Do you really love your paddling sport and your mind is full of canoeing all the time? Then why not try and make some use of your hobby? In this and the following issues, we will give you examples of canoeing used in major school projects. We will start with a purely fictitious story written by Neil at age 16 on the subject “Portrayal of Culture in a Short Story” which earned him a very favourable result. A pretty good example of how you can incorporate various ideas or subjects into a canoeing story that you will enjoy writing… Ed.

Jack woke up early in the morning. He lived in the centre of London and it was the day when Jack was going to show the world what the English Rodeo Team was like!

They met at their local clubs to be picked up, their kayaks loaded onto a trailer. In four hours, they would be competing for their country. The rodeo was set at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham, one of the world’s best white water courses. When they got there, hundreds of people were already around, from all races and cultures, all getting ready to get their countries a place in the finals.

Great Britain was up first, and Jack was the first competitor to go: He dropped into the sluice gate, surfed it for a minute, then did a Back Loop into the next section. Here he pulled some Pirouettes and then a Front Loop into the next pool, where he had to hit a ball suspended above part of a stopper. He did this by ways of a Retendo, followed by a Cartwheel, then paddled off through the Muncher and came to a stop below the Bottom Stopper.

All the other teams went and tried to beat Jack, but he stayed at the top on the Leader Board until disaster struck: During a practise, Jack was injured by a raft. He was trying moves in the Muncher when the raft came down and pushed him out, and off balance he tried to high-brace but lent back too far and hurt his shoulder.

There was nothing he could do – it looked like he was going to be out of the competition. Luckily, it was the end of this day’s section and Jack had secured his position, with his other companions in 2nd, 3rd and 5th place. This meant that Great Britain was winning by 7 points at the end of the first day.

It looked like Jack was out of the running but they took him to hospital and while they waited there he met a Japanese doctor who said that he could cure him. So Jack had the treatment and then went back to the site. But the next morning Jack was still out and it looked like Great Britain was going to be out, too. Just as they were about to quit a guy named Kevin came along and said that he could take Jack’s place, so they agreed.

They were not sure what Kevin would be like, but decided they would give him a chance… This time, Great Britain was fourth to go. The course was pretty much the same but the grade of the water had been increased which made it very hard. This meant nothing to Kevin as he was a local and he was used to the water. So Britain managed to qualify and get to the Finals, which they won. Jack and Kevin were given hero’s welcomes as the people who brought the championship back to England, and were stars of British and World Rodeo for the rest of their canoeing history.

By Neil Leahy, October 1999