L2 Instructor Course

Turning Techniques

Essential. Introducing your clients to new turning techniques is a fundamental part of progressor teaching. Your first assignment is detailed at the bottom of this page.

This lesson looks at the sequence of turning techniques that can be taught to progressors. Teaching more advanced turning is an excellent way to improve your clients’ paddleboarding capabilities – it is a well-defined thing that they can learn, and feel that they have gained a new and valuable skill, that will increase their enjoyment of the sport.

This lesson will take around 35 minutes to view, plus the time required to complete the assignment detailed below.

The video discusses:

  • The sequence of turns to teach
  • How to coach each of the various turns
  • Refinements and adjustments to make them work even better
  • The mistakes your clients will make

One point that we forgot to mention in the video. Once your client has got to grips with rudder turns and the drawing technique (ie taking the paddle over the nose) they will find them so much more effective that they’ll rarely need sweep turns any more. You should encourage this – get them using rudder turns and draw strokes wherever possible, and be sure to demonstrate them as part of your own paddling.

Check Understanding!

Do you understand:

  • The sequence of turns that can be taught to progressors?
  • The main teaching points of each type of turn?

If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can consider making a start on your assignment as detailed below, or leave that for later and move on to the next lesson. (There is a full reminder of all the assignments required at the end of the course).

Assignment #1

We want to see you teach the Part B (on the beach) for TWO of the five turning techniques detailed in this lesson. You can choose which ones to pick. You are going to need at least one other person to act as your student, plus someone to film the process.

As with any part B briefing, remember to clearly explain and demonstrate what you are doing, and to be carefully watching your client(s) to ensure that they are doing and feeling exactly what you are telling them.

Video requirements

  • The video should clearly yourself in full, plus your student.
  • The audio must be of sufficient quality so as to be able to hear what you are saying.
  • Video from mobile phone is absolutely fine, this does not need to be a professional studio project!
  • The video does not necessarily need to be shot at a paddleboarding venue (ie it could be in your garden!), but it will add authenticity.

Submitting your video

Once you’ve made your video please send it to us by any of the following methods:

  • Email (if the file is of a sensible size to send this way) to supinstructorsnz@gmail.com
  • Dropbox
  • Wetransfer or any similar file sharing system
  • Post it on youtube (or similar)
  • Share it from Google Drive (not iCloud)

Whichever method you use, send us an email to supinstructorsnz@gmail.com with the details as to what you have posted and the link, and your username on this website.

This doesn’t have to be done right now, but must be completed in order to gain your qualification.

Assignment Small Print

The assignment process goes like this.

  • Once we have received your assignment, we will review it.
  • We will respond by email with a debrief of the assignment.
  • If the assignment is satisfactory, it will be marked as completed.
  • If it is not satisfactory, the reasons will be given in the debrief, and you will be invited to have another go at it.
  • Once we have received your second attempt at the assignment, we will review it and debrief it.
  • If the assignment is satisfactory, it will be marked as completed.
  • If the assignment is still not satisfactory, the process will repeat. You can take as many attempts as you need to complete the assignment, and each time we will give you feedback, and if it is still not satisfactory, a full debrief on what needs to be done to reach the standard required. However, there will be an additional $50 charge for each review, after the first two, to cover the reviewer’s time. This fee will need to be paid before any further assignments can be marked. Realistically though, multiple failing is an unlikely scenario. You may not get the assignment right first time, but with the feedback you then receive there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to nail it second go.

Welcome to the Level 2 Online Course

This course is for the instructor looking to teach SUP beyond beginner level on a commercial basis. This is the completely online version of the Level 2 course – you will have to submit assignments and complete a test, but the whole process can be completed from your own location, you do not have to attend any training or assessment sessions. To see the various other ways of taking the Level 2 course check the course page here.

Level 2 instruction is about taking the progressor to the next levels of paddleboarding: improving their turning skills and increasing their repertoire of turning techniques, introducing new stances, taking them into more challenging conditions, and of course, improving their general paddling skills. 

The online lessons in this course cover the theory, safety understanding and background knowledge to teach progressor paddleboarders (ie those who have already done a beginner lesson, or taught themselves the basics). The lessons will take about 4 hours to work through, plus however long it takes you to complete your assignments and pass the final test. You should also factor in the time required to practice the teaching-based lessons on the water or beach, to ensure you really understand the principles and processes.

