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MORE THAN A TIMELINE
Learn
Experiment
Coach
Stay curious about what helps people grow.
Try things, notice what happens and adapt.
Help people discover more of what they can become.
Build
Share
Evolve
Create programmes, events and places where development can happen.
Turn individual learning into capability that others can use.
Allow the work to become something larger than its beginnings.
The journey was never shaped by one plan.
It grew through curiosity, opportunity, mistakes, relationships and a determination to keep making things better.
Every part of Basecamp carries something learned through the people, challenges and experiences that came before it.
THE JOURNEY
1980s
Learning to coach by paying attention.
Jacko’s journey began at 13 in a racing K2. By 16, he was a qualified instructor and, at 18, became the UK’s youngest Senior Instructor. Those volunteer-led, largely self-taught years established an early habit: observe carefully, reflect honestly and keep adapting the coaching.
1990s
Finding a sport full of possibility.
As freestyle began to emerge, Jacko moved from slalom into a sport that was still finding its identity. Competing internationally brought new perspectives, while involvement in coaching frameworks and national conversations opened a bigger question: what would help the whole sport develop?
2004–2015
Growth needed more than coaching sessions.
The work expanded into events, coach development and the physical places where freestyle could thrive. This period included redevelopment at Boulters Weir and the evolution of the Hurley Classic from a local gathering into an internationally recognised event with a powerful community identity.
2000–2004
From individual coaching to lasting pathways.
Kayakojacko was founded in 2000, followed by Junior Burners in 2001. What began as coaching and community activity gradually became a long-term pathway through which young paddlers could learn, belong and progress—many later becoming athletes, coaches, judges and event organisers themselves.
2016–2022
Building systems without losing sight of people.
Leadership within GB Freestyle brought the opportunity to create development plans, increase coaching capacity and help deliver the 2022 ICF Freestyle World Championships. The scale changed, but the underlying question remained the same: how do we create conditions in which people can perform, contribute and belong?
2020–TODAY
Turning decades of learning into environments for growth.
The Super Performer Model brought together learning accumulated across decades of coaching. Burners Basecamp has since evolved into a broader system of connected development environments—supporting young paddlers, experienced performers, developing adults, coaches and organisations.
The work kept changing because the learning never stopped.
Every athlete, parent, coach, volunteer, event and challenge added something—gradually shaping the environments and ways of working that now form Basecamp.
WHAT WE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
People
grow differently
Development begins by understanding the person—not forcing everyone through the same process.
Environment changes everything
Coaching matters, but so do the people, culture, experiences and expectations surrounding it.
Capability creates freedom
Lasting development helps people think clearly, make confident decisions and take greater ownership.
Progress belongs to everyone
The strongest things are created when people contribute, take ownership and help others grow.
A SHARED JOURNEY
No meaningful part of this was built alone.
The journey belongs to the athletes who kept trying, the parents who made things possible, the coaches who continued learning, the volunteers who stepped forward and the communities and organisations prepared to build something better.
What began as one person’s drive has become a growing network of people carrying the work forward in their own way.
RECOGNITION
British Canoeing Lifetime Achievement Award
