The Invisible Barrier: Managing the Cognitive Storm

 

In the North Stack tide race, the constraints we face aren't just the physical rush of the water or the wind against the hull. The most significant barrier is often invisible: the Cognitive Load. When the environment shifts from "Complicated" to "Complex," our brains can become overwhelmed by sensory data, the roar of the race, the shifting clapotis, and the constant demand for split-second decisions.

For a coach, the challenge is to move beyond the physical and address the mental architecture of the paddler.

Performance integrity in advanced water relies on a concept called Attention Switching. As a coach, I am constantly toggling between two distinct channels:

• Internal Focus: This is the biomechanical "how." Is the blade at the right angle? Is the laminar flow established? Is the kinetic chain from the hip to the blade intact?

• External Focus: This is the environmental "where." Reading the next wave set, monitoring group safety, and identifying the "exit" in a shifting race.

The moment an athlete's internal focus (like the mechanics of a roll) is compromised by the external noise of the environment, performance begins to leak. My goal is to help students automate their internal mechanics so they can free up cognitive "bandwidth" for the environment.

In my first post, I mentioned the "Imposter Syndrome" that often accompanies the journey to becoming a specialist coach. Looking at it through the lens of cognitive psychology, I’ve learned that this "Imposter" feeling is often just a symptom of high cognitive load.

When we are pushed into the Chaotic or Complex domains of the Cynefin framework, our brains struggle to categorize the data. We feel like "frauds" because we haven't yet built the mental frameworks to make the "unknown" predictable. It isn't a lack of ability; it is simply the brain's way of telling us that the environment is currently out-pacing our processing power. By acknowledging this, we can stop fighting the feeling and start deconstructing the environment.

This brings me back to my roots in adaptive coaching. During my years with the GB Paraclimbing Team, I learned that you cannot coach a "technique" in isolation; you must coach the person's unique interaction with the challenge.

In sea kayaking, "coaching the boat" is easy; you tell someone to edge more or paddle harder. But "coaching the person" means dialing down the noise. If a student is gripped by fear, their biomechanics will fail regardless of their skill level. By applying an adaptive lens, I look for ways to reduce the cognitive load.

Maybe we move from the "Complex" race back to a "Complicated" eddy to re-establish that laminar flow we discussed last time. By lowering the environmental volume, we allow the student to find their Flow State, that sweet spot where the challenge matches the skill, and the "Invisible Barrier" finally starts to dissolve.

#CognitiveLoad #AttentionSwitching #AdaptiveCoaching #Cynefin #PerformancePsychology

The Science of Rolling : The laminar flow!

To understand the biomechanics of a roll, I decided to break it apart. Not just the fundamental  elements of a roll but applying the theory of a Constraints Led Approach (CLA) by means of the paddle, my body and the environment I was rolling in to my progressive unpicking of my less reliable ‘offside roll’. I had noticed that my offside roll felt like rolling in porridge in comparison to my onside. It wasn’t just lack of muscle memory, it was something else. I thought it was lack off flexibility on that recovery side, but then I noticed in isolation that my flexibility was in fact better on that side? And so the investigation began!

To truly understand the roll, I had to stop looking at it as a rescue maneuver and start seeing it as a series of biomechanical levers. I began filming my sessions, analysing the kinetic link between my blade pressure and my hip rotation. What I discovered was a 'leak' in my power transfer; my core wasn't effectively locking the energy from the paddle to the hull and the grip of my paddle blade on the water was being affected by the speed of my rotation. By deconstructing the movement into its constituent parts; rotational torque, lever arms, and the management of the center of buoyancy. I begin developing a coaching framework that doesn't just teach 'the move,' but teaches the physics of the water-person-boat relationship.

All sorts of technical theories were becoming apparent, such as the physics related to the 'grip' the blade has with the water. This grip is directly affected by the speed and angle of the blade, which determines the Laminar Flow. When the water moves in smooth, parallel layers over the blade, it creates a solid bond—the support that assists the recovery of the roll. If the movement is too erratic, the flow becomes turbulent, the blade 'stalls,' and that crucial support vanishes.

Other psychological theory showed their cards in the roll, one in particular was the ‘Rhythmic Pause’ during rotation. It is not just a mental cue; it is a hydrodynamic necessity. This pause allows the water to settle and ensures Laminar Flow is established before the hip flick. By slowing down the initial phase, I am ensuring the paddle blade has the maximum 'bite' on the water molecules before I ask it to support my body weight.

By breaking down the science of why the paddle blade was doing its thing I decided to look at how the Greenland Paddle did its thing and whilst they worked for different physical reasons, they both supported the roll. When I first put a Greenland Paddle (GP) in my hand and tried my roll, I sunk. I was looking for too much direct support with the wrong body positions. I had little interest in the GP other than for future expedition endurance benefits. However, from a biomechanics point of view I quickly began to understand how the GP could influence and inform the blockages in my offside roll.

Another obvious constraint was the euro paddle itself. What if I focused most of my attention on the blade and what it wanted to do and what it needed to do to solve my offside roll issue. So I split the paddle to reduce any leverage I had from a longer full length paddle and see the impact or adjustments required to successfully roll up on the split. 

There were now various constraints in play and one final environmental constraint was tidal flow. This would act to support the roll physically but create cognitive load psychologically due to the apparent  chaos of dynamic water. 

The other bit of theory that I am working with is the ‘Cynefin Domain’. Cynefin  is a Welsh word that translates to "habitat" or "place of multiple belongings.”

