"Ewan Scott" wrote in message
...
One of the problems is that the good coach may well not have the depth
of knowledge of the candidates to make that decision. The problem lies
not in the technical dificulty of the water being paddled, but rather
on the understanding of the mental state of the paddler. A paddler may
well be capable of paddling, and we may know that they can safey carry
out a task, but in their mind they have the wrong attitude and they
then could be in danger of failing to complete through lack of
commitment to the action.

I agree that it is hard but not impossible. A good coach has to be more
sensitive than your typical outdoor type. This often means that women make
better coaches than men although sadly they are few and far between. The
key to all of this is good listening skills, good observation and learning
from your mistakes and from those of others. The best of coaches will
always be looking to find better ways of doing things. Occasionally you
will get it wrong but hopefully you can pick up most of such instances in
future.

We have now changed our approach to this candidate, and also to the
way in which we go through the capsize drill to make sure this does
not happen again.

The example you give is evidence of this learning taking place. I suspect
you will be much less likely to miss such a situation again. Does this not
disprove your first point above (the good coach may well not have the depth
of knowledge of the candidates) as I would guess that you will now be
looking out for candidates that look more confident than they are.

Incidentally, perhaps for this reason, good coaches are in my opinion more
often than not
non-professional coaches which is where canoeing had such an advantage over
many other sports that tend to be dominated by paid professionals.