Taylor Potts | Sportscene - The International Canoe Federation (ICF) and the Olympic Solidarity offered their third Sprint Canoe Coach’s course for Levels 1 and 2 this past December. The twelve-day course was organized with the cooperation of the Sudanese Rowing and Canoe Kayak Association and took place in Khartoum, Sudan, aiming to improve the quality of coaching in this region. ICF’s Expert Lecturer Zakaria Mahmoudi led the course.

The Sprint Canoe Coach’s Course aimed to assist in the development of canoeing activities in the region through increasing the number of paddlers, qualified coaches, and number of women participation in canoe kayak as a whole. The future development projects also aims to organize regional events: Arab and African canoe kayak championships. Twenty-one male and eight female participants successfully passed their Level 1 and 2 examinations.

Mr. Zakaria Mahoudi, ICF Expert Lecturer, noted the improvement in developing Women’s Canoe in the African and Arab countries. “I was extremely happy to see Women Canoe racing for the first time at the 7th African Championship held in Tunisia on November 2013… The Continental Association and host national federations should consider organizing Women Canoe events in various competitions.”

A total of forty-eight coaches, athletes, and sport teachers participated Sprint Canoe Coach’s in a program that was divided into two components: Theory and practice.

The theories aspect of the course “aimed to provide coaches and athletes with basic knowledge, solid foundation of information and skills needed by coach the coach,” while the practice sessions offered coaches knowledge of safety, equipment, technique, and planning of yearly training programs. The week also featured a “Boat Repairs and Club Cleaning.” session before the participants’ first of three intensive evaluations.

The ICF course evaluation report was positive: “The coaches gained a lot of useful knowledge from the course. The athletes [of the Sudan Canoe Kayak National Team] were very talented; they have been very enthusiastic and willing to learn good technique.”

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