The promotion of canoeing and kayaking in Peru

This project was carried out in March 2013 by Alessandra Maria Pinto and Lukas van Veldhoven.  Alessandra has completed a Ph.D. in canoeing and kayaking and Lukas also holds a Ph.D. in behavioral change through sports. Both Alessandra and Lukas represented their countries (Brazil and Belgium) as athletes and have been successful kayak and canoe coaches.

Introduction

Canoe/kayak has been an Olympic sport since 1936 and is very popular in several countries, including as a national sport. It is also a sport that, besides enhancing physical development, can be used for the transmission of social and environmental values and integration between various groups and ethnicities.

In Peru, like in other parts of the world, the use of canoes is known as an original method of transportation, however it hasn´t been practiced much with a competitive goal, except in the Bolivian Beach Games, 2012 and the South American Championship in Chile, April 2013.

With this in mind, the purpose of our ten days in Peru was to introduce canoe/kayak as a sport and to prepare future trainers and leaders, so they can promote and develop the sport among the native population in the Peruvian Amazon. Besides theoretical concepts and practical sessions, we shared the vision of our project ALL4LOVE. 

We believe that physical activity, as well as the practice of competitive sports, can serve as an ideal vehicle for changing values among people of all ages and we are putting this into practice in gyms and sports clubs.

More information about the ALL4LOVE project can be requested by e-mail at alecanoa @ hotmail.com or luuk_vv @ hotmail.com.

Course for trainers and club leaders

The course consisted of theoretical seminars and practical sessions of eight hours and was taught in three different cities:

Iquitos
Iquitos is considered as the most populous city in the world that has no road access, and is home to approximately 557,865 inhabitants. Olympic canoe/kayak is not yet well known among the population, but the traditional canoeists do have a competition calendar.  The President of the Peruvian Institute of Sport and the Peruvian Olympic Committee are willing to promote Indigenous sports like canoeing, so we shared our technical information, experience, and advice about how to build up a club from zero. 

Unfortunately we found that the rivers were full of trash. We strongly believe in the role of canoe/kayak trainers in helping the people to regain the profound respect for nature that was once part of the culture of the Incas. A small group of people there seemed very much interested in doing this.

Puerto Maldonado
Puerto Maldonado is a city in southeastern Peru, located on the banks of the Madre de Dios River, formerly called Amaru Mayo. The city is one of the main commercial districts of the Amazon and has 210,524 inhabitants.

Canoe/kayak is already developing there with a group of twenty five athletes led by their trainer Jaime Pereira, originally from Cuba. We were very much impressed by the progress of his athletes in the short time that they have been practicing; however, they were facing several difficulties in carrying out their training. As well as providing technical information on how to use the kayak-ergometer and the latest sports training methods (such as fit-balls,) we passed on our willpower and passion for coaching canoe/kayak and gave recognition for their efforts. We have a profound respect for Jaime Pereira´s work and will continue exchanging our knowledge to support him. 

Lima- La Punta
With an area of 0.75 km² the district of La Punta is the smallest of the six districts of the Constitutional Province of Callao in Peru. It is situated just outside the capital and is bordered on the north, south and west sides by the Pacific Ocean.

The people in this area already have a tradition of rowing and the channel "La Arenilla" is used to carry out their training.  However, canoe/kayak as a sport is completely new to this area as it was first introduced at the Bolivarian Beach Games when they were held there in 2012. Just like in Iquitos, we introduced the basics of canoeing and kayaking and shared our experience about how to build up a kayak club with a small group of highly motivated professionals.  We believe that they will make a difference.

Conclusion

We are confident that canoe/kayak has started off “paddling hard" in Peru, thanks to the initiative and leadership of the President of the Peruvian Olympic Committee Mr. Jose Quinones and his professional team of directors (Mr. Blas Perez, Wilmer Lewis and collaborators) as well as local government leaders and the Peruvian Institute of Sport. They are working together as a team with the trainers and club leaders and trusted us to pass our knowledge on to the clubs. We are sure that they will be successful in the development of canoe/kayak in Peru and look forward to helping them continue moving forward. Proof of their good work is that earlier this month they have participated with a team of canoeists in the South American Championships in Chile and obtained their first ever bronze medal!

We are very thankful to have had the opportunity to share our knowledge of this beautiful sport and enjoyed doing so very much because of the warmth & kindness shown by the people that we came across!  We offer our services to help other countries and governments with an interest in promoting canoe/kayak or want to know more about how to use sport as a vehicle for change.

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Maria Pinto
Lukas van Veldhoven Ph.D.