We had a great time in Scotland recently on the OC1 Creeking Course and I was reviewing the pictures today with the intention of posting a Blog. It occurred to me that some of the pictures showed an aspect of paddling we often ignore the importance of; psychological skills. As skills they are learned and take time to develop, so require some deliberate practice.
Here I will give you an example using the concept of attentional focus. If we focus all of our attention on the target attainment we are paddling to, we should be able concentrate on the outcome and use autonomous skills to achieve it. In other words if we stare at the target we seem to get there automatically without being conscious of how we did it.
Here you see a sequence of pictures that show Jan using attentional focus in a skilled way to achieve an outcome. He is paddling from the eddy between the first and second drop on Triple Falls on the Etive.
Even before he leaves the eddy he is focussed on the lip of the next waterfall where he needs to perform the boof to make a successful descent:
Driving on his cross-deck power blade with just a little edge to get the boat to carve:
Moving onto his on-side to drive the boat towards the target in the boily confused water:
Good vertical power strokes:
A draw to position the boat with precision:
Locking the blade in place on the lip:
Driving through the hips and knees to lift the bow and drive the boat off the lip:
The use of attentional focus to perform moves on the dynamic 3 dimensional environment will increase performance and help control anxiety. By focussing on the outcome we need to worry less about how we get there and any consequences.
In the last but one of the pictures above as the blade is locked in position ready to boof. The attention is then focussed on the landing. Timing is critical here as the body moves forward and weight is dynamically laid down through the knees to take pressure off the spine as you land flat. Get some coaching to get this right before you try it as landing flat can be dangerous without the right technique.
A few pictures to show wider view of a similar approach to the same move:
Warm wishes,
Ken
Leave a Reply