Name: Zofia Tuła DOB: October 1991 Hometown: Wrocław, Poland Accomplishments: Polish Champion since 2012 3st place in freestyle and squirt boating in European Championship 2014 5th place in freestyle and 2nd place in squirt boating in general classification World Cup 2014
I started kayaking when I was 8 years old. Unfortunately in Poland we don’t have many white water so I was paddling on the lowland rivers and lakes for a couple years. When I was a little bit older I discovered white water kayaking. From that moment I was spending every free time travelling with my kayak to many different countries in Europe. During the one of my travels I saw some guy who was cartwheeling and I said to myself that I have to learn how to do it.
Later I was working in one of the polish rafting company as a safety kayaker. I’ve met a couple of
guys who were practicing freestyle kayaking in Poland and two weeks before the Polish Championships I decided to take a part in that event. From that moment I’m training hard freestyle kayaking. Quickly I realized that sport is my passion. One year later I took gold in the Polish Championships and in 2014 I took two bronze medals in European Championships. Last year I also started teaching other paddlers how to make freestyle moves and how to train that sport. Now, I’m almost finished first level of my Interior Design studies. Sometimes it’s hard to study and kayaking. Unfortunately day has only 24 hours, so many times I wasn’t sleeping at nights and learnt more because I can’t imagine that I miss paddling.
I love kayaking because on the river I feel I’m alive. Every moment when I’m learning the new move or paddling on difficult white water section for me is priceless. I enjoy kayaking from another reason which is travelling. I’m travelling a lot and I have a chance to discover new places, cultures and can take unusual photo. Sport in overall gives me a lot of fun. Besides of kayaking I’m climbing, snowboarding, horse riding and others. In the last year I discovered some kind of acrobatics – pole dancing. Of course kayaking is the most important for me but I’m practicing other sports to prepare myself to kayak trainings and develope my freestyle skills. Follow me on: www.facebook.com/zofiatula www.czaplickifun.pl Youtube: Zofia Tula or Czaplickifun
