DURBAN – The national federation that manges the affairs of canoeing in South Africa officially changed its name on Tuesday to PaddleSport South Africa.
The name has been changed so as to better reflect the federation’s purpose and role as it oversees a much wider range of sporting disciplines than just canoeing.
Canoeing South Africa is the traditional controlling body for canoeing and kayaking in South Africa, and the disciplines included have always been marathon, sprint, slalom, wildwater and canoe polo.
In recent years other facets of the sports have come into the Canoeing South Africa umbrella in line with the International Canoe Federation. These newer disciplines include ocean racing or surfski, waveski (paddle ski), freestyle, S.U.P. (stand up paddling), paracanoe, dragon boat racing and rafting.
PaddleSport SA President, Kim Pople, was excited to announce the change this week.
“Officially, from the first of April, Canoeing South Africa is going to be known as PaddleSport South Africa,” said Pople. “This was not an overnight decision. It has been over three years in the making as we engaged all our stakeholders and members.
“There was input from all the provincial unions as to the actual name and there were variations, but out of this process came PaddleSport South Africa. It is really an exciting period and a historic day for the federation.
“We have tried to keep the logo the same and we have literally just chaged the word Canoeing to PaddleSport. There are various reasons for this, one of which is because we cannot justify spending the money overnight on changing our branding – things like our gazebos and flags which we use on an almost day-to-day basis at events.
“There has been a long thought process behind this and we are very excited for the way forward. The new name is much more representative of our sport, because it is not just about canoeing.
“Allied to the name change, our national teams this year will have a nice, fresh, new look as our elite athletes showcase their skills on the world stage, and hopefully we can secure some more World Champions in 2025 under the new name.
“It is exciting, it is fresh and it is new … we are so excited to begin the next step on our journey as PaddleSport South Africa,” added Pople.
2025 is a big year for the PaddleSport South Africa as the federation will be hosting the Ocean Racing World Championships in Durban in October with Kira Bester defending her title as the World Champion.
