News

Hi everyone!!

Following on from Dan’s post the other day, we have now decided on the 3 charities that each team will be competing for at RAGE in weeks 6-8. They are:

Women’s Aid (https://www.womensaid.org.uk/)

Mind (https://www.mind.org.uk/)

Little Princess Trust (https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/)

I have attached the links for each of their webpages incase you would like to have a look at what it is they do!

As Dan said, the cost for play will be £2, which will be entered into the prize fund and then donated to one of these charities, depending on the winning team :)

Polo love

Molly

CANOE POLO'S RAGE TOURNAMENT IS BACK!

For those of you who have never heard of RAGE, this is a little in-house tournament that we will be hosting for weeks 6 to 8 on our Tuesday session. At the same time, we will have a fantasy league going on. This is a great way to relax whilst the final exams happen. You do not have to be able to attend each session to take part.

This year we are running this as a charity event. This means for every session that you wish to partake in, we will ask for a £2 entry fee, which will go towards the prize fund. There will be 3 teams this year, each competing for a selected charity. The prize fund will be donated to the charity of the winning team. 

Sign-ups are now live and close on Tuesday 24th:

https://warwickcanoe.uk/trips/trip.php?trip_id=114

Any questions please feel free to ask.

Polo love,

Dan

Wakey Wakey!

Surf Sign ups open in 10 minutes!

Surf works a little different as there isnt a defined scheldule, so when signing up select the timing that fit your needs best so travel can be sorted. Any issues or questions please let us know.  

Canolo Love,

Lucas & the exec

Hey everyone,

The SU and Warwick Sport, in collaboration with the Report and Support team, have recently released the Sexism in Sport Survey (https://forms.office.com/r/JP4CgTRgJ0).

It’s a short (completely anonymous) questionnaire that asks about your possible experiences with sexism while taking part in sport at Warwick.

The survey will raise any issues that need addressing, and help stamp out sexism in sport, so it would be great to see as many of you complete it as possible.

Welfare love,
Toby

✏️✏️WEEK 3 PUB QUIZ NIGHT✏️✏️ (pub optional)

A massive hello from your new socials (me and @John). With Thursday fast approaching this week’s social will see teams of brave paddlers throw their mental weight about in The Great Canoe Quiz.

Competing for nothing more than an inflated ego we’ll kick off the quiz at 19:30 at OC1.03 in the Oculus. With soft drinks provided to keep your intellectual thirst quenched and the opportunity to order in pizza available on the night.

Provided it doesn't take too long to crown a champion, the option is there to head to the duck for a chill drink or two afterwards.

Click going on the facebook event if you can make it!

Social Love, 

Emma and John xxx

If you’re looking for a distraction from deadlines and exams, we'll be running another trip to Cardiff Whitewater Centre Saturday next week, 14th of May. Sign ups will be life at 19:55 this evening!

https://warwickcanoe.uk/trips/trip.php?trip_id=108

The requirement for this trip is that you have been on at least one of our other whitewater trips. 

There are two sessions run throughout the day, morning and afternoon. Sign up asap if you're interested in attending and timings and transport will be sorted out subsequently. It is £10 to book onto a session. (Fuel cost will be calculated after the trip)

Canoe Love,

Sam xx

Evening Paddlers <3

It's a week until election night which means it's time to start considering your presidential candidates. Posted below are their manifestos, please read through them all and think about who you would like to represent our club for the next year. If you have any questions about their ideas feel free to talk to them directly.

Canoe Manifestos:

Lucas:

Objective 1 – Showcase the club to gain/maintain members

Objective 2 – Create a structure for pool sessions to aid the development of freshers and keep them more engaged in the sessions

Objective 3 – Encourage more use of the skills page on the website, so people can track their skills and know how the want to improve

Objective 4 – Try to have two WWSR and 4* courses in the year to have a deeper foundation of help throughout the club, enabling more paddling!!! 😃

Objective 5 – Reduce Club Faff! Have things more planned and organised so we don’t Faff

Sam:

The inclusive nature of the club is one of our strongest assets, and I love the way we welcome everyone, regardless of ability, throughout the year to this fantastic sport. I was welcomed with open arms as a fresher. In my second year – the COVID year, the sport helped me (and Beth when I brought her along) through some tough times. And this past year, the club has taken over my every week in the best way possible!

There’s no doubt that I’ve learnt from my experience (and from my mistakes) in 2 years on exec, and I want to put it all to use as your president next year:

“Be less s**t”

I shall keep upskilling our members, fully implementing the use of the “My Skills” section on the website for new freshers, complemented with more online resources for kit fixing, paddling skills, and river safety.

Using my time coaching at Leam Boat Centre over the summer, I hope to learn and implement even better training techniques.

I will organise a garage clear-out and kit inspection day at the end of next term so that the club is prepared for the next round of freshers.

“Change is bad”

The club was blessed with many drivers when we had to make the switch to cars, but this may not always be the case. For futureproofing, I aim to work with the next Sports Officer (conveniently my current flatmate) to change the policy on the hire of minibuses, so we have that option available again.

“Love Rocks (hate trees)”

We’ve been lucky with sunny weather this year, but this has often meant no rain. I propose a switch of trip locations to accommodate this, heading to South Wales in October, where rivers are more accessible for freshers but require more rain, whilst the Dee can be paddled at most levels in January!

I hope to lead an exec full of communication where constant exchanging of ideas and keeping club members informed is the norm.

Next year, I’m eager to put my contagious enthusiasm into making the Club the best it can be – both on and off the river!

