Teaching inter-city youth to paddle canoes....

[valhallalongboats]

This is a snippit I posted on my blog, thought I'd share it here, too. I'm teaching a group of boy scouts from the city to paddle canoes for the next couple weeks, and I wanted to share a few of the interesting things they say. Please forgive the explanations of basic things we all know, this was originally written for people who know nothing about rivers or canoes...but some of you might find it amusing.

Love getting back on the water teaching whitewater canoeing! But I just have to laugh at some of these inter-city boy scouts I'm currently instructing. They are great kids, but man, some of these kids have never done anything physical in their lives! Here is a list of some of the funny things they have said...and my responses!

I have the canoes in shallow water next to the shore, and I need the kids to get out of their boats.
Me: Ok, hop out of your boat.
Kid: How?
Me: Just get out of the canoe, you're only in about six inches of water.
Kid: But my shoes will get dirty.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I was teaching a group of BOY scouts, not girl scouts.

While trying to teach one of the kids to use a 'throw line' (70 feet of floating rope in a bag. You throw the bag towards someone who has turned over their boat, they grab the rope that has spilled from the bag, you haul them to shore).

Kid: How do I throw this?
Me: Well, you can throw underhand or overhand. I like overhand, but its really just whatever works for you. Just remember not to throw it AT the swimmer, try and throw it over their head so the line drops on top of them.
Kid: I'm just not sure how to throw it.
Me: Ok, well, you throw it just like you would throw anything else, really. Have you ever played football?
Kid: No.
Me: How about baseball?
Kid: No.
Me: Softball?
Kid: No.
Me: Ever have a paper route?
Kid: No.
Me: Have you ever thrown anything?
Kid: No.
Me: Give me back my throw line.

While running a basic drill that involves controlling the boat.

Me: Not bad guys! A couple more times and I think we'll be ready to see some bigger rapids!
Kid: We have to do it again?
Me: Do you want to run bigger rapids?
Kid: Well, yeah, but I don't want to do the drill again.
Me: Ok, well, you're still not showing me that you can control the boat well enough to step up to the next level.
Kid: But this is so hard! And there isn't a Mall anywhere near here!
Me: You seriously would rather be at the mall right now?
Kid: Well, they have video games and air conditioning.
Me: Suck it up. And don't worry, Xbox will still be there when you get home.

While we have stopped for lunch.

Kid: Why does nature have to be so dirty?
Me: Are you serious right now?

While paddling down the river.

Me: Hey, watch out for that rock!
Kid: ......
Me: HEY, DRAW STROKE! DRAW STROKE! TURN RIGHT! RIGHT!
Kid: ......
Me: CAN YOU SERIOUSLY NOT SEE THAT HUGE HULKING BOULDER YOU'RE HEADING FOR?
....canoe smashes into rock, does 180' pivot, somehow does not turn over.
Me: Why did you run into that rock?
Kid with bewildered look on his face: What Rock?
Me: ........

As a canoe comes sliding into an extremely powerful eddy.
Me: Lean Left! Lean Left hard!
Kids lean RIGHT, very hard, and of course, turn over. Kids come to the surface and stare at me with an accusing look.
Me: Your OTHER left.
Kid: Oh! Right.
Me: Whatever.

I'll post some more as they happen. These kids are cracking me up.

[mahyongg]

VERY good! I think this can actually be useful for other instructors, in addition to providing funny insights into what sometimes used to be a challenge (more or less so, but hey.. have you forgotten) to each and every one of us here.. which is always good to remind yourself of, because it can be hard to empathize with beginners (yeah you can spell that mepathize, that's the wrong kind ;D) sometimes.

Keep it up! (please?)


Cheers

Jan


PS. ok I never wondered why nature was dirty.. oh except for those situations where we stumbled upon leftovers of ze so-called "civilization"..

[Peter K.]

Nice post. But it's not just kids. These reactions are not unknown amongst adult students. I've had someone drop out of a canoe tripping course when they discovered that there would be no showers at campsites on the 2-day trip that was part of the course. And we get that from people who actually signed up -- the vast multitude don't even get that far. People no longer seem to tolerate getting wet and dirty even for modest periods of time. Probably why golf (where you can wear white shoes) is more popular than paddling.

[Dave.E]

I worked at a summer camp for a couple years leading canoe trips and teaching kids how to paddle.

What the kids classified as 'the middle of nowhere' was always amusing. We would often drive through a City of over 60,000 while driving out for trips and they would always be surprised that people lived that far north, with a shopping mall and everything!