Between 13th and 17th August, athletes and trainee coaches from Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Togo, and South Africa came to Agbodrafo, Togo, to coach 165 kids (aged between 7 and 14) at a multisport camp. The camp has been running for the last 3 years, organised by the foundation Amadonsa, focusing on enthusing young children into taking up sports, with the added dynamic of gender equality amongst these camps.

With the help of the ICF, CAC, FETAC, and Amadonsa, the kids were taught the basics of canoeing by trainee coaches from: Togo (10), Morocco (2), Nigeria (3), Ghana (1), South Africa (1) and 2 from the ICF. As well as encouraging beginners to take up the sport, the ICF were there to help develop the skills of the trainee coaches: offering workshops about coaching, race formats, judging in slalom, and race organisation.

After a week of coaching development, and coaching the children, a slalom challenge (YOG format) was organised by the 5 countries’ slalom coaching trainees, for the children. 56 starts were arranged for Togolese, Ghanaian and Nigerian kids.

The final stage took place on the 18th August with the inaugural Western African Slalom YOG format Championships that gathered 5 countries, 37 paddlers from 14 to 52 years old. Competitors from 5 countries came along for a first step into Slalom canoeing: Ghana 7, Morocco 1, Nigeria 4, Togo 23, South Africa 1.

This programme was all about Canoe slalom, having fun, and sharing and developing the future of African Canoe Slalom. The main outcomes so far, are: an African Canoe Slalom development scheme aiming towards the 2014 Youth African Games (to be held in Botswana) and the 2014 African Continental Championships (to be held in Kenya).