The Gaceta Náutica Canoeing Helm Award was presented this year to Kiko Martín, canoe coach at the Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença and national team coach of the Royal Spanish Canoeing Federation. For the first time in the ten-year history of the awards, the jury recognised the work of a coach, after several of his athletes (Sete Benavides, Joan Toni Moreno, Maria Àngels Moreno and Toni Segura) had received the same distinction in previous years.
Question. You came to canoeing from athletics, prompted by your children taking up the sport. Today you are a national team coach. How did that journey unfold, and what made you stay in this sport for good?
Answer. As you say, I approached canoeing because of my children, who started practising it at the Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença. By accompanying them, I discovered that I liked the atmosphere, which led me to give it a try, although starting so late was difficult. I even ended up competing in a national open-water race, and that was when the “bug” really caught me. Later on, a vacancy opened up at the club and I decided to take the step into coaching. I’ve been here ever since.
Q. Had you coached before?
A. No. I started coaching in 2004. I came from athletics, where I had trained extensively, and I had competed as a paddler for three or four years after the club’s canoeing section was created in 2000. That year, the opportunity arose to join as a coach.
Q. What exactly changed at the club and in Balearic canoeing with the arrival of Sete Benavides?
A. It was a radical change. Until then, we trained a bit of everything: kayak, canoe, marathon, sprint… With Sete’s arrival and his results, we saw a huge opportunity. His first major international success, when he became European senior vice-champion over an Olympic distance, changed everything. We decided to focus exclusively on sprint canoeing, because we had a very strong role model and knew many others would want to follow his path. That created a contagious effect at the club: everyone wanted to be like him, which led to enormous growth.
Q. There was clearly a before and an after.
A. Absolutely. We call that phenomenon the “Sete effect”. Thanks to him, this sport has been able to develop in the Balearic Islands to the point of becoming a world and Olympic reference.
Q. That’s exactly my point. In Pollença, for example, you’ve trained other Olympic medallists and world and European champions — the Moreno siblings or Toni Segura, to name just a few. How can such a small club reach such heights?
A. Many factors come into play. First of all, the place where we train: a salty and demanding course that forces you to work hard. On top of that, we apply a methodology that already worked with Sete and later with Joan Toni Moreno, Toni Segura and other athletes who also became world champions. The same applies to juniors who win medals over Olympic distances. The combination of a tough environment and a very strict training method is the foundation of the model we continue to develop.
Q. But there must be something more. What is the secret to maintaining such a high level over so many years?
A. The secret is working without watching the clock. Having a clear methodology and putting in many hours. As a coach, it’s not enough to plan training sessions and go home; you have to support athletes in everything: helping them move away from environments that don’t benefit them, being there when they’re ill, supporting those who come from elsewhere and are far from their families… Sometimes you’re almost like a parent. There’s also the psychological side, their studies, and many aspects that aren’t visible. Athletes need to feel that someone is looking out for them and guiding them, and for that to happen, the coach has to be even more committed than the athlete.
Q. You were referring to the special conditions of Lake Esperanza?
A. The lake is very shallow, barely one metre deep, which makes paddling harder: the water doesn’t absorb the wave and offers more resistance. That kind of “viscosity”, together with natural changes in depth, gives us extra work that elsewhere would have to be compensated for in the gym. In addition, winds come from all directions. During a single session they can change several times, which gets us used to any weather conditions. That combination really toughens paddlers and gives them an extra boost of speed over distances like 200 and 500 metres.
Q. What physical and, above all, mental qualities does a good canoeist need?
A. For years I thought the most restless kids were the ones who adapted best to canoeing, because learning is slow and requires falling into the water many times, especially in winter. But over time I realised there’s no single profile. In the end, those who really want it are the ones who make it. It’s not so much about physical qualities as it is about work and consistency. The key is to set goals — short, medium and long term — and fight for them every day. Focusing solely on the Olympic Games can be frustrating, but if you stay the course and keep working, results eventually come.
