New Paddlesports Grant Coordinator

Paddlesports Training Grant Coordinator - T.J. Turner

The ACA is excited to announce that T.J. Turner has started as the new Paddlesports Training Grant Coordinator.

He will be responsible for coordinating 14 canoe, kayak, and SUP Instructor Certification Workshops for various state agencies across the country.

T.J. grew up in the Lower Shenandoah Valley, where he gained appreciation for the outdoors and the mountainous terrain and the waterways of Virginia. In 2001, he started his career in recreation by obtaining a snowboard certification through the Professional Association of Ski Instructors/American Association of Snowboard Instructors in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. In 2006, he attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia to study kinesiology focusing on sport and recreation management. While attending JMU, he worked with the University Recreation Center Outdoor Program running programs all around the Shenandoah Valley area and even some paddling trips through West Virginia and Maryland. In 2009, he traveled to Macomb, Illinois to pursue his outdoor recreation education at Western Illinois University. In May 2010, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration. In May of 2010, he interned at the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission to continue his outdoor recreation training with a water-sports focus. In the Fall of 2010, he moved out to Wyoming and directed a ski school in the Medicine Bow/Routt National Forest. In April 2011, he took his first American Canoe Association course with Josh Hall, Charlie MacArthur, and Roger Schuman for L-2 Stand Up Paddleboard. Since that date, he has been pursuing his passion for teaching and educating others about watersports.  In May 2011 and 2012, he helped manage the CCPRC camp program and helped train incoming summer staff.  He currently holds an L-2 certification for Stand Up Paddleboard, helped to write the L-3 SUP surf curriculum for the ACA, and paddles mostly in the greater Charleston area and Folly Beach. 

T.J. is already on his way to the annual NASBLA Conference in Boise, Idaho to connect with the various state Boating Law Officials.

T.J. Turner

Learn more about T.J. and your ACA Staff...