News — Paddlechica

This article was originally published on Paddlechica.com. Many of us will be heading abroad to race this summer, either to the Club Crew World Championships in Hungary, or the IBCPC in Italy. Whether this is your first international race or not, hopefully you will find these tips helpful as you head off on your travels soon. Best of luck to all teams competing this summer and I hope to see some of you in Hungary! The main framework of this list was originally generated by Jim Farintosh and shared with the paddlers at his Bow Wave Clinic in April. With Jim’s permission, I have...

  This article was originally published on Paddlechica.com. With all the Olympic events a few weeks ago, it got me thinking about success and how it is defined. Sure, we talk about gold, silver and bronze medals and the athletes who win them, but is a medal the ultimate symbol of success? Does a gold medal mean that you had more success than the silver medalist? Does simply being on the podium suggest that you are more of a champion? Success in Racing Consider the various regattas your team has entered. At some, there is little to no competition and...

This article was originally published on Paddlechica.com. Teams vary from highly competitive at one end of the spectrum to all-inclusive at the other end, with everything in between. Finding the right team for you is often a difficult process. Some paddlers find themselves wanting more of a competitive challenge, yet the club they belong to has more of a social focus. Other paddlers want to be on the race crew more often, yet their skill set isn’t developed enough and so they find themselves as a “spare” quite frequently. Some paddlers truly believe that they want to be on a more...

This article was originally published on Paddlechica.com. As adults, we often find it difficult to ask for help or clarification when we don’t understand something. We are reluctant to appear weak or ignorant, and we are frequently intimidated by the very people we should be requesting assistance from. There is something frightening about asking for help from those who are better than us. We tend to put people up on a pedestal and perceive them as more important than ourselves, making it nearly impossible to request any assistance. All too often I have seen paddlers who need help in various aspects...

This article was originally published on Paddlechica.com. In the middle of a recent training session I started thinking about how many parts of my body were hurting. I let my mind wander and it became my worst enemy. I started questioning why in the heck I put myself through the hour-long torture session we affectionately call “training,” especially at 5:45 in the morning. My mind started to take over and sadly I willingly let it. The truth is, paddling is a mental game. Obviously technique is important, and you can’t neglect the physical strength and proficiency needed for competing. But without...