WAIS national representative kayakers Jesse Phillips and Daniel Bowker headed to the Ascot Kayak Club last weekend to run a Go for 2&5 Clinic with the club’s juniors.
In picture perfect conditions, the pair hit the water and ran through a series of paddling techniques aimed at encouraging the group to continue in the sport and develop some new good habits.
World Championship representative Phillips kicked off the workshop, discussing his involvement in the sport and how he worked his way up to elite level, before U23 representative Bowker reiterated his training partners sentiments and let the group in on the key ingredient needed for success in the sport, passion.
Having taken up the sport at 14 and 21 respectively, both were impressed with the talent level of the juniors at Ascot, with some members no older than eight years old.
Phillips suggested the group could contain some bolters for the 2020 Olympic Games.
“I was so impressed by the level of skill and comprehension of those young junior paddlers, even at the ripe age of eight or nine years old, they learn faster than their adult counterparts,” he said.
“The juniors were all looking so proficient on the water that I’m confident WAIS will need to be scouting them before Rio 2016, ready for the Olympic Games in 2020,” Phillips said.
After taking the juniors for a 45 minute paddle on the Swan River, the WAIS pair signed autographs and posed for photos, before sticking around for the remainder of the morning – running work shops for the older Ascot Kayak members, along with head WAIS coach Ramon Andersson and WAIS nutritionist Clare Wood.
