Participants spent the weekend in Canoes, reviewing basic canoe strokes, exploring teaching and learning styles and executing various rescue techniques. Not only were participants expected to perform skills or know subject matter, but everyone was given an opportunity to try their hand at teaching a portion of the class. All of this was to provide a good background for our future Canoe instructors. After more than 16 hours on the water and in the classroom, twelve participants were certified at the Introduction to Canoeing level, one moved up to the Basic River Certification and six participants received candidate for certification status.
In order to conduct a Canoe outing in a Virginia 4-H program, the 4-H Outdoor Adventure Committee recommends that an American Canoe Association Certified Instructor qualified at the level of water to be navigated be present. In some cases a Life Guard or ACA Canoe Safety graduate is sufficient. This training was offered to provide adult volunteers with an opportunity to obtain Certification and in turn provide a safe, educational Canoeing experience for Virginia's youth. Scholarships were provided by the 4-H Outdoor Adventure Committee for 10 volunteers with one scholarship per unit.
The 4-H Outdoor Adventure Committee plans to offer other "Specialty" trainings in the future to provide 4-H adult volunteers the skills and information necessary to continue to provide a quality outdoor experience for 4-H'ers. For more information on upcoming training please contact Marilyn Jarvis at (703) 777-0373.
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