To complete the qualification as a Level 2 SUP instructor, you must already be fully qualified as a Level 1 instructor.

As with the Level 1 course, some of the lessons in this course are about practical skills – how to teach a rudder turn, etc – while others are more general, such as how to plan lessons, give better feedback, etc. If you’re already an experienced coach in other sports, you may choose to skim some of the more general lessons, that is entirely up to you. You can of course refer back to these lessons at any time if you ever want to top up your knowledge.

Ok – let’s get started!

Understanding Progressors

Optional. This lesson is to help you understand the sort of clients you will be dealing with and problems you are likely to encounter.

Unlike beginners, who all have pretty much the same requirements, progressors come in an almost infinite variety when it comes to needs and aspirations. This lesson looks at why this variation exists and the challenges it can sometimes cause.

The lesson will take about 15 minutes to complete. The video discusses:

  • Who your clients are likely to be and where have they come from?
  • What do they want to learn?
  • Considerations from your side of the deal
  • Issues & challenges that their goals may create

Understanding this stuff in advance makes it a whole lot easier to anticipate & plan your sessions. Teaching progressors is a whole lot more freeform than teaching beginners and thus a lot more interesting – and challenging in a good way! This is where the instructor:client relationship starts to blur as you get to know your clients better, and quite possibly you end up with new friends as well as happy customers.

There is nothing in this lesson that you will be specifically asked about in the final test.

Check Understanding!

Do you understand why:

  • Progressor clients can come from many sources?
  • Progressor clients will have many different aspirations?
  • Working with progressor clients will almost certainly mean utilising more than one venue for your work?
  • Working with progressor clients may require the use of some more advanced teaching equipment?
  • From time to time you may end up having to tell a prospective client that you can’t help them?!

If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can move on to the next lesson.

Completing your L2 Conversion

Congratulations, you’ve made it through the online learning for the L2 Instructor Conversion Course! We hope you’ve found it useful and relevant. It’s a lot of information, but you’ll have access to it for the duration of your instructor qualification, and you’re welcome to review any of the lessons any time.  If you would like to discuss any of the material in the course please contact us.

To check that you’ve absorbed most of the important points, please now take the self-assessment test at the bottom of this page. You are required to pass this in order to complete the course.

Next up, here’s a recap of what will be required at your L2 assessment.

Turning Techniques

You will be expected to present a lesson on one of the turning techniques at your assessment, so we strongly recommend familiarising yourself with each style of turning and the various coaching points, and practicing presenting each one as an onshore ‘part B’.

Lesson 4: Stances

You will be expected to present a lesson on one of the stance techniques at your assessment, so we strongly recommend familiarising yourself with each style of turning and the various coaching points, and practicing presenting each one as an onshore ‘part B’.

Paddling Knowledge and Feedback Skills

You will be required to bring a video of you paddling and give yourself some feedback on your paddling technique, based on what you are seeing on the video, as detailed in the Coaching and Feedback lesson.

Paddling Technique and Progressor Faults

While you will not be asked to carry out any specific paddle technique coaching during your L2 assessment, there will be questions and discussion about paddling technique during the day, and there are likely to be progressor paddling faults and inefficiencies on display which you would be expected to identify and discuss.

Please note also that while you will not be asked to carry out any specific coaching in more challenging conditions during your L2 assessment, there will be questions and discussion about the various issues and challenges you might encounter during the day, and the choice of venue for the assessment may well provide some more challenging conditions to operate in anyway.

So, once you’ve passed the test and done your homework on the topics above, and feel confident in delivering the part B sections for the stance and turning lessons, then please go ahead and  contact us to organise your assessment. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

L2 Conversion: NCEA Credits

Optional: Many paddleboard instructors in New Zealand teach paddleboarding as part of the school curriculum. It’s a great way of increasing your business. This lesson explains what’s available and how to access it.

If you are not originally from New Zealand you will probably not be familiar with the NCEA exam/qualification system used in secondary schools here. education system here. If your local school(s) have students doing Physical Education as one of their specialist options at NCEA level (the exams and qualifications usually taken in year 11 (NCEA level 1), year 12 (NCEA level 2) and year 13 (NCEA level 3)), then they could be doing paddleboarding as part of that.

In this lesson we describe the various NCEA unit standards on offer and how to go about making them happen.

The video will take about 15 minutes to view.

