progress. The coaching award as well as some additional discipline specific awards will be expected.
Open canoe guide - rather than being stuck on the same old lake day in, week out, if you work as a river guide, you get to explore different stretches of water. Taking small groups along gentle to moderate rivers, or across lakes and into coastal stretches, in terms of excitement, this is perhaps the one to aim for.
White water raft guide - Definitely a seasonal role, as the types of water sections you will be navigating in the UK are more prone to flood during the winter, which may make the river grade too difficult.
Paddlesport Development Officer - This one is more out of the water than in, though we are sure plenty of opportunities to get your spray deck on during the year. You would be helping promote and champion the sport, with the aim of getting more people involved. To be honest, when you consider the level of involvement and influence you would have, it is probably the ultimate job in British canoeing.
Salaries
Teaching people how to canoe or kayak probably isn't going to make you super rich, but the job satisfaction alone is probably worth an extra nought on your pay cheque. The most common job that will become available would be for a Canoe or Kayak coach based at an activity centre. More often than not the salary listed will say something like, "excellent", or, "competitive". This allows employers to have a look at your experience and whether you would fit in, before attaching a salary. We'd love to be able to tell you exactly how much you could earn, but we will have to stick to a rough guide in order to be realistic. We will also assume you are working full time, but in reality quite a few UK canoe jobs are seasonal and at some centres you may even be paid on an hourly basis.
Canoe / Kayak Coach £20,000 - £25,000
Chief Instructor £27,000
Centre Manager £30,000
Paddlesport Development Officer £23,000
What's it really like to be a canoe/kayak coach?
Often when you read about a course, or a job description, it is written by someone who either has never actually done the course or work themselves, or by someone who isn't really thinking about who is going to be reading it. If you are thinking about obtaining any of the paddlesport instructor qualifications listed on this page, you are going to want to know what it is actually like. Not a list of bullet points, but a first person account that will hopefully make it all seem a bit more real. With this in mind we spoke to a canoeist and a kayaker. We asked them about their motivations and the choices they made along the way. First up, Open Canoeist Dave Magson, then Kayaker Laurence O'Riordan.
Interview with Dave Magson: Open Canoe
The first time I stepped in a boat was at school, it may have been on local flat rivers
but it whetted my appetite and the rest, they say, is history.
What made you want to become a coach/ instructor in the first place?
Dave: Although I initially worked as a carpenter for 6 years, I found this career lacked the
adventure that I craved and once I realized there is only so much you can fit into a
weekend decided to shake things up by moving to Canada. This introduced me to
a new way of living so on return, reluctant to return to my old lifestyle, I applied to
PGL and started working my way up from there.
Did you have much canoe or kayak experience before you started your skills
training and coaching qualifications?
Dave: It is safe to say I could stay in a boat and make it go in a straight(ish) line but
apart from that everyone I know has been learnt on courses in the past few years,
intensive maybe, but it's been a crazy ride.
What pathway did you take, i.e., which qualifications did you achieve and in
what order?
Dave: Working in maintenance in the South of France gave me plenty of spare time to
spend on the water and luckily the centre was very canoe focused giving me plenty
of opportunities to learn. By the end of my first summer there I had gained my 2*
and FSRT. Having shown dedication to learning I was placed on a course early in
the following year to allow me to gain my Level 1 and 3* OC, which enabled me to
become an instructor the same year in the Ardeche. Following that was an intensive
two month course over winter covering large areas of Scotland and Wales and
enabling me to gain my 4* OC and 4* Kayak Training, White Water Safety & Rescue
and Level 2. Going through my 5* OC Training in the Alps put my skills to the test as
did the assessment in Scotland at the end of 2012.
How did you decide which discipline you wanted to get qualified in?
Dave: I have always been drawn to the adventure of multi-day trips, and while I have had
a lot of fun and exciting trips in a kayak, there is nothing better than loading a canoe
with everything you need and heading off into the distance.
How hard was it to achieve 5* status?
Dave: Although working on the Ardeche provided me with plenty of experience of running
a river, it was the paddling that I did in my own time that really helped broaden my
knowledge. It wasn't necessary an easy process but I got out there any opportunity
I could and at the end of the day any canoeing is good and it all helped me gain the
skills to pass my 5*
Was there anything particularly difficult about any part of your training/
assessment?
Dave: The main difficulty I find is the expectation before the assessment, after all the days
out honing my canoeing I know that the skills I need are in there but being able to bring them out in any situation under pressure can be intense. Practically, the less
used traditional skills such as tracking, sailing and night navigation always need
a little extra attention in training as they are generally not used on your average
instructing day. But, at the end of the day I trained and carried out most of my
assessments in the Alps where the paddling and surroundings are incredible, so
there can't be too many complaints.
Do you have any advice for budding paddlesports instructors looking to
start their training?
Dave: Although some may find benefit in the intensive instructor courses that are on
offer my personal opinion is that is more to gain in attempting to get employment
with a larger company. If you show enough enthusiasm often you are provided the
qualifications in return for the work and in return get first hand experience in group
control and paddling in a range of conditions and with different people, allowing you
to have the base to move on further later in life. Try and paddle in as many different
crafts and on different waters as possible to give you a breadth of information and
will help you decide what route you want to take, but most importantly listen to and
question every coach, trainer and paddler you come across to find out what decisions
they made to get them to where they are at the moment.
Where is your favourite place to paddle in the UK and overseas?
