Women's paddling at NLK
18 months ago I made the difficult decision to discontinue our Thursday night paddling sessions and replace them with a new group session aimed at encouraging female paddlers - Women on Water.
I remember being a bit nervous before our first paddle at Long Beach.
As the weeks went by this session grew until we had a great group of 8-10 regular paddlers. The vibe on and off the water was terrific!
A few months later we moved to a late morning timeslot on Sundays at Kingston. Paddlers could bring kids, partners and friends down to the beach and go for coffee and a bite to eat afterwards.
Soon afterwards a number of Women on Water participants moved through to our Paddle Progress and Paddle HIIT sessions, then on to our Moving Targets group. Since October 2015 over 30 women have progressed through the NLK paddling pathway. We now have 4-6 female paddlers enrolled in all our group training sessions. Yesterday we had 22 paddlers on the water across 3 sessions...12 of these were women!
A few weekends ago Roz Barber, one of our most consistent paddlers, picked up a gold and silver medal at the National Marathon Kayak Championships in Sydney. Roz has only been paddling for 4 years. She works hard on and off the water, loves her sport and encourages, mentors and motivates other paddlers around her - her enthusiasm is off the charts!!
It is awesome to see Roz and so many other female paddlers learning to paddle, developing their skills and fitness, gaining confidence to deal with challenging conditions and situations, even racing successfully against the best in the country!
We will support you every step of the way.
A big shout out and thankyou!
Ben