PNW’s New ACA Instructor Trainer Kyle

My experience with the ACA dates back to my days volunteering as a sea kayak and whitewater kayak instructor and trip leader for Outdoor Recreation Georgia Tech (ORGT). I started volunteering with ORGT back in 2009 as an Instructor-in-Training (IiT). While in that program, I first met Trey Knight, past Chair of the ACA SEIC and multi-sport ACA Instructor Trainer Educator. You’ll find many leaders in ACA history affiliated with ORGT including previous ACA SEIC Chair John Traendly. ORGT had an internal staff training process for assessing their instructors and trip leaders, which kicked off my interest in paddlesport curriculum development and provided me with a challenge to advance as a paddlesport educator. Through ORGT, I advanced to be a Senior Trip Leader and Instructor for their sea kayaking and whitewater kayaking instructional programs. As a perk of the program, my good friend Madison and I were sent down for ACA sea kayak training at Sea Kayak Georgia in Savannah, Georgia. This was my first exposure to the ACA and while a challenging course, I learned a lot! Over my years in ORGT, I received additional ACA training including another sea kayaking skills course, sea kayak trip leading assessment, and stand up paddleboarding skills course. After years of volunteering with ORGT, I was presented the Miller Templeton Lifetime Achievement Award, an award I still cherish everyday as it sits next to my desk.

After graduating from Georgia Tech, I moved to Charleston, South Carolina, one of the finest places in the world to be a sea kayaker. While living in Charleston, I attended the East Coast Sea Kayak Symposium which provided an opportunity to meet a collection of the world’s best paddling educators, many of which share an affiliation with the ACA. A few years later, I would become a presenter at this event. While at one of these festivals, I met a legend in the making, Kelsey Bracewell. I could go into all sorts of details about how awesome Kelsey is, but if you’re an ACA Instructor, you already know. Not too long after, an opportunity to join the ACA State Director program arrived in my email inbox. Even though I was not an ACA Instructor at the time, I was already an enthusiastic supporter of the ACA and wanted to do everything I could to help advance their mission. I threw my name in and soon became the first ACA – South Carolina State Director with my good friend (and Co-State Director) Ethan Talley. This deepened my knowledge of the ACA, its mission, and the instructor certification process. A few months into the State Director process I earned my first ACA certification, ACA Level 4 Whitewater Kayaking Instructor, from Instructor Trainer Educator Dave Kessmann. I made it to the big time! In the following year, I upgraded to ACA Level 5 Advanced Whitewater Kayaking Instructor. This process started my transition into professional coaching in addition to being an active volunteer kayak instructor for local paddling clubs.4

Since 2014, I’ve served in a number of roles for the ACA including ACA – South Carolina State Director, ACA – North Carolina State Director, ACA – Washington State Director council member, Vice Chair of the ACA River Kayak Committee, and Chair of the ACA River Kayak Committee. After a move to the Greater Seattle Area, I earned my ACA Level 3 Coastal Kayaking Instructor certification and continued steps toward becoming an ACA Level 4 Whitewater Kayaking Instructor Trainer. I worked alongside wonderful Instructor Trainers and Instructor Trainer Educators in the process including Dave Kessmann, Heather Herbeck, Blaine DeWalt, and Marcel Bieg. Recently, I just passed my Lead Teach to be eligible to submit an application to be an Instructor Trainer, and I passed! Thanks to my ACA involvement and commitment to paddlesport education, I was also honored with invitations to Team Jackson Kayak and the Accent Paddles Pro Team.

In terms of where I teach, I often describe it as “everywhere”. I love going to new locations and I look forward to teaching around the world one day when the opportunities present themselves. I can be found most often teaching in the Greater Seattle Area at Shilshole Bay Marina, Lake Sammamish, Lake Washington, and sections of the Snoqualmie River. I’m motivated to explore the world and share kayaking with people I meet along the way so that they too can have life-changing experiences and life-long healthy hobbies or careers. I especially love helping to develop the future kayaking educators who help people to fall in love with the sport and learn ways to keep themselves and those they care about safe.