canoe polo star tests

[alfie]

hi,

a few people in my university club are interested in doing the canoe polo star tests- we don't have anyone qualified to assess them though....

whats the best way to get assessed?

gracias
alfie

[Hudman nli]

Depends where you are alfie and also what kind of stars you want assessed?

I personally have never heard of people taking their polo stars although I'm sure people do.

For up to 3* inland you'll need a L3 coach or above, get in touch with the BCU and they will give you a list of coaches in your area.

Failing that you can always use people like Plas - y - brenin but this tends to be pricy.

Your third option would be to contact a freelance coach (normally all L5!). Recommendations would be Spike Green, Chris Walker, or Tom Parker in the north wales area, Simon Westgarth in the SW or Jacko (www.kayakojacko.co.uk) in the SE/London area. These guys will probably be more expensive tham option 1 but less than option 2!

[steffers]

What's a stars test??:confused:

[michielv]

The BCU (British Canoe Union) has a grading system for poloplayers. It starts off really easy like you should know some basic rules and handle you boat and paddle etc. Gradually more complex rules, strategy and technique is added.

[Ivanthorn]

Hi,

Heard these were being introduced some years ago (and I mean a few) but to date have never heard of them being awarded.

Is this because of apathy or arogance in polo players? (maybe), due to some friction with other classes in the past? (possibly), a shortage of marketing? (who knows).

Whatever the case, you probably need to contact a couple of people to assess this properly (as I genuinely don't know if a single person exits!).

1. Someone who is qualified to teach upto at least 3* flatwater or preferably 5* to introduce some higher level techniques (maybe one for the future).
2. Someone with enough experience of polo, preferably at as high a level as possible, who has the skills and motivation to pass this on to others.

I would guess that a lot of your success may be based upon where you are in the UK at Uni?

If you cannot get the *tests done, why not try and just get a decent coach for starters?

Good luck whatever the outcome.

Ivan
Selkirk Toon #9

[Polo_Dan]

The requirements are here:

http://www.bcu.org.uk/pdfdocs/canoe%20polo%20tests.pdf

You need a L2 coach with 2/3star polo to assess 1/2 star polo. I've also never heard for anyone getting any polo star tests so might be hard to find!

You’re probably better of with an experienced polo player doing a bit of coaching (contact a local club?) Failing that and if you still want to do star tests, rename them and award them yourself! (Congratulations fresher, here’s you 1 pint award?)

[clyde]

Quite a while ago these were introduced to fit in line with other canoe/kayak Star Awards from the BCU.
I did my 1, 2 & 3 Star Awards for General Kayaking when I was about 12. The most difficult part (technically) of which was having to paddle role. Now I think you only need to have the "beginnings of a role" - talk about dumbing down !
In those days, since that took me about 10 minutes to learn (took me an hour for hand rolling), physicaly the hardest part was rescuing others, as I was a bit of a fly-weight of my present self.

Anyway. Part of the problem for Start Awards in Polo is that the people who play just don't seem to be of the "Badge Collector" character so easily seen in the other persuits.
This was always going to be an issue of marketing I thought.

A lot of work was done by a few people to sort this all out and put it in place and one of the problems is that we no longer have a National Coaching Organiser to deal with the administration of it all if it was to take off in any meaningful way. The position has been vacant for many years.

If you would like to know who is qualified to run a course then you sould contact the committee and Polo_Dan has included a good link for other information.

[MarkP]

When these qualifications were 1st introduced Andy Pumphrey assesed several of our kids but that was at least 5 years ago at the inter regionals

[Dan205]

nah i done my 3* about 4 yrs ago the person who assessed me made me do a full role but on the critera u only have to show the begging of the rool but most assessor make u do a full role and u have to coem up within 3 trys or u fail lol