Submitted by Louise Granahan.
I decided to start a composite team for France 2026. This was the first time I have done this, and I learned a lot, so I wanted to share some of what I learned with you.
At first, I had hoped it would be a Canadian team, but in order to fill the boat, I let in some others who were interested. It then became an international team, which is wonderful. I did not allow people to join if their own team was going unless that boat was full.
When making a team, you need to be prepared for people to commit and then back out. For some it was health reasons, and for others, it was financial reasons. A number of our teammates left once it was time to send in the deposit money. Some also joined with their own teams once they finally decided to go.
Getting money from different countries with different banking systems is also a challenge. I’m in Canada, but I also have a US account. One of our Qatari members has a Canadian account, so that helped. We also added 15Euros to the deposit total so we had a bit of a cushion for exchange rates and bank fees.
Our team has members with amazing leadership skills, and it’s so important to draw on that. The two most important areas right now are money and accommodations. Figuring out how many rooms to book is not an easy task, as some are bringing supports, others want roommates and others want their own rooms.
We are lucky to have a professional singer on our team, so she is going to be leading us in song and teaching us some team cheers. We also have a social committee responsible for organizing dinners, tours and events in France.
Supporters will also have an important role on our team. They will be in charge of photography and videography, keeping the tent clean and organized and making sure there are snacks and drinks.
I am the team captain, but there are also two co-captains, who have already done a lot of work. Each is bringing a number of teammates and they have been responsible for bringing people on board and collecting money. In France, I’m sure I’ll be busy as an IBCPC board member, so they’ll have to do the busy work that I won’t be able to get to.
As a composite team, we do not have uniforms, so it means we need to come up with a design and order them. We also need to get them to the members, as they’re not going to fit in my suitcase! I have asked a large store to donate hats. I will make walkaround T-shirts for everyone.
To communicate, we set up a WhatsApp group and a Facebook page. I started a gmail account, created a mailing list and we’ve had Zoom meetings.
We won’t get to paddle together before France, and we are coming from different teams. That means we’ll have different starts and finishes, different commands and different paddling styles. I’ve done a lot of seat filling on teams and I know that adaptability is key. As the coach, I’ll do my best to make sure we’re in the same boat (bad pun) ahead of time, but sometimes you actually need to be on the water before it becomes real.
Balancing the boat will also be challenging as I have not seen our team members other than on Zoom. I have collected information on height, weight, paddling sides and seat preferences, but until we do a lineup and sit in the boat, I expect there will be a lot of shuffling and moving around.
I have collected confidential health information and will ask people to update this before France. I will keep this in a sealed envelope for privacy. I also respected the privacy of people’s contact information and asked permission before sending out a group list.
It’s not easy putting together a composite team, but in the end it will be wonderful. I look forward to being with people from different countries. I am happy that our team is giving people an opportunity to paddle and attend the festival.