Remember, you can return and revisit this lesson any time.

There will not be any questions on this in your assessment – it is only of relevance to instructors with the opportunity to work in this particular area. If this is not yet you, we hope that you’ll manage to get something going with your local schools, and help spread the love of the sport!

L2 Conversion: Coaching & Feedback

Essential. Understanding how to impart information to your clients is a vital aspect of being a good coach. This is a skill that you can always raise your game on. There is an assignment at the end of this lesson.

Paddleboard instruction beyond basic beginner level starts to bring in new challenges, as the relationship with the client changes from straightforward ‘do this’ instruction, to the more flexible, two-way process, known as coaching.

Coaching is about assisting the client on their own learning journey. It’s much more than just knowing the technical details, it’s also about the methods of imparting that knowledge, along with the associated factors such as motivation and feedback processes.

This lesson takes a brief look into this world. It’s a massive topic and becomes ever more important as you move into the realms of higher performance sport. In this course we just touch upon it. If you want to learn more then this is what our further coaching levels will touch on.

The lesson will take around 25 minutes to complete, plus the time taken for your assignment.

The lesson discusses:

  • Instruction vs coaching
  • Factors that influence learning
  • Principles of coaching
  • Motivation & Feedback

As explained earlier in this course, teaching the paddle stroke gets rather more complex once you’ve moved beyond the basic beginner level. There may be obvious work-ons, but often it can be quite hard to explain to the client what they’re doing wrong, because they have no actual idea of what their body is doing! As detailed in the lesson you just watched, video is by far and away the best trick in our toolbox for this. It is a very powerful way of working with a client. Here’s a quick example – it’s rough and ready, but that’s the point. This is how it works in real life. You video your client, then you go through it with them. Ideally at least on a laptop or decent sized tablet, so that the picture is big enough to look at, but even on your phone it can be useful.

Note the positive comments, and the work-ons. The client goes away feeling positive but knowing where to go next.

The assignment detailed below will be for discussion at your Level 2 assessment.

Check Understanding!

Do you understand:

  • The different ways your clients take on information
  • The different factors that can influence your clients’ ability to absorb information
  • The importance of motivation
  • What constitutes good feedback

If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, move on to the assignment below.

Assignment

Ok, so this is likely to be the most challenging assignment in this Level 2 course, but hopefully also the most rewarding for you. The assignment is as follows.

1: Get a friend to video you paddling past the camera

2: Now, view that video and prepare some feedback for yourself , based on what you see. (Not what you think you know about your paddling, but purely on what you are seeing on the video). You will be asked to present this at the Assessment. We want you to discuss what you are doing, using the terminology from the paddle technique lesson. (ie talk about your reach, entry, catch, release, blade angles etc). Using the feedback techniques discussed here, discuss what you are doing well, and what the video shows you could work on. The example vid above should hopefully help with this.

So you will need to bring the video to the assessment, along with any notes you wish to make. If you can show the video at slow speed settings, (as shown in the example above), then so much the better – you will find much more to discuss and comment on, this way. Half speed or quarter speed is really good. If you have never done this before with your own paddling, you are going to find this an extremely useful and interesting exercise!

There are no rights and wrongs for this assignment. We are only looking for a couple of minutes of feedback, not a huge presentation. And we are not expecting you to rip your technique apart – if your paddling is perfect and there is nothing to work on then good for you! Nor are we judging your paddling skills – although if there are any significant problems revealed that you don’t identify in your analysis, we will bring them to your attention. (So you’re getting even more bang for your buck from this process. It’s also a free technique analysis!)

The primary aim of the assignment is to get you looking closely at paddle technique, and how to give feedback on it. If you’ve never done this before then you may well find it a daunting challenge. However, if you want to teach progressors, you are going to need to learn to develop a critical eye. To actually see and understand what they are doing. So, where better to start, than with a critical eye over your own technique!

L2 Conversion: Conditions for Progressors

Essential.  Understanding the considerations of exposing your progressor clients to more challenging conditions is an essential safety requirement for the L2 instructor, so you should complete this lesson to ensure that you’re up to speed on the topic, and your safety decisions and processes are sound. 

This lesson looks at what needs to be considered when taking your clients into more challenging conditions. While that initial beginner lesson really should be carried out in the most benign, flat-water, windless conditions possible, your progressor paddler needs to learn to paddle in more challenging conditions, possibly even right up to an introduction to dealing with surf etc.  This lesson gives a general overview of the issues that will be encountered and how best to approach them. 

