BURNERS STORY
Finding a Way
Naya
She started by teaching herself. Then she began discovering just how much thinking sits behind getting better.
Getting better isn't always about doing more. Sometimes it starts with understanding more about what you're already doing.
Learning to look closer
The first time Naya worked with me was at an EWWS camp in France.
Until then, she'd largely taught herself to freestyle. Being properly coached introduced something new: the realisation that behind every trick were details she'd barely considered.
Body position. Where you look. How a small change can completely alter what happens.
Naya found that exciting.
Later, at the European Championships in Graz, she began to feel she'd reached the edge of what she already knew. She wanted harder tricks, greater understanding and to take her paddling more seriously.
One thing led to another, and we began working together regularly.
Training with intention
The biggest change hasn't simply been learning more tricks. It's been how Naya approaches learning them.
“I used to just paddle without really thinking about it. Now I'm paying attention to what I need to change to improve.”
Training sessions increasingly have structure and purpose. She thinks about what a session is trying to achieve and spends more time reviewing what actually happened afterwards.
A camp in Millau brought much of that together. Surrounded by other athletes, with everyone motivated and exploring their own performance, Naya learned three new tricks in a week.
But perhaps more importantly, she experienced what becomes possible when curiosity, good support and the right environment come together.
Finding a way
Naya doesn't have easy access to training.
Her nearest hole is around an hour and a half away and even then depends on water levels. One winter there was no swimming-pool access either.
So training had to look different.
Gym sessions. KATA. Training away from the feature. Sometimes training outside when it was three degrees.
Rather than viewing that as lost training time, she found other ways to prepare.
In March 2025, she qualified in all three boat classes for the World Championships in Plattling, and the following year qualified for the European Championships in Finland.
Her conclusion is simple:
“If you really want something, there's always a way to make it work.”
What comes next
Naya still wants more tricks. But importantly, she doesn't simply want to be able to do them. She wants to understand how to do them.
And her ambitions are beginning to reach beyond her own paddling.
She wants to become a visible role model for girls in freestyle — someone who demonstrates that they belong in the sport and can try difficult things without being constrained by what other people might think.
She's also learning something that doesn't always come naturally to an impatient athlete:
“Everything takes time.”
Work hard. Stay patient. Believe in what you're trying to do.
And keep learning.