Although we have all faced novel difficulties over the past few years, Team Colorado’s parents, athletes, and coaches have made something great out of a tough situation. In the early spring of 2020, paddlers and coaches would have regular Zoom calls to discuss their training and progress as well as engage in discussions about technique based on video review. After a few months, when restrictions had been relaxed, virtual schooling for all of our athletes allowed sessions to start earlier in the day; consequently, allowing athletes more time to train before dark.
Over the summer of 2020, Team Colorado was having multiple on-water sessions a week for both the beginner and advanced training groups. These sessions included wildwater, slalom, conditioning, and regular river runs. After a substantial season of regular training, we rounded out our summer training with a late FIBArk Festival.
With School picking up again in August, we were fortunate to have been able to continue regular training under a slightly altered schedule. This training began to show and to pay off when Team Colorado was able to attend an ACA slalom training camp at OKC Riversport. Ultimately, 7 athletes were able to paddle an artificial course for the first time. This experience on artificial whitewater proved essential when 6 Team Colorado athletes attended US Slalom Team Trials in April.
After several more months of winter practices and training camps, Team Colorado was represented by at least one boat in every class (K1M, K1W, C1M, C1W) at Team Trials at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. Only a month later many TCWR athletes competed at and qualified for wildwater Jr. team though Western Jr. and U23 Wildwater Team Trials in Salida. Another month later Team Colorado once again raced at the annual FIBArk Festival which was immediately followed by Wildwater Nationals, also in Salida.
Upon the completion of Wildwater Nationals, the whole of TCWR athletes began a summer training schedule of 3+ scheduled days of paddling a week for high performance (HP) and 2+ days for Rec group. This schedule continued until Team Colorado once again arrived in Oklahoma City to paddle at OKC Riversport, this time for the Slalom National Championships.
The past year’s training had yielded tremendous progress, demonstrated by all of the TCWR athletes. At this point Team Colorado is also preparing to send around half a dozen athletes to another Thanksgiving training camp at OKC Riversport. In addition, athletes of all levels have been able to come together to spend time on the river. Now nearly all Rec group athletes from the beginning of 2020 are training with HP and are making steady progress while having fun on the river.
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