Angling coaching

Angling Coaching
A fair bit of my job at work involves presenting training of one type or another so last year I took the plunge & took the first sport Angling Coaching level 1 qualification WADAA were kind enough to sponsor me for this training. I completed my training in the Lake District, made some new friends & useful contacts. There is a lot more to it than just the fishing as you can imagine including having to undergo Police vetting to work with kids, indeed angling coaching teaches you nothing about fishing its all health & safety, child protection, codes of conduct & the like. This year I have done a bit of coaching & a bit of guiding. In June along with other coaches from WADAA I attended the Jackie Charlton Disabled anglers federation event at Esthwaite water, acting as a ghillie/guide for two severely disabled fly fishermen from the North East, as I told WAADA manager Neil Birkshaw I don’t fly fish but they just wanted me to control the boat for them & take them to likely spots around the lake & do the safety bit. One lad was wheelchair bound & the other was a hunchback with a club foot so as you can imagine it was a bit of a challenge getting onboard one of the standard trout fishing boats. Both of these lads had to take numerous tablets whilst we were fishing. Sod’s law it was windy & cold for June & it also threw it down with rain (not ideal conditions for fly fishing from a boat), however never have I met two more good spirited anglers, mad keen who love their fishing, not once did they complain about the weather or anything, I know some able bodied anglers who would have been moaning most of the day about the wind & the rain. That day Esthwaite didn’t fish it was highly coloured due to all the rain & it contained a lot of algae, its certainly not the Eshtwaite that I knew of 20 years ago, however despite that the lads couldn’t thank me enough for the days fishing & I think that next time anyone is tempted to moan about conditions not being right on the day they are fishing or other such trivialities they should spare a though for these two lads who were an inspiration to us all. I am looking forward to (hopefully) completing my advanced angling coaching level 2 qualification in the near future if I can find a sponsor!
Eric Edwards contacted me about setting up a teach-in in the local area for juniors & newcomers to the sport. I thought this was a fantastic idea as it’s good to put something back into our sport & I think this is definitely a way to shape future attitudes to pike angling in the area. Eric went along to the St Helens AA meeting & obtained permission to use a section or Carmill Dam. Eric mithered fellow anglers to donate gear for the event & he was inundated with stuff which included about 9 rods & 6 reels, my thanks to all who gave (the rods & reels will be retained for future events). We nearly had a show stopped when the PAC said that the insurance would not cover the event, my coaching insurance said they wouldn’t cover it either & in the claims culture we live in I just couldn’t risk running the event without adequate 3rd party liability insurance, this was a bit of a nightmare to obtain many insurers just would not take the risk, one insurer quoted over £1000! But after a bit of negotiating & limiting the number of events I finally obtained it to cover 3rd party liability for club meetings, outings, events & the club boat for £190 + tax. Myself & Eric co-ordinated the event & Eric made up 25 pike packs for participants. We promoted the event on the internet, in local tackle shops via a flyer that I made up & event in the local press. I had to make up a safety briefing, lesson plan & risk assessment for the event all pre-requisites enforced on us angling coaches by the powers that be. Myself & Eric met up the week before to finalise our plans. Although there was a lot of interest in the event you can never be certain that any number (if anyone) will turn up to these events, or on the other-hand you could be over-run with attendees. The unknown variables including the weather could make or break the event. The weekend of the event arrived & late notice I also had the nod from the solicitor that me & my family were moving house that weekend, hectic to say the least. I put up posters around the event area informing others not to fish there whilst Eric was busy sorting all the tackle for the event. I returned home Saturday to complete my move, early to bed & up & down at Carmill for 8am. Eric was already there waiting as was one young lad who had peddled down on his pushbike with full kit! Eric was I think close to the point of being thrown in by two burly match-men, the area had been double-booked for us & a match! Anyhow we negotiated a compromise with the Match lads moving round & we all managed to stay dry.
We had several stewards & assistant coaches including James Dean, Dave Cottrial, K. Devlen, John Woods, K. March, N. Stubbs & Dennis Bird. The event was split into 4 sections to cover various methods – ledgered dead-bait & trace making, float-ledger, lure & drifting & paternoster, the event ran 10-2 this giving 4 of 1 hour slots of each method. We had 4 coaches & a steward to accompany each group with a couple of extra stewards to take photo's take the registration, now all we needed were some attendees. By 10 we had about 25 kids accompanied by parents & about 5 adult newcomers to piking & the show was well & truly on the road. It was a bit repetitive for the coaches going through the same subject with 4 different groups, but the feedback from the coaches & the stewards was that they all very much enjoyed it, the kids were very well behaved & no doubt some very keen young anglers amongst them. All the kids received one of the pike starter packs made up by Eric from the stuff that had been donated.
Overall the event was an astounding success, even the idiot in the speedboat couldn’t spoil it for us despite his best efforts, St. Helens AA have kindly left an open door to us for future events. My thanks to everyone who attended & to all those who gave gear for us to give away, without each & every one of you the event could not have succeeded. My special thanks to Eric Edwards for all his time & effort in co-ordinating the event with me. Sadly we never got chance to show unhooking a pike as we all blanked, well you cant have everything can you now!