Details will be posted a couple of months prior to each school. We may have more schools or clinics not listed here yet. So check back to see what's cooking!

The remaining 2008 TSRA Schools schedule is:

June 21-22 -- Canoe & Kayak School, Gee Creek Campground near the Hiwassee and Ocoee Rivers  (On-Line Now)

July and August -- Swiftwater Rescue, Ocoee River (To Come Soon)

Scroll down the page for details and to register for schools.

The TSRA Canoe and Kayak School will be held at Gee Creek Campground on the Hiwassee River near Etowah, TN. Canoe and Kayak School is the perfect class for beginners to learn to paddle. It’s also a great chance for more experienced paddlers to improve their skills. Pick your boat, fill out the Student Evaluation Form, and sign up today.

This is a fun but intensive two-day paddling course, emphasizing on-the-river training for beginning to advanced paddlers. If you paddle a whitewater canoe or kayak, a recreational or sit-on-top boat, and no matter what your current skill level is, this class will help you become a better paddler. You'll have more fun and paddle more safely. Classes fill up quickly—so sign up soon.

Your registration fee of $90 includes all instruction and camping in the Gee Creek Overflow Area. Included in the fee will be a TSRA Canoe & Kayak School T-shirt (for the first 100 students only), a delicious Saturday evening meal, and entertainment. You must provide your own boating and camping equipment, plus your transportation to and from Gee Creek.

After you register, you will be emailed a packet containing a map, suggested equipment list, equipment rental locations, and other information. You must be at least 12 years old, able to swim, and reasonably healthy. Minors must be accompanied by legal guardian. You must be a TSRA member to attend.

If you want to print and mail your registration and payment please use the complete download package here.

On-line registration and payment - click here.

Deadline for receipt of registration is June 12.

Please note:
TSRA Schools are organized and run by volunteers. Our volunteers need enough time to reserve staff, equipment and facilities, make meal counts, group classes and a host of other things. For these reasons we cannot offer refunds after June 12.

Questions? Please contact Eric Fisher at 615-754-5743 in the  evenings before 9:00 p.m. CDT; or email Eric at ericfisher1@juno.com.

Are you interested in becoming a TSRA Instructor, Support Boater or want to Volunteer to help at our Schools?
 Click here!

by Vicki Crumpton and Ed Ford

Not long after our birth, TSRA realized the need to train our members to develop their paddling skills. So we sent a few people away to learn more about canoeing. Those folks came back to teach, and Canoe School was born.

Today, TSRA holds some kind of training event almost every month of the year. Beginning with roll school early each year, we’re training tandem boaters, kayakers, sea kayakers, solo boaters and even crazy play boaters these days. We also teach self rescue and swiftwater rescue classes. Because all of our instructors are volunteers, our schools raise money which TSRA reinvests in our other central mission: conservation.

Those of us who’ve gotten into teaching realize what a tremendous benefit it is—to us. We watch people who haven’t been in a boat or who may be apprehensive about being upside down in one of those pointy kayaks take great leaps of skill and have a lot of fun in the process. What virtually every instructor soon realizes is the student isn’t the only one who takes great leaps of skill and has a lot of fun in the process. We do, too. One year at introduction to paddling clinic, I heard a new instructor exclaim, “Now I see why y’all like to teach. It’s so much FUN!”

Effective teaching, however, takes time, commitment, and training. Each year, usually in late April or early May, TSRA provides an instructor seminar designed to prepare potential new instructors for their role and to give experienced instructors a chance to review, update, and share their skills.  The TSRA training committee hopes you’ll check the yearly activities calendar and join us in the adventure of teaching others the sport we love so much.

Interested in becoming a TSRA Instructor, Support Boater or want to Volunteer to help at our Schools? 
Click here!