I am grateful to Darrell Cobner for sharing news of a British Canoe Union Conference held last weekend.
The program is here.
I missed this tweet
We're here and ready to welcome our our coaches to the #BCCoachConf are you ready? pic.twitter.com/MGMY3uK4Lr
— British Canoeing (@BritishCanoeing) November 19, 2016
The theme of the conference was Coaching Chaos – Making Sense of the Coach’s Learning Journey.
From the program flyer:
At a time when coaches from the field suggest they gain little from the coach education process … this year’s event will focus on exploring the learning journey of coaches, scaffolding learning and developing coaching practice to improve participant experiences.
During the weekend of the conference, there were a number of theory sessions to provide a context for practical sessions. Speakers and facilitators included:
- John Lyle (Crafting Knowledge, Developing Expertise)
- Martin Chester (The Coach’s Learning Journey)
- Bill Taylor and Ryan Groom (The Coach as Educator)
- Lara Cooper (Reflective Practice)

The title of the conference and the themes discussed prompted me to think about praxis … the mix each of us has of theory and practice on our personal #coachlearninginsport journeys.
My praxis started at Symonds Yat and is still going thanks to conferences like this.