Lucy:

Hey, it's the gal behind the camera! I'm Lucy, and I've been your webmonkey for the last year, making you look extra stylish on the river. Here's why you should elect this media-savvy paddler as your next president:

Firstly, you should know that all of my objectives for my presidency derive from wanting to maintain and build on this club's incredibly positive and inclusive ethos. Canoe is a safe place for all types of people from different backgrounds and with varying life experiences, and I want to keep it that way. I hold the well-being of club members in extremely high regard. I wish to expand the welfare structure in this little bubble of happiness at Warwick.

If elected, I would aim to:

1. Expand The Current Welfare Structure - A sports club is often the only structured organisation you come across every week at university. If something goes wrong, club members (and exec) will probably pick up on it long before your personal tutor. With this in mind, I want to expand on an already very open and caring system by ensuring all exec are taking on the same responsibility as welfare officers, including doing active check-ins and leading informal coffee catch-ups or pub trips. I will also introduce more relaxed and non-drinking socials, especially at the beginning of each term.

2. One Coach-Led Pool Session Per Week - Warwick Canoe is fabulously lucky to have such an experienced coach (and other very qualified members) within the club, and I want to use that to its full advantage! A coach-led session will offer a consistent training program aimed at those wishing to have a structured set of goals and a clear route for progression, no matter what ability. One session a week, the coach will take the lead and teach kayaking skills in-line with a pre-published term plan aiming to build members' confidence for the river.

3. More Charity Events - The club already does a superb job raising money for great causes - Paddleathon 22 was a great success, and everyone involved should be incredibly proud that we raised nearly £800! I would like to channel that enthusiasm and creativity into more avenues. Firstly, with a summer paddleathon (actually on the water) where the club members paddle a long distance over a day, raising money. Secondly, I want the club to engage with the local community. We are a group of very skilled people who have the power to open up the outdoors to disadvantaged groups and share something we really love!

4. Planning & The Polo Crossover - I will be studying in Venice during Term 1. However, that does not mean that I will be any less hands-on than my predecessors - it will just be more digital. If I am elected, the strong team behind me, especially my Vice-President, will be stepping up to the plate to lead events during Term 1. There will also be an in-sync relationship with Canoe Polo, including more joint exec meetings, only strengthening the link between clubs.

5. Media, Media, Media - The pandemic has taught us all the value of social media and online connection. Our website plays a major role as a public resource for kayaking and canoe polo. I want to use my skills as a videographer to translate the knowledge of our skilled members into short videos for the website that can be utilised by future club members and a wider audience.

Before University, I worked in the film industry as an assistant director and production secretary, leading a small team on a regular basis. Maybe I'm biassed, but filmmaking is one of the most extraordinary feats of teamwork, and I know that’s not possible without a strong leader. As a leader, I strive to create an environment where everyone's voice is heard and opinions valued while making firm final decisions.

As your next president, I will lay the foundation for our membership to expand while maintaining the same quality of teaching and community. And maybe I'll take some pretty killer river photos for you too?

Pebble:

If elected I promise to bring back the one thing we've all been missing this past year....

Rain!

We will be sacrificing one fresher at the start of every term and performing a rain dance at the end of every Pop! in order to appease the rain gods and ensure the club's bum shuffling days are behind us.

I will also be gaining employment undercover amongst the Warwick sport staff, slowly climb the ranks until im able to take down this evil organisation from the inside...(or at least be able to keep track of a master key) they'll never suspect a pebble ; )

Canoe Polo Manifestos:

Adi:

Here is my ADI-vert for being the president of Canoe Polo. I believe that being secretary and social secretary this year has provided me with a great insight into the running of the club, whilst my love for the sport has only grown stronger. I would love to continue to make pool sessions engaging and enjoyable for all abilities whilst also creating a welcoming space through socials and events outside of sessions too! As president, I would have three main goals:

BALL THROWING.

Ah yess, the dreaded words. To put it bluntly, ball throwing is not at a convenient time (8am on a Wednesday in Westwood) so I plan to move this to more of a welcoming time in order to improve attendance. This also provides another chance to socialise and get to know everyone in a more laid back environment as opposed to a pool session.

TOURNAMENTS.

We haven’t been able to attend tournaments due to covid and other SU cuts. However, I want to encourage members to attend as many tournaments as we can, including joining forces with Birmingham to attend tournaments such as Paddlington in early October; this would enable those new to the sport an opportunity to play against other players in a similar position. I also aim to bring back our annual tournament to provide everyone with another opportunity to play competitively without having to travel far.

WORKING WITH CANOE.

Canoe have three sessions a week, and I think we should encourage members to utilise them. I want to continue to urge members to attend Sunday sessions to get rolling and also, join canoe and attend canoe sessions as I think it's a great way for members to improve their individual paddling skills.

To summarise, I would love to continue the great work James has done this year, and by implementing my goals too, we will continue to make Polo the superior paddling sport.

Pebble:

As a result of millions of years of random earth movement, I bask in chaos. I appreciate its many benefits which I believe the club could greatly benefit from. Such is the way of polo that there is no need for tactics, rules, or any plan whatsoever. This will confuse our opponents and they will have no choice but to bow to our superior presence.

In recent years, the club has enjoyed far too much organisation and clarity, there is no need for such things, when I’m in power, there will be no need for such things as timetables or measly informative posts. I also plan to abolish the rest of the exec anyway as they would merely be dead weight under my reign anyway.

As always, there would also be no need for a canoe exec either, as with me in both president positions anyway the two sports shall always be played at the same time, never in separation.

Anyway, I know you shall all make the correct choice, vote pebble, and see the beautiful chaos ensue.

Canolo Love,

Games and Sarahhh