Dave: This is easy, Scotland, it has the best water and the beautiful scenery provides such
a feeling of isolation that doesn't compare. Paddling the Great Glen Canoe Trail, even
in the snow, was one of my most memorable trips mixing rivers, canals and huge
open expanse of lochs (and the obligatory sighting of Nessie), and hopefully is one of
many multi-day trips up North. Overseas the Alps is very different to anything in the
UK with big and bouncy rivers, always good for an adventure. But as this is only the
start of what will, hopefully, be a long paddling career there are many more places to
explore and enjoy.
Interview with Laurence O'Riordan: Kayaker
I have always had a passion for passing on the joys of paddling to friends but ask anyone that has been taught a sport by a friend, tuition can be a little brief and basic, especially from a Kayaker desperate to get in the water. I really wanted to learn how to pass my knowledge across in a safe, structured manner. Like so many people in the UK, I was always away each weekend paddling, but over the years becoming a coach has been the best thing, as seeing what others have achieved in paddling with the knowledge myself & and the rest of the crew who work for me at Laurence Coaching have passed on has been very satisfying, and I hope this will continue for many more years.
Did you have much canoe or kayak experience before you started your skills training and coaching qualifications?
Laurence: I started Kayaking for the first time in school when one of my teachers planned an outdoor trip to a kayaking centre in London back in 1998. I took to it like a duck to water so I asked the teacher how I can learn more and was told to come back at the weekend for more lessons. I did this for a number of years and was taken to lots of different locations throughout the UK which was a great eye opener and allowed me to progress with the support of the some of the best coaching in the UK. This progress really spurred me on to develop a career in paddlesports.
What pathway did you take, i.e. which qualifications did you achieve and in what order?
Laurence: My first qualification was my 1 Star, I was really happy to get my first qualification under my belt and from that point I just wanted more and more. Now I'm a Senior Coach within paddlesports, Safety & Rescue provider, First Aid Provider, I cover a wide range of skills within paddlesport ranging from paddling a boat in a straight line to paddling down some of the biggest rivers in the UK, and I can find cover assessment for the highest award with the sport, the 5 star. Now I run my own company which can provide any level of award within the sport.
How did you decide which discipline you wanted to get qualified in?
Laurence: I tried a few such as canoeing and enjoyed them, but after I went on my first white water trip which was at a weir I decided kayaking was the one for me. I was inspired by the more advanced paddlers in the group surfing the waves and breaking in and out, so I made up my mind there and then!
How hard was it to achieve 5* status?
Laurence: Very hard with lots of training and I was over the moon when I was told I had passed. I was going away most weekends to get the time in for training and to improve my skills, so having put in all this hard work, to reach the highest personal ability award with the BCU is a fantastic and very satisfying achievement. But having done my 5 star it doesn't end there, it only gets bigger and better because in October I'm looking at taking on some of the worlds best at the Addidas Sickline events which means going up against the best 150 paddlers from around the world. I'm currently training 6 days a week to get my skills way beyond the level to take part.
Was there anything particularly difficult about any part of your training/ assessment?
Laurence: Mentally preparing yourself to attempt the 5 star training/ assessment was the hardest part, I had to constantly tell myself I could do it, to train hard and to always keep my eye on the end goal. If you really believe you can succeed and you work hard at it, you'll get there eventually.
Do you have any advice for budding paddlesports instructors looking to start their training?
Laurence: Get your personal skills way beyond the level you are Instructing at, this will give you greater confidence when providing demonstrations and taking questions. Don't rush into becoming an instructor, learn your personal skills first, follow the BCU guide lines and you'll find you're a better paddler/ instructor in the long run.
Where is your favourite place to paddle in the UK and overseas?
Laurence: Scotland, I run a course here each year and enjoy it so much because you are away from the rest of the world and doing something amazing in some awesome locations. You simply can't explain the feeling when you are going over a 9 meter waterfall miles from anywhere, that last second when you know there's no turning back, and then you can say to yourself "wow, I've just done that". It's what keeps me going back for more and more!
Laurence O'Riordan runs laurencecoaching.com, offering personalised canoeing / kayaking courses. More information from info@laurencecoaching.com or by calling: +44 (0) 07780 333579
International work
We are lucky in the UK to have some great stretches of water, plenty of lakes and easy access to some wonderful coastal stretches. But there is no denying that whether you pop across the channel to France or half way around the world to the United States, you will find some rivers that will blow your mind and make you question whether you ever want to go home. If suitable jobs in the UK are difficult to come by, how about widening your search to the rest of Europe, or even further afield? As the BCU is a member of the International Canoe Federation (ICF), the British coaching qualification is recognised abroad. If you are applying to work with a British company who are based overseas then you will certainly be in the running. Whether you would be able to convince a New Zealand paddlesports operator to employ you over someone with their own national qualification, is it a bit more difficult to say. The best thing to do would be to email some companies in the country you are interested in and ask them directly. The BCU offer a sort of conversion course for instructors wishing to come and teach here in the UK, other countries may well have something similar.
The first step toward becoming an instructor is the British Canoeing Core Coach Training. This course is designed to build foundational coaching skills and is adaptable across all paddlesport disciplines. To enroll, you should already have strong paddling skills and the only pre-requisite is national association membership. The award is designed for people who coach paddlers in a specific discipline, such as canoeing, kayaking, or stand up paddleboarding and it allows you to plan, deliver, and review paddlesport sessions independently.
