How Do I Get Sponsored?

Since 2011 I have been involved one way or another with Immersion Research Europe. One of the tasks I still carry out is helping to select which paddlers will represent the brand.

I regularly receive many a sponsorship request from kayakers. Some of these requests are absolutely outstanding. Some are, sadly, laughable.

I thought I'd write down some stuff that is worth thinking about if you are planning on trying your hand at going for sponsorship deal. This is written with people trying to get their first deal in mind.

Thanks to Mat from Pyranha for looking this over and letting me steal some of his own thoughts.

This is pretty much the opposite of a sponsored kayaker.

Are You Good Enough?

There are so many people looking for a deal. Just because you have scraped down a low Dart or Etive, don't assume this automatically puts you in contention for a deal.

What will set you apart?

What do you aim to do over the next few years of your kayaking career? Have some sort of plan. Even if you don't end up sticking to it exactly, it'll make you have some goals.

Apply to Companies That You Want to Paddle For

I guarantee at some point, they will ask you why you want to use their products. You should probably have a few decent reasons and show some enthusiasm. Do some research.

Are you only after a one time deal? Do you not want to exclusively use this companies products?
Then perhaps you should just go to your local shop and try your luck sweet talking them.

Treat it Like a Job Application

I see so many emails that have spelling mistakes, poor grammar or no punctuation. I've also seen emails that do not say anything apart from 'Please give me stuff, I am poor/awesome'.

I did at one point get an email that didn't even ask for a deal on gear. The person just told me about themselves, the company they worked for and said they were looking forward to hearing from me. I had to go back them to check if they were actually looking for a deal or if they had emailed the wrong person about becoming an IR re-seller.

Stay on topic and professional. If you cannot take your application seriously, why should a company?

Make Your Email Interesting and Easy to Read

Introduce yourself. State what you have done so far in your kayaking, tell them what you hope to achieve next. Send them your best media (if you don't have any media then don't expect a positive response).

It doesn't have to all be about being the world's best kayaker. Do you do volunteer work to coach people or run events? That's cool too.

Make sure you get all this in the one email. No one wants to be pulling together 2 or 3 different emails just to see you selling yourself short.

What Can You Offer a Company?

This is basically the tipping point of the whole thing. If you get given a deal it is because a company thinks that you can help them increase their sales. That's it. Nothing else. At the end of the day it's business.

I have had someone actually argue with me that it was my job to offer him a deal in order to allow him to progress. Dude, really??

Read the Question

If you are lucky enough to hear back from someone then they might ask you to fill out a form or to answer some questions.

Please, please, please take the time to take in these requests and digest them. They are asking you these questions for a reason and don't want to discuss topics that are irrelevant to them.

Your Current Online Presence

It is a certainty that whoever looks at your application is going to look at your facebook and see what you have been up to with your kayaking. They will probably look at what kind of person you are and how you interact with people. If you act or look like a moron they will assume that you are a moron.

Post topless photos of yourself working out or get tagged in a multitude of photos of getting wasted? My interest is wavering.

Act like an idiot on facebook? You aren't doing yourself any favours.

Liking questionable links/pages? Would you let your Gran see this?

Don't Expect the Free Stuff to Start Flying In

There are actually very few sponsored kayakers that do get free stuff. And you can rest assure that these select people earn it.
A company will probably expect you to work your way up the ladder.
If you are only applying to get free stuff, then it will quickly become apparent that you are not really the kind of person that a company is wanting to work with anyway. 

A true pro. Keeping all the people happy.

Working with kayaking companies can be a lot of fun and I've met a lot of great people as a result of it. Just make sure it's for you before you dive in. There are certainly easier and quicker ways to get gear; like a job.

Should I Join the SCA?

A fairly common discussion recently with recreational kayakers has been ‘Should I join the SCA?’. There seems to be a fair amount of people that sign up year after year but on the other hand there are many vocal paddlers telling us that giving your money to the SCA is just a waste.  So is it worth it? What are people paying for?

Before I try and analyse this I should definitely make it clear of my current involvement with the SCA. I am a member, coach (albeit an inactive one) and a volunteer. I pay my money and help to organise the annual Wet West Paddlefest and SCA Freestyle events/community.
I signed myself up to help with WWPF after I left my university club and I was missing the experiences that being on a committee brings.
I did not volunteer to be a part of SCA Freestyle. I was signed up by someone else and quickly found myself as the final remaining member of the committee, unable to quit. Thankfully some great people have recently stepped in.
I’ve also dabbled in helping out with other events as a part of the main SCA Inland ‘umbrella group’.
My experiences in these committees have been fantastic! As you might have guessed; it’s kind of my thing anyway. A lot of people gave their own time to get me to where I am with my kayaking. I feel like it is only fair that I also pledge some of my own time towards the greater good of the sport.

