SUP INSTRUCTOR COURSES
with Water Skills Academy

If you consider yourself a SUP fanatic, why not try and put your skills to the test by becoming a SUP instructor? Working in the great outdoors, whilst teaching a sport that you are passionate about, can be challenging, rewarding and very satisfying. Click to learn more.

WSA SUP Safety & Rescue

WSA regards safety and rescue skills as essential disciplines that all SUP instructors must understand and be able to demonstrate competency in rescue techniques. This one day course is designed to teach the fundamental rescue skills and safety knowledge for aspiring SUP instructors.

WSA SUP Foundation Instructor

This course is designed for those who wish to teach SUP basics to beginners and improvers in a sheltered water environment. The course is very hands on with lots of practical training and is a training and assessment course. Candidates will be assessed on the technical paddling skills and lesson delivery and there will be a written exam. Those who are “at standard” will be awarded the qualification. If a candidate needs to consolidate skills and present themselves for assessment at a later stage there will be a reassessment fee of £75.

Course Pre-requisites

To enrol on the course you must have good paddling skills moving forward, turning and be confident paddling in sheltered, enclosed waters. You must also hold a current first aid certificate but please note this can be completed after the course.

WSA SUP Adventure Guide

The WSA Adventure guide is a leadership award that will equip you to coach, lead or guide in open water, hazardous environments. You will gain knowledge in various environments suitable for the remit of the award, safety in these environments and leadership strategies.

Prior to attending this course you must have attended the WSA Foundation course and the WSA SUP Safety and Rescue course or hold a recognised equivalent qualification. Please contact us if you hold qualifications from other awarding bodies. In order to validate your award you will need to hold an outdoor first aid qualification and this can be completed after the course and assessment.

WSA SUP Explorer Guide

This course is ground breaking in SUP guide education. The 5-day course includes all aspects required to lead SUP clients in remote, wilderness environments during multi day journeys within the UK. It brings together key essentials to travel safely, ethically and with confidence, utilising the wide range of skills developed during the course.

Pre- requisites:

WSA Sup Safety and Rescue

WSA Foundation Coach
WSA Adventure Guide
WSA Membership

Advanced First Aid

Accepted APL:
ASI Level 2 Exposed Water
BSUPA Level 2 SUP Tour Instructor
BC 4 star open canoe, BC SUP Open Water

Course Date: Oct 28th – Nov 01st 2020 Non residential starting from £400

WSA SUP Expedition Guide

Remit – Large lakes, coastal areas, overnight journeys. Rivers up to grade 2. Any grade 3 sections will need to be portable

This course is groundbreaking in SUP guide education. The 5-day course includes all aspects required to lead SUP clients in remote, wilderness environments during multi day journeys. It brings together key essentials to travel safely, ethically and with confidence, utilising the wide range of skills developed during the course.

Course Date: Oct 28th - Nov 01st 2020 Non residential starting from £400.

Pre- requisites:

WSA Sup Safety and Rescue

WSA Foundation Coach
WSA Adventure Guide
WSA Membership

Advanced First Aid

Accepted APL:
ASI Level 2 Exposed Water
BSUPA Level 2 SUP Tour Instructor
BC 4 star open canoe, BC SUP Open Water

WSA White Water SUP Skills Course

This course is aimed at paddlers who want to know the intricacy of white water SUP. Learn the skills of one of the coolest SUP disciplines around. Develop your understanding of the fundamentals of WWSUP and leave with the tools you need to progress. In this course we will cover the key elements of the sport including the Tripod, keeping fluidity through your ride and basic rescue skills you will need to keep yourself safe on the water. It is a two day course, then one day assessment. Passing this course is a prerequisite to the white water SUP instructor pathway.

WSA SUP River Safety

Remit – rivers up to grade 3

Pre -requisite – Paddling ability on grade 2 to 3 white water, whitewater skills course

This course is designed for those venturing onto white water. It is a practical course to prepare you for the river environment so you can keep yourself and others safe on the water. We recommend this course for anyone wishing to try whitewater SUP whether you are paddling with friends or as a coach

WSA SUP White Water Instructor

An essential course for those ready to run rivers. The course covers hydrology, breaking in and out, surfing, hazard identification, equipment selection, leadership ideas and current issues surrounding white water in your area. We will also look at the use of guidebooks and navigation.

