Many younger paddlers tend to watch the fastest, most powerful paddlers and try to copy their moves. Thus, we often see botched pivots and missed offsets as the young boaters try to pull off the moves they see the world-class athletes do.
Pre-pubescent boys (cadets) generally have less power, strength and speed than the top international racers. Rather than trying moves that they won't be able to copy, they should be watching the moves of the less powerful boaters and trying to make those moves.
For example, they need to learn to set up well for offsets by getting the boat turned well ahead of time and having cross-stream momentum before you go through the gate, rather than just muscling it out and taking the most direct line. The time difference is minimal if you take splits on it, but it makes the move doable, instead of risking missing the next gate or having to paddle back up for it.
Likewise, on upstreams, the pivot head-duck move should be off-limits to the under 14 crowd until they have the strength and technique to do it consistently well under pressure when tired in race-like conditions. I have seen too many good runs spoiled because a young racer lost time or 50'd a very easy upstream gate trying to be a hero by doing a move he had not consistently nailed in practice.
Races are not times for experimentation. There is plenty of practice time when you can try new moves. Races are times for solid runs doing moves that you can consistently make well. You can't go down the course taking risks because at some point you are bound to miss the move and ruin an otherwise good run.
If you know under 14 racers or beginning racers, have them watch the women racers. I particularly like to watch the C-1Ws because they don't have the power or speed and have to get well-lined up for every move. They use the water instead of just relying on muscle to overpower it.
They have to plan every move well in advance and use the river's forces to their advantage. They will do reverses on hard offsets and they know how to do reverses, unlike some of the young men who try to do every move direct either because they are unskilled at reverse gates or they haven't appropriately weighed the options and done a risk-benefit analysis.
I also like to watch boaters who learned to paddle before reaching puberty. Boys build a lot of muscle during puberty. If paddlers learn when they are older, they can sometimes muscle out moves. But if they paddled before they were big and strong, they had to learn to work with the water. Those guys really know and understand the water and work with it, not against it.
Anyway, it may seem counter-intuitive, but rather than just pointing to the top male boaters as examples, it may make sense to point to the better women boaters, whose strength levels are probably closer to the young racer's levels, but whose skill levels are much higher.
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