Successfully Coaching a Physically-Challenged Student
Under the auspices of Whitewater Ontario at Gull River Centre, Minden, Ontario
My best whitewater experience ever!
Coaching a physically-challenged teenager whose arms were twisted
The young man could not coordinate his body to execute the Whitewater Roll
The complexity of the required motion sequence is enormously challenging
Using my spatial skills, successfully coaching the student to roll in about 15 minutes
Why is this commercial innovation?
He was our client
No other coach on site could grasp the complexity of the fluidic system
Our customer was about to have an enormously unhappy, "I-can't-do-it" day
A shift in perspective transforming the life of our client, forever
Imagine Liquid Data Points
To picture this, it might help to think of his skin...
...as a glowing membrane of continuous liquid data points defining his membrane location in space
...as a continuous pressure wave forcing out the atmosphere around him
Spatial Projecting
This literally involves getting into another person's shoes
...projecting myself into his body space
...as if it was a cloud of data that was defined by the physical shape of his body and its positioning in the boat;
...using my expertise about paddling, the blade, the paddleshaft, water surface tension;
...and the interrelated angles of this system
...and "the human-body-spring" subsystem--as a system linkage network.
What I did required...
"Spatial projection" abilities to define where he was...
...and where he would be in future space
...using this to map the physicality of his challenges...
...mapping how his spasmotic muscle twitches went in sequence
...to help guide where to put his hands and limbs
...And then, and perhaps most importantly...
...Adjusting the boat's water ballast wave pattern to create an integrated fluid system
The cognitive locationing took about 2-3 minutes
Working together he and me got him rolling in about 10-15 minutes