Sam Phungula, who spearheads Natal Canoe Club's (NCC) development programme with Thuthu Manyathi, recently attended a four-day course put on by the International Canoeing Federation (ICF) and focusing on C1 (Canadian) canoeing in Morocco.

The trip was the latest in a long line of opportunities that have opened up for Phungula since he made canoeing the focus of his life. "It has changed my life from going nowhere to going somewhere big. NCC has really given me a lot of opportunities," he said.

C1 canoeing, in which paddlers have one knee on the floor of the canoe and a paddle which is used to only one side of the craft, was a relatively new experience for Phungula, in a canoeing discipline that is little known in South Africa.

"I didn't have much experience, it was the minimum. I had been paddling C1s for two weeks before the course," he admitted.

The ICF course, he explained, will enable him to coach coaches, which would aid the expansion of the discipline in South Africa. "They taught us about the techniques of kayaking and canoeing, the basics of what we should teach people, like beginners, what we should focus on before the person really starts because it is difficult to change that once a person has started, so it is better to do it at the beginning," Phungula said.

"A lot of the guys are interested in C1. They want to try it out," he added. "Now that I am back [from Morocco], they know that I have some knowledge about it and they are keen on it."

One of the challenges will be providing equipment for prospective C1 paddlers. "At the moment, we have just two boats and two paddles, so we're still talking about how to get more equipment," Phungula explained.

However, NCC has a rich and very successful relationship with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation, and given the success of the club's development programme thus far, which had resulted in the sport being introduced to thousands of previously disadvantaged youngsters, a solution is no doubt on the horizon.

Canoeing has been among the most successful sports in terms of transformation in the democratic South Africa, and in terms of the success of formerly disadvantaged athletes. Earlier this year, for example, Sbonelo Zondi teamed up with NCC star Andy Birkett to become the second black winner of the iconic Dusi Canoe Marathon.

Looking ahead, Phungula said: "My idea right now is to do the coaching course for guys in the Valley [of a Thousand Hills] and around KZN. We'll do the coaching course and then see how we can distribute the equipment, so that they can go on wherever they are."

Considering the accomplishments of the NCC development programme thus far, he continued: "It is a new sport to many of them. They were not aware of it. Some were aware, but it was viewed almost as a white man's sport. Now, when we come there they want to take the opportunity [to paddle].

"We do experience some challenges with their parents, but the children really welcome it and have bought into it. They love it. They even call me, asking when I am coming back."