Gig Harbor’s kayak club paddles right through the pandemic
When Zoe Libner prepared for the final race to determine the national champion in women’s 500-meter kayak, coach Alan Anderson gave her simple (and recognizable) advice: Don’t try, just do.
Anderson pulled the advice from the Star Wars films, and what he — along with assistant coach Allyson Morse—told Libner worked, because the Gig Harbor athlete finished first and secured an individual national title last August.
“That really changed a lot,” Libner said of the coach’s advice. “I had been trying to beat the girl that had been winning for years and years, and it just felt amazing to break that wall down.”
Now in their eighteenth season since Anderson founded the club in 2002, Gig Harbor’s Canoe and Kayak Racing Team paddles on, having won seven of the last eight national titles up for grabs.
Yet this year will look different for the club, as it will for most of the sports world, because of the global pandemic. Their contests have been canceled or rescheduled through mid-September, and practices follow recommended safety guidelines, such as mask-wearing and social distancing.
Registration opened July 8 for the GHCKRT Summer Camp, set to begin on August 3, but the novel coronavirus remains a threat.
Distancing on the waves
“I think it’ll work out,” said GHCKRT Head Coach Aaron Huston. “We’re very lucky because the sport of kayaking is naturally socially distanced. It’s all done outdoors, which is much safer. … In that sense, our team is in a good position to be operating. Even with that, we’ve taken extra precautions to operate a team. Our number one priority is the safety of our athletes and the safety of our community.”
As of now, the team continues on with a consistent practice schedule, with some four to five practices a week on average, according to both 14-year-old Austin Laird and 13-year-old Connor Kitching.
The two boys began competing with the GHCKRT in 2018, and placed third together in the Bantam K4 (four-person) 500-meter race last year at the National Championships in Georgia. Laird and Kitching also compete together in K2 races.
“It was a lot of fun,” Kitching said. of his Georgia experience. “I’ve got the medal hanging up on my wall.”
But the GHCKRT’s safety precautions at their current practices and impending summer camps mean that Laird and Kitching cannot train in the same boat. In fact, all of the team boats meant for more than one athlete remain in storage.
“I think the (lack of) socialization is the downside,” Anderson said. “When we’re all together … it’s a family. We’re all supportive of each other. That is missing right now.”
If there were any upside to the forced distancing of coaches and athletes, it’s the reduction in ratio between players and coaches, giving kids more one-on-one training with their mentors.
During phase one of Washington Safe Start plan, the GHCKRT only allowed one athlete per coach. Now in phase two, coaches can train with up to five athletes.
Before the global pandemic, all 60 of the team’s athletes got to practice together.
On the water
If you asked the paddlers now, they’re just happy to be back on the water.
“I’m sure a lot of people feel like this, but there is this feeling that they want to get back to something that feels familiar to them and they can be part of a group,” Huston said. “Even though we’re practicing in smaller groups than we were before, the kids are very excited to be out there and (are) able to get back to training and get back to that group. I think a lot of people are looking forward to that.”
After summer camps conclude August 28, the team plays host — if the pandemic allows — to the Gig Harbor Paddlers Cup in early October, an event originally scheduled for April 4-5. Next spring will be the team’s next chance to compete at the highest level during the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“We have athletes looking forward to that, and we just adjusted their training plans,” Huston said. “We’ll do our very best to be competitive then.”
The team will also aim to defend their national title in 2021, and continue their dominant eight-year stretch nationwide.
Anderson believes his group is the team to beat.
“I don’t want to jinx us, but we’re going to be untouchable,” Anderson said. “You see the youngsters out here? They’re the foundation.”
They’re also the reason why Anderson continues his work with the team as an assistant, some 18 years after retiring as a world champion paddler and founding the club.
Living the dream
“I just like encouraging kids to dream, and this gives them big dreams,” Anderson said. “That’s why I keep doing it. I had so many adventures when I was young. The opportunity to share the adventurous spirit with young people… that’s why I do it. A lot of kids get tunnel vision: school, job, family… there’s other parts of life that have a lot of value.”
The kids have been that foundation, particularly since 2014, when Anderson and the team accomplished what he says is one of his favorite moments as part of the GHCKRT: the national championships in Georgia.
No team had ever walked into Georgia and beat their team. They were the group to beat, and were undefeated at home.
Gig Harbor had 40 paddlers to Georgia’s 80. They were the most powerful team in the country, and so Anderson put a plan together, which he described as a giant chess match.
Assigned with the task of placing certain athletes in certain races, Anderson moved his chess pieces carefully. He gave the team an emotional speech on making history. And after four days of races, Gig Harbor had stunned host Georgia in what still is the closest finish this contest has ever seen.
So close, in fact, that the teams were unaware of the winner until the awards banquet.
And despite a setback amid a global pandemic, the 2014 title jump started the team’s dynasty-like stretch -- one that Anderson has no intention of ending.
“We beat Georgia,” Anderson said. “We shocked them. That was fun. That was my favorite.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 12:00 AM.