Lifetime Achievement Award a capstone in a career dedicated to paddlesports for Endicott
Bill and Abbie Endicott.
Writer: Tom Collings | 14 March 2016 - William T. ‘Bill’ Endicott was acknowledged for his outstanding contribution to paddlesports as an athlete, coach and author by winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Paddle Awards at Sant Pere de Ribes, Spain on Saturday.
The Lifetime achievement award recognises incredible contributions to the world of paddlesports and there is a no more deserving recipient than Bill.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Bill is a paddlesport coaching legend, author and former US national team slalom canoeist who has quietly and masterfully transformed and inspired athletes and teams from around the world into national, world and Olympic champions.
His coaching record speaks for itself with his athletes combining to win a remarkable 57 World Cup, World Championship and Olympic medals between them, 27 of them gold.
By right of winning, Bill automatically earns himself a seat on the World Paddle Awards Academy.
He said it “felt great” to win the Lifetime achievement award.
“This has really been the capstone to my career, I started so long ago in 1968 as a sprint paddler when I didn’t even know that whitewater paddling existed in that time and then I found out about that a year or so later, switched over to that and then coached athletes after my athletic career, picked up a sprint athlete along the way that became an Olympic champion, I have been very blessed to
have so many different experiences in this wonderful sport,” Endicott said.
In addition to his coaching feats, Bill helped revolutionise the paddlesport world as one of the founders of the canoe slalom World Cups in the late 1980’s, serving as president for the first five years.
He went on to play a critical role in getting the slalom discipline reinstated on the 1992 Olympic program before going on to work with multiple international federations as a coach and sports consultant, laying the foundation for what canoe slalom is today.
Richard Fox, Bill Endicott, Karl Heinz Englet and Rob van Bommel.
His work in paddlesports will not stop any time soon either as Bill is currently working as a consultant for the American Canoe Association where he has been working on two projects to help them improve the sport.
“One of my projects is a program that I call racer quest and it’s a talent identification introduction to canoe/kayak for 8 to 14 year old kids. We want to go around the country and host these events to get more kids into sport, into both slalom and sprint and then the second part is coach education, we do not have many coaches in slalom or sprint in the United States so I have got a manual that I have written for people to teach them how to teach elementary slalom and sprint.”
As the award suggests, his lifetime dedication to paddlesports could not have happened without his wife Abbie and the support team around him.
“I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for a lot of people, particularly my wife and the athletes who have had such incredible achievements. A great life is when you do something for other people but also when you do some things for yourself. In my involvement in the sport. As a coach you have to be very selfless, but as an athlete you have to be very selfish.”
When reflecting on his career to date, while admitting that winning Olympic and World Championship medals are great it is being able to wake up and do the sport day in and day out that brings Bill the most pleasure.
“Well most people think that winning the Olympics is the most special thing and obviously for the public it is because they know about that but for me it is just going out every day and either paddling myself or coaching kids who are paddling or writing about the sport, to me that has been the biggest enjoyment and I think it will continue to be the biggest enjoyment of the sport.”
For all the winners of the 2015 World Paddle Awards click here.