supcourses_online

SUP Instructor Training

If you want to teach your friends to paddleboard, then as long as you’ve got a reasonable understanding of weather and water conditions so you can pick the right conditions for a session, and you’ve got some spare gear and plenty of patience, then – go for it! If you’re not charging for your services, and you’re only teaching friends and family who you know already and will (hopefully!) have a bit of trust and confidence in your skills, you’ll no doubt do a great job sharing your love of the sport – and everyone will have a great time. 

However!

If you want to teach SUP as a commercial proposition,  ie. for reward (ie money, favours, koha, whatever), then it becomes a completely different game.   The following comments apply specifically to the New Zealand legislative environment, but wherever you are in the world there will be legal considerations that need to be considered.

As a paid SUP instructor you are affected by a whole lot of legislation and significant consequences if something goes wrong. And ‘going wrong’ doesn’t just refer to accident or injury to your clients, but also to anyone else within your operating area. 

The SUP instructor operating for reward requires: 

    • A detailed understanding of the legal requirements around what they are doing,

    • A detailed understanding of the safety requirements and aspects for a session;

    • A detailed understanding of equipment
      (to ensure clients they are on the right gear for their own requirements);

    • A detailed understanding of weather and water conditions
      (to ensure conditions are appropriate and safe for a session);

    • Knowledge of rescue techniques;

    • First aid training;

    • A detailed understanding of how to instruct SUP
      (so that clients go away satisfied and recommend your skills to others!)

Working with children includes further legal requirements and issues. 

An instructor planning on doing anything that has a greater risk of potential harm (ie taking clients any significant distance offshore, or backcountry, or into more challenging conditions) has yet more legal requirements to consider. 

There is a lot more to doing SUP instruction as a business than simply teaching people to paddleboard!

The knowledge and processes required are all perfectly achievable – there are great SUP schools and instructors operating around the country.  However, it’s important to appreciate that there is going to be some learning and work required on your part before you can start teaching SUP for reward. 

If you are already running an outdoor / watersports operation, and/or have other outdoor Instruction qualifications, then you will be familiar with the legislative and procedural requirements in this environment, so adding SUP to your existing activities will not be a major hurdle.  However, there is still plenty to learn in terms of best practice for teaching SUP, and understanding the specific safety issues regarding SUP.

Teaching SUP should NOT be thought of as an easy option, or something that can be just bolted on to existing surf or kayak programmes!

So how can I learn to teach SUP?

There are many SUP instructor courses available around the world. Most are two days long and attempt to cover most (or even all) aspects of SUP teaching in that very short time, including all the safety and management aspects. However,  this intensive two-day format is very flawed as it results in a heavy ‘information overload’ scenario, and actually gives participants very little hands-on practice at instruction .  

There are no officially recognised SUP instructor qualifications currently available in NZ as there simply isn’t the demand to make it viable. 

The course that used to be available in NZ was the ISA qualification, and was delivered by us at SUPport PROductions. 

So in the interests of ensuring that SUP Instruction education remains available and affordable in New Zealand, we have put together our own set of training packages, with each  course containing the following:

    1.  Online learning 

    1. Ongoing learning requirements and work-ons

    1. An online or practical session and assessment, which can be delivered by us or by your own centre principal. 

The online learning requirements can be completed at the candidate’s own pace. The candidate completes the practical session and assessment only when they feel ready. 

It must be stressed that these are not formal qualifications. We are not a certification authority.  If we were to offer these courses as formally recognised qualification they would require a much more rigorous and thorough examination process, which would cost a lot more in money in time. Instead, they are educational packages designed to be as affordable as possible, to give a candidate the information they need in order to learn how to teach SUP.   We want to see more SUP instruction happening, so this is our attempt at helping more people get the information they need, in as simple and useful a form as possible. 

For a whole lot more information about the courses check out the FAQ page.

There are two levels of SUP instructor training courses available, along with some additional options. 

Level 1 SUP Instructor

This training package is for the would-be instructor looking to offer basic how-to SUP lessons or an entry-level SUP experience on a commercial basis in a safe, non-challenging environment, delivering standard format sessions rather than looking to develop ongoing coaching relationships with clients. This training package costs just $200 and contains nearly 12 hours of teaching material spanning nearly 30 lessons. The course covers the Legislative Framework for teaching SUP, Documentation, Safety Planning, Safety Briefing, Problems that might occur and how to deal with them, Group Control, Working with Children, Understanding the Environment, Understanding the Weather, Weather Information, Water Temperature & Quality, Tides and Currents, Understanding SUP Equipment, The SUP Board Market, SUP Board Design & Dimensions, SUP Board Construction, Choosing a First Time SUP Board, The SUP Paddle, PFDs for SUP, Leashes for SUP, Equipment for teaching SUP,  the structure and flow of the Beginner Lesson, Teaching Beginners, Beginner Mistakes, Understanding the Clients and the role of the instructor. It is an extremely comprehensive course!

The course offers a complete training package.  However, to finalise the process and ensure that you’ve understood the processes involved, you may wish to undergo an assessment by us in person by arrangement, or by submitting videos if it is not practical to do it in person. In either case, the assessment will involve you carrying out various aspects of the lesson process and we give you a full critique on your performance and advice on what areas need to be worked on, if necessary.  The in-person assessment also gives the opportunity to discuss and practice emergency scenarios, and get a technique review. It takes around half a day to complete, and the cost will depend on location and how many people are involved (but should be no more than $200). The online-only assessment costs $150.

For a whole lot more information about the courses check out the FAQ page.

Contact us if you are interested in the L1 instructor course. 

Level 2 SUP Instructor

This training package is for the instructor wanting to go beyond basic entry-level SUP experiences, and focusses on teaching progressor skills and operating in more challenging conditions on a commercial basis. The course costs just $150 and takes about 6 hours to complete, spanning 12 lessons covering Understanding Progressors, teaching Progressors, turning Techniques, Stances, Paddle Technique, Progressor Faults, Equipment for Progressors, Conditions for Progressors, Lesson Plans, Coaching & Feedback.  You will need to complete the Level 1 course before moving on to this course.

On completion of the course, an in-person or remote (via video) assessment can be carried out if required, in which we observe you carrying out various aspects of the Level 2 Syllabus and lesson, and then supply a full critique on your performance and advice on what areas need to be worked on, if necessary.we give you a critique on your performance). It takes around half a day to complete, and the cost will depend on location and how many people are involved (but should be no more than $200). The online-only assessment costs $150.

For a whole lot more information about the courses check out the FAQ page.

Contact us if you are interested in the Level 2 instructor course. 

What happens beyond L1 & L2?

Those wanting to develop their SUP teaching skills further are moving from the realms of instructing into coaching.   Coaching is much more about building up a relationship with clients based on their individual requirements, which could be anything from wanting to race at national level, to adjusting their stroke technique so they can paddle without pain.  Learning to become a good paddleboard coach is hugely rewarding, and can be developed in many different directions – we have many ‘sub disciplines’ within SUP, such as surf, downwind, white water and of course all the various styles of racing, all of which requires competent coaches,  as well as the more general goal of helping everyone to improve their skills and get more out of the sport.