Anyway, NOW that I have a few rolls is precisely when I would like to take a rolling CLASS. One-on-one mentoring or solo experimentation was very efficient in the beginning. An intermediate level clinic setting NOW would be fantastic, and I feel like the communication between students would be beneficial. (Would anybody care to suggest one, in the Midwest?)

When I was struggling to develop my first roll, the graphic and verbal description I found were not very helpful. Now that my body ‘gets it’ (at least some of it :^) my mind can better understand the verbage. And this still holds true for rolls I can’t do.

BTW, I kind of like Derek Hutchinson’s statement printed in Adventure Kayak: “There is no capsize, only degrees of lean”.

http://www.paddlinginstructor.com/200809271493/paddling_instructors_blog/teaching/rolling-instruction-we-can-do-much-better.php

I’m sure they are way off base but it was what came to my mind when I think about rolling instruction.

David J.

Hi Kellie, Here’s a story for you. I had a student (she’s a coach now) come to me in a rolling class. She had a roll then in a real life situation lost it. So she’s sitting in the boat telling me this story and I asked her to just show me so I could see what was going wrong. . . she just rolled right up! Easiest student I ever had. The mind likes to play games with you. Often learning stuff like this have very little to do with the process but a lot to do with those little inner wars, self doubt, self confidence, past experiences. . . That’s where the difference between teaching and coaching come to play. You can teach someone anything, but even when they learn what you’ve taught, often there’s still a lot of coaching to be done.

Glad to hear you’re jumping back in. Dick mentioned how nice it is to work one to one outside of a “class”. If you can get with a good coach or friend with a good roll privately that might help quite a bit. You certainly shouldn’t be hurting yourself! For what it’s worth a pawlata can be a good first roll. But lean toward the one that seems to feel most right to you and work with someone who knows that roll. You can really get confused if you mix and match rolls too soon.

Let me know how it goes!

Names please!!!

short version: I think it works best keeping things fun. I like the one on one with instant feedback and the chance to trade off with another student(s) and take a rest when tired. To me the best thing an instructor can do is keep things positive, try different approaches which may sometimes mean a different instructor, know when things need a break, and encourage the student not to give up.

long version: Here’s what I got out of my first rolling session in the summer of 2007 – inspiration and a roll most likely assisted (but I’m not 100% positive) by the sandy lake bottom

I returned home excited and inspired, but had forgotten to ask the instructor the name of the roll I was trying to do. It looked like the Pawlata. I couldn’t find anyone who knew or wanted to know what I was talking about.

next person tried to explain the C to C, it didn’t work.

I tried repeating 1st rolling session magic on my own a few times -then took a rather long break.

ok, bought a video, but they’re teaching a sweep roll.

Paddled with a very experienced kayaker who offered to teach me to roll. He tried many different teaching techniques.

I customized the kayak cockpit.

Things got better and he tried many different teaching techniques

I got a divers mask which improved the quality of the underwater experience.

I tried dry land rolling to the amusement of my non-paddling friends. It hurt but I wasn’t doing it right.

Beginning to think I might pass the year mark without a roll, few months to go.

Spring 2003, pool night – a roll! 3 rolls, two of them actually in front of the instructor.

I took a break. Lost the roll, found the roll.

Summer 2008 – took another rolling class. There were 3 of us in the class and two of us rolled making it hard for the 3rd person who really really wanted a roll.

Returned very excited and inspired, rolled someone else’s sea kayak, rolled a white water boat, then lost the roll in my sea kayak and hurt shoulder in the process.

Took a break, now starting up again (had to start up again because anxiety/fear was getting worse and it’s not good to let that go on for too long).

I wrote a response but I decided to sleep on it until tomorrow to make sure that it still makes sense!

Cheers,

David J.