Pre- requisite: WSA Whitewater Skills course, WSA River SUP safety

WSA Monster SUP Flatwater Guide

This course is designed to teach essential rescue and safety skills as well as technique for those who are currently working with Monster SUP’s or aspiring too. Essential skills will include, safety talks, fitness and conditioning, rescue techniques, flip drills, incident management, group management, paddling, guiding and steering commands, games, risk management and environment and conditions

WSA Monster SUP Surf Guide

This course is designed for those who are running Monster SUP surf sessions. Essential skills to be learnt will include, surf awareness, positioning, paddle strokes, turning, trimming, environment and conditions and group management. Candidates with limited surf skills and knowledge will go away and consolidate the skills and present for assessment when they feel ready. There will be a fee of £75 in this instance.

WSA SUP Downwind Instructor

Harnessing the wind and wave energy is one of the most exciting SUP disciplines out there. Learn how to run downwind sessions safely, plan and organise logistics, manage risks, technique and equipment clinics. Learn from one of the world’s premier downwind paddlers and renowned author of SUP and Outrigger publications, Steve West

WSA SUP Surf Instructor

The WSA Sup Surf instructor course is an industry leading course designed to equip the instructor with a thorough knowledge of how to conduct a SUP surf lesson, how to teach technical SUP surf manouevres in a logical and sequential way and most importantly to discuss safety and etiquette issues involving SUP surf safety.

WSA SUP Fitness Instructor

Are you a fitness industry trainer looking for new inspiration to train your clients? SUP fitness is one of the fastest growing SUP disciplines and is big business so why not become part of this group? Combine your gym/fitness knowledge and experience with our SUP fit course and open up a whole new world of training!

Prior to attending this course you must have attended the WSA Safety and rescue and SUP Foundation instructor course.

WSA SUP Ready to Race Instructor

Want to prepare individuals, club members or general clients for SUP entry level racing? This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to prepare your clients to enter their first race or become better racers.

WSA SUP Advanced Race Coach

Prepare advanced training plans, learn about nutrition, design specific exercise programmes, test industry latest equipment and clothing and learn from the UK’s no 1 fastest racer – Ryan James. Pre-requisite is to have completed the WSA SUP Race Ready Instructor course.

WSA BCU to SUP Discipline Support Module

WSA offers a 1 day BCU course for individuals that have qualified as BCU kayak/canoe instructors and wish to become SUP instructors. WSA recognises prior learning and understands that having attended instructor courses in other coaching disciplines instructors do not need to repeat certain units that are standard across instructor courses. Our conversion courses will equip the instructor with additional skills relevant to SUP.

Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Stand Up Paddle board Instructor?

If you consider yourself a SUP fanatic, why not try and put your skills to the test by becoming a SUP instructor? Working in the great outdoors, whilst teaching a sport that you are passionate about, can be challenging, rewarding and very satisfying.

With various courses available from Water Skills Academy (WSA) gaining a SUP instructor qualification is a guaranteed pathway to an exhilarating outdoor life, or to further enhance other awards that you may already hold.

WSA Paddleboard Instructor Pathway

The Water Skills Academy has created probably one of the most comprehensive range of Stand up Paddleboard courses available throughout the world. WSA has identified a clear pathway to cater for those that wish to embrace the different aspects of SUP.

Essential to all courses is the 1 day Sup Safety and Rescue course which provides important safety knowledge, rescue techniques and kit information. For those who wish to teach in flatwater environments the 2 day WSA Foundation SUP Instructor award provides information on lesson planning and delivery, skill drills, technique and equipment. This is one of our most popular courses and has been delivered throughout the UK and Europe by our highly qualified and experienced training team.

SUP Adventure Guide

For those who wish to guide clients on small journeys our 2 day WSA SUP Adventure Guide course is a leadership award that will equip you to coach, lead or guide in open water, hazardous environments. You will gain knowledge in various environments suitable for the remit of the award, safety in these environments and leadership strategies.

WSA Expedition Course

The WSA Expedition Guide course is groundbreaking in SUP guide education. The 5-day course includes all aspects required to lead SUP clients in remote, wilderness environments during multi day journeys. It brings together key essentials to travel safely, ethically and with confidence, utilising the wide range of skills developed during the course.

Other courses available include Whitewater SUP Skills Course, SUP River Safety, SUP Whitewater Instructor, Monster SUP Flatwater Guide, SUP Surf Instructor, SUP Ready to Race Instructor and SUP Downwind Guide.

Why choose WSA when taking your SUP Instructor Course?

The training team at Water Skills Academy have been selected based on their individual merits, experience and skills within their chosen fields. WSA has an extremely experienced trainer team, some with over 20 years paddling experience and a wealth of knowledge about various water sports.

Together the WSA knowledge bank is unrivalled by any other organisation. In the UK WSA is listed on Adventure Activities Licensing Service as a recognised SUP training provider and WSA also acts as SUP technical advisors for the Prince’s Trust.

So sign up for one of our SUP instructor courses and challenge yourself to learn something new and very useful.

For more information on the team click here.