Cynefin Domain	Environmental Context	Decision Logic	APC Application & Coaching Style
1. Clear (Simple/Known)	Highly Predictable: Cause and effect are obvious to all. (e.g., Sheltered canal or pool).	Sense — Categorize — Respond	Used for establishing "Best Practice" or foundational safety protocols for beginners. Minimal focus for Advanced coaching.
2. Complicated (The Knowable)	Expert-Led Predictability: Multiple "right" answers requiring analysis. (e.g., Cable Bay F2, refining a Greenland cant angle).	Sense — Analyze — Respond	Technical Precision: Use expert analysis to "nudge" technique. Guided Discovery thrives here as learners search for efficiency.
3. Complex (The Emergent)	Dynamic/Non-Linear: Cause/effect only seen in retrospect. No two waves are identical. (e.g., The Swellies at max flow).	Probe — Sense — Respond	Performance Integrity: Focus on Divergent Discovery. Learners must "self-organize" to match shifting water energy and "probe" for pressure.
4. Chaotic (The Unknowable)	High Risk: Situation is collapsing; no time for analysis. (e.g., Multi-boat capsize in a breaking tide race).	Act — Sense — Respond	Crisis Management: Rapid intervention to move back to Complex/Complicated. Utilize Command Style to stabilize the group.
5. Disorder (The Center)	Confusion: The domain is not yet identified. The "Danger Zone" for a coach.	N/A	Most dangerous state. Risks applying an analytical (Complicated) approach to an emergency (Chaotic). Requires immediate "Sensing" to move to a known domain.

By applying the Cynefin framework to my own practice, I realised my roll was stuck in the 'Complex' domain, I was reacting to the water rather than understanding the physics. My goal then became to move that skill back into the 'Complicated' domain, using biomechanical analysis to make the 'unknown' predictable.

So, to break all this down: The various constraints are using a GP, A Split Paddle and moving the analysis from dynamic water to pool sessions and eventually back into a supportive tidal flow to assist the understanding and biomechanics of my roll. 

Eventually, through following the process of a constraints led approach combined with the tactical use of differing Cynefin Domains, I found myself testing the resilience of both my offside roll and split paddle roll in the higher consequence environment of the North Stack tide race in a matter of weeks. 

This brings me to an important part of my coaching philosophy which is to accelerate performance by failing fast. It’s in each of these failures that we gather the crucial data to make the corrections or review necessary for fully autonomous progression.

#LongTermAthleteDevelopment (LTAD) #SkillsAcquisitionTheory (SAT) #ConstraintLedApproach (CLA) #Rolling #CynefinDomain #FailFast

The Journey: Performance Sea Kayak Coach (Advanced Water)

When I first discovered sea kayaking on Anglesey, it had me at hello! My background was in rock climbing and mountaineering but my long standing desire to see the world from the sea had always had a voice. And so in my move to Anglesey a few years back, quickly followed the purchase of a sea kayak and all the paraphernalia.

 I approached sea kayaking the same way as climbing and progression came through solo kayaking until I found myself failing on my sea roll, 300m from any kind manageable exit. Leveraging my mountaineering experience, I told myself I had fifteen seconds to make a decision and commit to it. I did and I did, and finally scrambled up onto a stepped sea cliff, with legs cramping, dragging my boat alongside after 45 minutes in the water: “All the gear and no idea!”

From that day, I chose to get more structured training / coaching from a variety of local providers and tried to paddle more with others until I understood more of what I was really getting in to.

Eventually, after supporting my paddling buddy through his SKL training and successful assessment, I decided I would join him the following year. My strategy was different which has lead me to where I am now in a relatively short period. I chose to do my SKL then followed a very intense 6 month training period, to achieve my ASKL away from Anglesey in Scotland, to challenge my wider skills by removing local knowledge. This success gave me more confidence and set me up to leverage my climbing coaching background as a ex GB Paraclimbing Team coach to begin my coaching pathway of Performance Sea Kayaking Coach (Advanced Water).

After the intensity of going through the SKL and ASKL assessments in the same year, I promised myself a break from such things but very quickly I began to understand what I wanted and, as it stood, had the potential opportunity working on Anglesey to be the best coach I could be. And here we are, eyeballing the application form to proceed with the next part of the journey: Performance Sea Kayak Coach.

My personal ethos is that to become a specialist coach in a sport, not only does it require personal high level skills development but most importantly, a few years of intense focus and one’s ability to deconstruct the skills required and spend time creating a deep understanding of the frameworks that support the coaching knowledge transfer to athletes and students of the sport. 

At this stage, the Advanced Performance Coach (APC), feels a bit like a post graduate degree on the sea and the depth of coaching theory and application has taken me some time to re-map and then align it with my own learning style and previous coaching experiences.

My transition into the APC pathway is driven by a specific commitment to adaptive coaching in the advanced environment. Drawing from my years coaching the GB Paraclimbing Team, I recognise  that "performance" is not a one size fits all metric. In the dynamic world of advanced sea kayaking, where tide, wind, and swell demand precision, my focus is on deconstructing the biomechanics of paddling to suit the individual needs of the athlete. My aim is to ensure that the complexity of advanced water is accessible to everyone. For me, coaching is about removing the barriers between the paddler and the environment, ensuring that the "performance" belongs entirely to the individual, regardless of their starting point.

You feel like an imposter at first, but then you realise that this thinking is part of the same psychology that holds athletes and students back from pushing beyond the boundaries set by others to new goals and levels of personal achievement…