Did you hear?… Perception Kayaks assembles team of elite freestyle paddlers

Perception Kayaks has assembled a team of elite freestyle paddlers to assist the company with marketing and represent the company in competitions, including the upcoming pre-Worlds Team Trial, March 26 in Rock Island, Tenn. Officially dubbed the Top Shelf Freestyle Team, the eleven members — Macy Burnham, Annie Chamberlain, Trip Jennings, Pat Keller, Bryan Kirk, Marlow Long, Chris Manderson, Tom McKee, Jesse Murphy, Clay Wright and Dustin Urban — will also compete at the Moose Extreme Freestyle Games in April in New York, the Vail Invitational in May in Colorado, and the Gorge Games in July in Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. SNEWS® View: Hmmmm — There have been plenty of Team-This and Team-That announcements this year, but we’ve yet to see any kind of real marketing message that address the real meat of the market — you know, the casual weekend paddler who still requires a dictionary to understand words like “dude” and “gnarly?” May we be so bold as to suggest that instead of pushing the event marketing for paddlers who can do things many of us don’t even dream of attempting, that companies actually send their sponsored athletes to — gasp — school? We know the demographics from the litany of surveys and studies and participation reports we get deluged with each week and guess what — not many youth are even watching the paddling events on TV, even if they are televised at all. How about taking that hype, glitz and glamour that mostly preaches to the choir anyway, and create ways for those ambassadors, who might actually be able to connect with and inspire young minds, to spend time speaking to the youth at schools across the country? Schools won’t turn that offer down.