Saturday, April 28, 2007

First day over! One more to go!

Thom is going to put up a proper post. I don't have a lot to say other than I had a really good day. I had fun, paddled in a beautiful place with a couple of great people, thoroughly enjoyed myself and my students seemed to as well. The day wasn't 100% perfect, but it was a really rewarding coaching day. One of my students, Sue (wouldn't you know it, Thom and Lynn paddled with her in Skye 2 years ago!!!!), began the day telling me that she'd lost her roll and I shouldn't be surprised if she swam. Just before we got off the water at the end of the day, she asked me to spot a roll and she banged it off beautifully - a sure sign that her head was in a really good place! So I know I did something right. But did I do ENOUGH right.? The assessor who accompanied me today isn't allowed to comment at all until the assessment is over. I have an entirely new assessor tomorrow and a whole new chance to screw things up. I just need to keep the energy up through tomorrow and then, regardless of the outcome, I'll feel good about the experience.

For those non-paddlers among you, "lost her roll" does NOT mean that she misplaced her sausage roll. It means that she once could Eskimo roll her kayak after a capsize, but recently has not been able to. This is a mental thing - fear and doubt cause you to do the wrong things and you fail. Her success today was really good for me!

Ok, off to get some sleep so we can do it again tomorrow!
Thanks so much for following our progress and checking in on us - it's nice to know you're there!
Jen

3 comments:

John Else said...

Well Jen sounds like you had a great and exciting first day.
Glad everyone is OK.
Have fun and be safe on second day looking forward to read how it went.

John

Unknown said...

Every thing you share inspires and scares me. Thank you, Jen, for doing this. Despite the hurdles you face, the challenges in your mind, know you are awesome and capable. And that you accomplish whatever you set out to do!

Rowland Woollven said...

Well done! Remember the little green creature!!