Surviving Lockdown 2021 – Grant
We are celebrating how our community is using the 5 ways to wellbeing to get through lockdown (connect- be active- take notice – give – keep learning)
Next up is our Lead Instructor Grant who has been using lockdown to work on his project to bring the paddlesports community together. Here is his story:
“I’ve spent my life working in the outdoors, mainly in paddlesports and in the last few years the majority of my work has been leading wilderness journey & expeditions, so COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns has had a major effect on my life both in terms of earnings and being able to do what I enjoy.
Although as they say every cloud has a silver lining. Over the past few years I’ve been working on a number of projects, and with free time I’ve been able to evaluate what’s important to me and bring these projects to life.
I joined the team at Pinkston part time in September and alongside running my own business @cagadventures this allowed me to carry on delivering paddlesports sessions and developing paddlers technical, tactical and psychological skills on the water, I’ve felt for years that as coaches we can never reach every potential learner out there.
Enter PaddleMore.
PaddleMore is our project to increase participation in paddlesports and help people find their way through the maze and into the sports.Our ethos is simple More People, More Paddling, More Often. We do this through a three main ways;
1. Our new guidebook, PaddleMore in the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs.
2. Our YouTube channel; we have created a number of short films to help people develop their paddlesports skills and knowledge regardless of their level, we’ll also have some more inspirational films coming soon.
3. The PaddleMore Podcast, we started a podcast at the start of this lockdown to keep peoples boating stoke and address some interesting subjects.
It’s been great to be able to are all of these projects with the ever expanding paddling community, it’s allowed us to get out and explore new venues around us to make our films and also learn how to actually make YouTube films!
Find out more across Social Media @grant.dolier & @teampaddlemore and Paddlemore on YouTube
By Pinkston