News

<>< Bank Holiday Closures <><

The next two Mondays (1st & 8th May) are Bank Holidays. Unfortunately this means that the sports hub will be closing early. 

There will thus be NO MONDAY CANOE POOL SESSIONs for the next two weeks. 

Wednesday and Sunday sessions continue as normal.

Lots of Canoe Love

Sam xx

Both Canoe and Canoe Polo clubs will be holding our annual elections event next Thursday 4th May, more details to follow soon so keep an eye out on our social channels!!!!

As tradition expects, this utterly serious event requires nothing less than the most formal of attire. As a reminder, this does mean no jeans, so let’s see a bit of glitz and glamour in our outfits.

If you are running for an executive position, don’t forget to prepare your reasons for running, parody canolo-themed song or poem, and a joke, to perform on the night!

The presidential nominees are in, so without further ado, we are super excited to reveal the presidential manifestos and elections candidates for each club:

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CANOE

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President

• Brother Bevan

First and foremost, I believe that we need to prioritize the experience of freshers. I personally found the club very welcoming when I first joined, and I want to maintain this atmosphere and improve it where possible.

Kayaking can be a daunting sport for those who are new to it, and it is in the best interests of the club to make sure we give new members the best possible experience. It is essential that we create a welcoming and supportive environment for our new members.

I will also get all leaders to send freshers ahead to run all features on a river first to allow them to find their own lines and not be influenced by leaders who will likely be set in their ways and always think that their methods and lines are best. This will allow members to learn to read and run much quicker, while introducing new and unique ideas into the club. Furthermore, all freshers will be tied together to boost their confidence with a ‘safety in numbers’ type strategy while also making it harder for leaders to lose track of someone. 

Secondly, I believe we should build on what we already have. Our club has a strong foundation and I think we should improve the aspects we already have such as continuing with more structured pool sessions, especially early in the year to help freshers get a good grasp of the basics early on. In those sessions I will also have a strict policy of not helping anyone if they require it as the lifeguards often look bored and this might give them something to do.

Peer paddles have been used this year to give less experienced kayakers more opportunities to develop their skills and confidence in a river setting and this is something I think we could utilise more next year to speed up the rate at which we all can progress.

Currently we are lucky enough to have plenty of highly competent ish leaders at our disposal but in order to maintain this number I would look into ways we can help our members to reach this level as quickly and effectively as possible such as attempting to have more training opportunities available and encouraging members to take up an interest in leading. To achieve this, the coach will move in with Chucky as this is the only way to reach him reliably.

Facebook has always been a great source of reliable knowledge so I will be implementing strategies based on this infinite source of unrivalled information such as not providing freshers with a boat or paddles as this is just extra kit they may lose if they are not able to hold onto it in the event of a swim. Instead, they will be given a lead pipe to simulate a paddle as if they can hold onto this for the duration of the trip, then we can begin to trust them with more advanced kit. 

Lastly, it is important that we maintain the community we have. Our club has a unique culture and atmosphere, and we must ensure we preserve and strengthen it by continuing to have frequent and varied socials while maintaining and improving the relationship canoe and canoe polo have with one another. I also think it is important for us to continue to promote a welcoming and inclusive environment, to preserve what makes our club so great for everyone.

New rules will be implemented at socials limiting everyone (with 1 or 2 exceptions) to no more than the recommended daily amount of alcohol as this will improve everyone’s health and fitness for on the river and will ensure we all behave in an orderly fashion at pop. I will also make pub and maccies trips mandatory after pool sessions as this is a fun and healthy (there is lettuce in the wrap of the day) way to relax after a productive pool session. I will also make sure that the 24-hour social happens and have how long you last directly correlate with your priority for Scotland signups. 