I’m going to do an objective look at membership costs for someone a like me. Someone that wants to get out boating with friends and go to events. Not someone who is fussed about professional qualifications. Someone that doesn’t really see much value in joining their local club.

Why the SCA Say We Should Join

The SCA already have a why should I join page. You can find it here - http://canoescotland.org/join-us/why-join
They have a few good points here, I’ll cover these later. They also have some awful reasons which I will have no issue to list here.

1. ‘Our Vision’ – Blah blah. Very good. It doesn’t really give an individual any reason to give up their own money.
2. Public/Products Liability Insurance – I’m not really sure where this would really apply to your average paddler going for a day out on the water. Maybe someone can enlighten me with a few scenarios?
3. SCA discounts – You can get 10% off at some paddling shops. Any idiot could walk in and get a deal at a shop really. I saw you could get a discount at Tesco but if I wanted to save money on groceries then I’d probably go to Lidl or Aldi. Either way, you could probably find these discounts in other places.
4. Scottish Paddler magazine – I’m sorry SCA but this gets flicked through once and thrown in the recycling bin. It’s dull and your old news was already published online. If I could opt out of this or get sent a pdf version then I would.
5. Canoe Focus newsletter from the BCU – as above.

Costs

Let’s assume I’m looking for a full membership and I want to pay on a non direct debit basis. This will be £39. You can get cheaper membership levels.

So for the very pessimistic thinkers, that’s £39 down the drain. Can you make your money back? Well maybe.

All paddling events that are run on a legitimate basis require event insurance to make them legal. Non SCA events like the Moriston River Race have this insurance cost added into the entry fee.
For SCA events like WWPF, the Tay Descent etc you can get a cheaper entry fee as your insurance is already taken care of.
Insurance is £5 a day for SCA events. So if you do 8 days of SCA events, you’ve made a profit.

Do you play Canoe Polo? I used to before I saw the light. It’s £5 extra per day for non members.

My own SCA Freestyle sessions at Pinkston run at £10 for non members. The SCA has allowed us to allow members to pay the discounted rate of £5.

The question here is how many days/sessions of SCA events will you attend in one year? its £5 extra a day for non members.
Personally I will attend;

• 12 SCA Freestyle sessions
• 2 days at WWPF
• 1 day at the Uni creek race

If I was a non-member then I would be paying an extra £75 on attending these events. So I’ve saved £36. 

Supporting the Paddling Community

Scottish river levels are hosted on the SCA site - http://canoescotland.org/where-go/wheres-water

SCA Inland main man Neil Farmer negotiates releases on dammed rivers - http://canoescotland.org/where-go/water-releases

Events like WWPF and SCA Freestyle are bankrolled by the SCA. Sure they might cover their costs now but I guarantee you that was not always the case. If these events had been funded by an individual making a loss then they would probably not still exist.

Have a read of the Scottish Guidebook. It’s clear that the SCA has been a part of keeping plenty of Scottish rivers from having a big ugly dam on them.
Recent developments include a path that runs along the lower half of the Middle Orchy. Brilliant for getting laps in on the rapids or walking up to the playhole from the get out.
I’m under no illusion that more could be done towards access in Scotland (more can always be done on anything). At the end of the day there is currently only one volunteer to take care of these issues and no one can argue that he is effective in his role.

Optional Equipment Insurance

When you renew your SCA membership you can pay an extra fee to have your boat and paddles insured.
Broken your blades? Had a swim and lost your boat? You can get money back for new gear.
Say your name is Mark and you snap a set of AT Eddy paddles. You could claim back enough money to cover your SCA membership and extra insurance costs for years to come. This crafty guy Mark has probably made a profit from being a SCA member.

Criticisms

Yes the SCA has volunteers in place to run events and assist with access issues but they rely on the good hearted people coming forward to do this. There are no paid staff members to assist with these efforts.

Conclusions

Personally, I save loads of money being a SCA member. I would join for the events alone. If I didn’t go to events then I’d join just for the extra gear insurance. To me it seems like a no brainer.

I realise not everyone will be as active with attending events as I am and won’t be as tough on their paddling equipment. I can understand why it’s not an organisation for everyone.

To all the critics of the SCA, I would like to ask them to compare the SCA to the BCU and WCA. Perhaps it will quickly become apparent that Scotland’s paddle sports governing body  is leagues ahead of any other of the UK governing bodies.