Who was Peter Mitchell… He is the person who was always there for me during my last 14 years of canoeing, 4 times a week, from learning how to play, being able to compete without
Who was Peter Mitchell…
He is the person who was always there for me during my last 14 years of canoeing, 4 times a week, from learning how to play, being able to compete without nerves at the highest level, to coaching the younger teams.
He was always the start and end of every canoeing trip: from packing the minibus at his house and discussing the weekend plans and ambitions, to returning to his house unpacking and analysing the success and failures of the weekend. His advice on all aspects of life were always from a fresh angle and he always had a contact somewhere along the line to point you in the right direction.
He was an excellent pair of ears, always wanting to hear about others life experiences, and you could tell he took a real interest, be it vocation, sport, holidays or history.
He was a great debater, often not allowing music in the minibus because he wanted to talk about politics or current affairs, or the best ways push the club and its members forward.
He loved “Soccer” and Arsenal football club, and tried to get all his polo teams to play with the “pass and move”, “Walk the ball into the net” and “make the extra pass” style. Although I never saw him drive he seemed to know Derby like the back of his hand often abusing me for having to use the satnav to get somewhere in my own town.
He was incredibly loyal, he would do anything for the club or its members, yet also he would look to work on trust and relationships over time, something the modern world seems to be losing.
He would always be looking out for the young club members who maybe came from a less well-off background because he knew sport and our club could give them a brilliant life foothold if we could keep them interested, he would look at how to help them out, could they be given some kit on long-term loan or could they be first in the club handy down queue.
He would always look to push young players to play at the best possible standard so they improve. He was great at emotionally blackmailing members into sorting jobs out and putting back into the club.
He was incredibly longwinded about, Emails and conversations, but the content was always spot on.
He was always the thoughtful person to stand up at the end of British Canoeing, Club Committee or County Council meetings (even if some decisions hadn’t gone his way) and thank individuals that had organised and even the overlooked background workers.