• Pebble

I cannot stress the gravity of our current predicament; unfortunately, the current exec seems to have decided to ignore reality and carry on as is. I feel as though we are living in a dystopian nightmare as we wage our war against our greatest enemy: faff. As my great ancestors once told me, ‘we must all sacrifice something for the greater good’ and in this light, I shall outline what my plan is for the following year:

1.     Safety Equipment: Given how long it takes to reset safety after a rescue, I suggest we half the length of all club lines – halving the time needed to repack them. If you’re not able to rescue a fresher with these new lines, then frankly you’re just not in a position of maximum usefulness.
2.     Swimming: You got yourself into this mess, you can get out of it. It’s not fair that some poor soul must faff and go searching for your paddles only to be mocked on Facebook by local big deals. If you decide to swim, you must keep hold of all your equipment as it’s far cheaper to replace a broken bone than it is to replace a boat.
3.     Leaders: Freshers are young, vibrant and bring new ideas to the club (such as point 4 below). Thus, I suggest freshers to be used as future leaders, as their developing minds will see new more efficient solutions for trips which involve less throwlines and less rescue faff. Us fossilised folk are just too stuck in our old ways.
4.     River Features: Rapids cause swims, and swims cause faff. I propose fitting all club BAs with improvised explosive devices which detonate upon submerging around a river feature. That way, a fresher who has swum will ensure that the difficult feature is removed for subsequent freshers, meaning less swims for the group.

I hope that these phenomenal ideas will surely mean that you will vote for me, the only real open nomination. 

Vice President

• Sarah

Treasurer

• Ben Young

Secretary

• Peter Earp

Coach

• Martin Vaughn

Tour Secretary

• John Brenton

Kit Secretary

• Jellyfish Bryan

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CANOE POLO

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President

• Dan Collier

I aim to use my 3 years of exec experience to build on the success the club has had this year. As tournament sec, I brought back the Warwick Tournaments, as the coach I developed our A team to finish 3rd at BUCS, and as a social sec, I collaborated with James to maintain a club community during a pandemic. Listening to members' feedback, here are my goals as president:

1. Restructure sessions for all-ability development

Training for all abilities is at the heart of this club, we want to help members develop from a beginner to a high leagued player. Our training structure will include regular ladies' sessions, team-specific practice time, training with other universities, and creating a digitalised termly training plan.

1. Make a weekly newsletter the new normal

24 hours after each exec meeting, an email newsletter with relevant information about socials, training, and trips will be released. As our members move away from Facebook, I am also keen to put more emphasis on Instagram in conjunction with the Facebook group.

1.               Quarterly engagement with our local community

Having spent a year out in industry, I have been able to see the positive impact an organisation can make within its community. I will collaborate with the CDO officer to have quarterly engagements like a local river paddle cleanup and supporting a local food bank.

1.               Weekly coffee and chat welfare socials

Seeing the success of it in other clubs, I propose a weekly coffee and chat welfare social, giving our members another chance to get together away from the sport.

1.               Bring back skill swaps

To help raise awareness of our sport, I want to bring back the skill swap sessions with other sports clubs. Aiming at other ball sports and water sports, my goal is to run at least 1 or 2 sessions a term.

I would be honoured to finish off my time in the exec as President of a sport which I have loved since day one.

• Yousuf Mohammed 

Hey Everyone!

This year might have been a bit of a challenging year for Polo, with cancellations and horrible BUCS dates, but we have still managed to accomplish a lot and had a fantastic year so far! I have really enjoyed my time at the club and being a part of the Exec has made it extra special. Here are some of the ideas I have in mind for the club next year to be bigger and better:

Team Warwick
This year Adi has brought some new additions to the club(s), such as club photos and Akuma orders to help bring out the Team Warwick feeling. These have been excellent extras and I will make sure to continue with these, and try to include any new possible additions that may come up during the year.

More Focus on Tactics and Drills During Sessions
To make the most of the drills, members need to know the what (drill we are doing), the why (we are doing this drill), the how (we do the drill) and the when (we would use this in the game). I believe we should set aside more time in pool sessions for drills and tactics to go into them in more detail and include a wider variety of drills in the sessions.