The lesson will take around 20 minutes to complete. The video discusses:

  • Dealing with more bumpy conditions
  • Dealing with more windy conditions
  • Dealing with shorebreak
  • Preparing for surf

The test at the end of this course may include questions about the various issues and challenges you might encounter when teaching progressors.

While you will not be asked to carry out any specific paddle technique coaching in more challenging conditions during your L2 assessment, there will be questions and discussion about the various issues and challenges you might encounter during the day, and the choice of venue for the assessment may well provide some more challenging conditions to operate in anyway. 

Check Understanding!

Do you understand:

  • The challenges that the progressor and the instructor will face when running a session in more bumpy or windy conditions
  • The challenges that the instructor will face when dealing with a shorebreak
  • Why a vital part of the L2 instructor’s role is ensuring that their clients understand the basic rules when taking their SUP anywhere near the surf environment.

If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can move on to the next lesson.

L2 Conversion: Lesson Plans

Optional: This is a topic that doesn’t usually get included in SUP Instructor Qualifications. However, it’s a great way of raising your game when it comes to teaching progressors, so if you want to improve your L2 instructonal skills we strongly recommend completing the lesson.

Whereas beginner SUP lessons follow a very standard and predictable format, no two progressor lessons are alike, especially when working towards specific goals such as improving sup performance for racing or surfing.  Therefore, planning the lesson in advance is a great way of ensuring that the right things get covered. 

This lesson will take around 25 minutes to complete.

This training video discusses:

  • Why plan lessons?
  • What sort of things to include
  • Some example scenarios. 

You will not be expected to present a lesson plan in your L2 assessment. However, it will be a standard requirement in the more advanced coaching courses, and it’s a great way of ensuring that everything gets covered, so we strongly commend getting into the habit of planning your progressor lessons. 

Check Understanding!

Do you understand:

  • The benefits of preparing a lesson plan in advance
  • The sort of things you might include in a lesson plan

If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can move on to the next lesson.

L2 Conversion: Progressor Faults

Optional.  If you have already been working with progressor paddlers for a while then you will be familiar with the faults they display in their paddling. However, if you’ve been out of the game for a while then this would be good revision. If you are wanting to progress into the world of SUP coaching then it will definitely be worthwhile watching.

This lesson looks at some of the main inefficiencies that progressors tend to exhibit when paddling. It is just skimming the surface of the topic, as this is very much getting into the realms of paddle coaching, which is beyond the remit of the L2 qualification. However, the information here, combined with the information in the previous lesson on what proper paddling should look like, will combine to give a good general feel on how to start finding your way into paddle stroke coaching. 

This lesson will take around 16 minutes to complete. The video discusses:

  • A quick refresher on beginner faults
  • Some of the things you are likely to see with progressor paddlers.

While you will not be asked to carry out any specific paddle technique coaching in your L2 assessment, there will be questions and discussion about paddling technique during the day, and there are likely to be progressor paddling faults and inefficiencies on display which you would be expected to identify and discuss.  

Check Understanding!

Do you understand:

  • What a proper paddle stroke should look like, in terms of reach, entry, power phase & release 
  • Why it’s generally not a good thing if the blade doesn’t enter far enough forward, or enters in a backward-sweeping motion
  • What that looks like, in practice.

If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can move on to the next lesson.

L2 Conversion: Equipment for Progressors

Optional.  If you are already set up for working with progressor paddlers you will no doubt have all the gear you need. However, if you are planning on updating or investing in equipment for the role you will find this lesson very useful. 

This lesson looks at the equipment requirements for working with progressor paddlers. While it is possible to achieve a reasonable amount of progressor instruction using basic beginner boards, you really do need the right gear in order to progress properly into faster paddling,  improving balance and preparing clients for paddle surfing etc. This lesson gives a general overview of the sort of equipment you might consider utilising for progressor teaching. 

The lesson will take around 10 minutes to complete. The video discusses:

  • Boards for progressors
  • Paddles for progressors
  • Other equipment for progressors

You will not be asked about progressor equipment choices during the assessment procedure.  

Check Understanding!

Do you understand:

  • What sort of boards, paddles and other equipment will assist in working with progressor paddlers. 

If you’re unsure, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can move on to the next lesson.