Annoucing eight new kayak instructors!

[Liz Caldwell]

Congratulations are in order!!

After a long three-day weekend at Lake Catherine/Rockport of paddling, teaching, discussing, modeling, rescuing, ferrying, eating, drinking, sweating, dodging fishermen, pausing for a baptism, S-turning, rope throwing, barrel rolling, bracing, towing and a few swims, we are proud to announce eight newly ACA-certified kayak instructors at Levels 1 and 2.

Please congratulate:
Mike Beebe
Jimmy Burkeen
Louis Covington
Pat Crane
Marlo Krueger
Victor Lawrence
Frank Murphy
Michael Strobel

These instructors from three states did themselves and the ACC proud! We are looking forward to putting them to work at next year's Rec School and other educational opportunities.

Sunday's on-water session at Rockport was halted briefly for the 3rd Baptist Church to hold a baptism in front of the stairs just as the water reached full flow. The prayers were welcomed, as the instructor candidates felt they could use all the help they could get.

Thanks to Lake Catherine State Park's Cheryl Vincent for partnering with us to provide classroom space and other assistance. Thanks to Larry Crane and Jim Krueger who completed their instructor updates as they assisted IT Patti Carothers.

And last but not least, thanks to Mike Stanley for fetching and carrying.

[Crane]

And really last, but certainly not least, Liz Caldwell and her trusty Assistant To The Director, Mike Strobel, who put the whole adventure together and kept it moving along with few hitches or bumps!! The ACC is proud of these folks who freely give so much of their time and energy to keeping our education at a nationally-recognized high level. (Sound of applause!) Thank y'all... a bunch!! Crane

[Fish]

I taught Frank everything he knows. :)

Man, happy for Frank and the whole bunch. Way to go!

- Fish

[Crane]

"I taught Frank everything he knows."

Hmmmm... Crane

[Cowper]

Congratulations everybody, and thanks!

The more we spread the knowledge, the better it is for all of us.

[MStrobel]

Thanks to Kim Kruger and Larry Crain for volunteering to come out this past weekend and helping each of us out on the water with advice, extra instruction, and encouragement. And a double big THANK YOU goes to Liz Caldwell for putting this whole project together. She decided we needed the certification workshop and put the whole thing together. She found the instructor, secured the location, scheduled it to meet everyone’s schedule, ordered the materials, kept everyone informed, made sure we all had fun, and brought in pizza for everyone on Saturday night too. That is a lot of work, all to help others get certified and provide the club with more instructors. And don’t forget, that just a month ago she organized and ran another great Rec School. She is one of the great unsung heroes of the ACC.

[Jim Krueger]

I also think it was a very good weekend! My thanks to Liz for getting this arranged for us, and then she and Mike Stanley taking care of the details to insure all went smoothly. Thank you both for the nice supper and time to relax Saturday evening!! Thanks to Patti for her time to come teach again.

Congratulations to all of our new instructors! It's always a long , long weekend with some anxiety thrown in, but you all did very well! BTW, like myself, Michael Strobel also goes by a host of aliases such as Bill, Bob, Sam,
or Fred, but answers to them all with a smile.

Best Regards
Kim :) Moose

[Jim Krueger]

Thanks to Patti, Liz, Mike Stanley (aka Raoul), and Cheryl for their time and efforts in organizing and holding the instructor certification workshop this past weekend. Michael Strobel has already expressed my sentiments about Liz. They just don't get any better!

A special thanks to the two instructors who were updating their certifications, Larry and Jim! Thanks Larry for all you did! You were so helpful and encouraging. I couldn't have made it without you. Thanks Jim; your love and support were immeasureable!

Couldn't have been more honored to be a part of a better group than the group of instructor candidates this weekend. What a great group of folks and a great group of paddlers! Each one was a class act! Thanks to each and every one of them for teaching me so much this weekend; some about paddling and some about life. One classmate fought through pain so bad he couldn't put on his life jacket without help. One lost his wedding ring while doing a throw-rope drill. One got stung by a yellow jacket twice but tried not to interrupt her classmate's presentation to get medication because she knew he had worked hard to prepare for it, and then did her own presentation while holding ice on the sting all without missing a beat. One overcame his fear of speaking to do his presentation. One had to drive quite a distance on a short night because of out-of-state company that arrived. These were just some of the additional burdens some of the instructors went through so they could give back to you, the members of the ACC.
Marlo

[painterbob]

congrats!!!!

[Crane]

Cowper... BTW, The eddy over on river right would have been a much better teaching site if the downed tree hadn't been sticking out so far into the eddy... I'm just saying...:)

[Cowper]

Cowper... BTW, The eddy over on river right would have been a much better teaching site if the downed tree hadn't been sticking out so far into the eddy... I'm just saying...:)

Aw, let's keep this thread focused on congratulating our new instructors!

(check your PM's...)

[Louiscov]

LIZ MADE IT POSSIBLE!!

Please let me add to the accolades for Liz Caldwell for making this happen. ACC would not have us new instructors to help share our club's paddling passion without her steady encouragment, organization, and guidance.

Liz asked a number of us to consider certification to help with Rec Schools (I would have never even considered it otherwise), posted its availability online for the club, arranged the instructor trainer and facilities, stayed in touch over the whole process, managed our registration, checked in with those who were at Whitewater School in May, got study materials for us, provided a superb pre-certification weekend as instructor candidates serving under mentors at Rec School (thanks, Heather) encouraged us during the certification weekend, was a counsel to the instructor trainer on some of our individual needs and helped us through the whole process, had Larry Crane and Jim Krueger there on the water to work with us one-on-one and Mike Stanley to help as needs arose.

Liz gets an A+++ for her awesome job!!! She did so much!

Larry and Jim were there to demonstrate and coach us in the details of acquiring the skills and mindset needed to certify. In Larry's sub-group I could always count on a big smile and a thumbs-up plus a "great" if desered, or a nice smile and an an encouraging "try to add a little more..." or a "good, but slow down, remember we're modeling these strokes for students" or whatever would prepare us for Sunday's test. Same for Jim, and both were so accessible and willing to give pointers is a POSITIVE WAY and were both really into helping us get ready for test day. Instructor trainer Patti Carothers was great: gave very clear expectations of what certification requied, worked with us to prepare us, and clearly really wanted to see us certify even as she made it clear we had to earn it: no gimmees, no free pass. :shock:

It is a wonderful blessing to have been a part of this process, and now we new instructors have the privilege --and responsibility -- to represent the Arkansas Canoe Club in the manner and custom and quality that has made it the incredible paddling group it is!! ]

Louis C.

[Richard]

When is the next canoe instructors course?

[Louiscov]

Hi, Richard.

There's sometimes one in the Spring in East Texas. If I see something on it I'll let you know. This weekend was SO POSITIVE (even under the tension of THE EXAM!) that I might look at it too.

Louis C.

[Jim Krueger]

Wedding Ring FOUND! :)

Best Regards
Jim Moose