Improvement of Intake
This is one of the most difficult issues to deal with in both clubs, particularly with getting ladies to join. I believe one way to improve intake is to get both clubs to work together and encourage new members to try out both clubs first. Further, I will try to create events with other Warwick clubs such as skill swaps and mixed socials, as well as work with other Universities such as Birmingham Uni, whom we have managed to build a strong relationship with this year.

Working with Canoe
I believe that Canoe and Canoe Polo can greatly benefit from each other, and having a good relationship would be very beneficial for both clubs. I would encourage members of both clubs to support each other and try out both sports (where time permits obviously), which can then encourage new members to try both clubs as well.

These are some of the main changes I intend to make as President of the club but I am of course open to more suggestions as well. Thank you for reading!!

Polo Love,
Yousuf xx

• Pebble

Polo should be a priority above everything else and this is how we achieve it…..

Blue Green Algae:

We have two options to sort this

1. A) tell people to man up. People can cope with a bit of last night's dinner on the side of the car. It’s not a big deal. Polo is priority
2. B) we clean the lake with freshwater. Duh, we have unlimited water from the sky. Let’s use it for polo. Polo is priority.

Incompetency of other universities:

Tournaments have been cancelled due to other uni’s being incompetent. I will ensure that I also become president of every other Canoe Polo club to stop this ever happening again. Polo is priority.

Buying kit:

I will ensure that we get all equipment by borrowing it from other universities and then forgetting to give it back. Binning is winning and stealing is good dealing. So it’s a win win. Polo is priority.

Treasurer

• Jamie Gregson
• Cai Edwardes

Secretary

• Neil Causer
• Molly Bevan

Coach

• []

Tournament Secretary

• []

Kit Secretary

• []

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JOINT ROLES

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Social Secretary x2

• CJ Tovey
• Jesus Parham
• Ollie Pay

Media Officer

• Archie Hammond

Charities, Development, and Outreach (CDO) Officer

• Alex Bond

A quick reminder that once can always run on the night for a role of their choice!
Looking forward to seeing you there

Lots of Canolo Love

Sam and Adi xxxx

This year's Canoe and Canoe Polo elections will take place Week 2 of Term 3, Thursday 4th May. If you would like to run for a position, please email the current president for the club you wish to run for (if it’s a joint position, please email both);

Canoe: president@warwickcanoe.co.uk

Polo: president@polo.warwickcanoe.co.uk

Canoe elections run a little differently to other clubs, for each role we ask that you prepare a short speech (60s max) or sentence saying why you’re running for the role along with a canoe related parody song (or poem) and/or joke of your choice to perform on the night. (If you’re running for President you must also submit a short manifesto in advance)

The exec positions are:

𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗲:

President

Vice President

Treasurer

Secretary

Coach

Tour Secretary

Kit Secretary

𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗼:

President

Treasurer

Secretary

Coach

Tournament Secretary

Kit Secretary

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁:

Social Secretary x2

Media Officer

Charities, Development, and Outreach (CDO) Officer

If you have any questions about any of the roles/what they involve or just elections themselves feel free to get in contact with any of the current exec.

Canolo Love,

Sam, Adi and both execs xx

TL;DR: 10th-12th March, Open to everyone to sign up, cost approx £55

Hey everyone! Happy Monday!

An exciting polo announcement: Cardiff University are back with their annual tournament on the 10th- 12th March (end of week 9).

This tournament is open to ALL abilities as we will be taking 3 teams with us, allowing all members to get as much playing experience as possible before BUCS (the big university championship).

The cost of the trip will be approximately £55 which, despite being slightly more expensive than other trips, includes accommodation (and beds) at Parkwood Outdoors Chalet which is a short drive from the polo pitches.

If you want to come along, please sign up here: https://warwickcanoe.uk/trips/trip.php?trip_id=132

Any questions, please feel free to message me or any of the exec.

Polo love,

Adi x