Best videos on YouTube for learning to roll (white-water paddling)

There are lots of ways to roll, and lots of ways to teach rolling. While there is no substitute for a 1:1 lesson with a good instructor, it can be really helpful to get the theory internalised first, to make the most out of time training in the water with either an instructor, or a learning partner.

If you watch these videos, and run through the motions in your mind, and visualise yourself doing it in real situations, that can be a great head start.

Whatever style of roll you try, it is all about technique, not about power. Essential to that technique is torso flexibility and upper body:lower body coordination. Here's a great video with a number of stretching exercise that we can all practice every day, whether we are on the water or not, that will help with flexibility and coordination.

And another.

It is possible to practice rolling in your boat on dry land; it is particularly useful for working on the knee/leg actions required, and for building up muscle memory. In this video, she is demonstrating a C to C roll, which is not quite the same as the technique below, but the leg movements are the same, and it is good practice to do.

There's another dry land practice technique demonstrated in this video. Getting things like this down well first will let you get the most out of your time in the pool.

Everyone will eventually find a style of roll that suits them and their chosen field of kayaking; for white water kayaking, where the boats are small and very manoeuvrable, I think the EJ "head down and hips" roll is the most versatile and is widely applicable. 

Eric Jackson, or EJ, has put a lot of very helpful instructional videos on YouTube, covering a wide spectrum of white water skills, including two separate series on learning the roll from scratch. I think the later series is more refined, but I am going to include both below, as I think they both have merit.

EJ starts with the brace. If you get a good brace you're half way to the roll, because rolling is just an extreme brace, but maybe I should let him introduce himself first.

EJ breaks learning the roll down into 4 phases, next up is the infamous hip-snap. It really shouldn't be as intimidating as some people think, here EJ breaks it down into easy steps. 

The best roll, is not needing to roll - Improving the Brace.

Next up - Improving the Roll. 


And the final video in this series (possibly the most crucial bit for rolling in the wild) - The Mental Game.

Of relevance for when assisting in the pool is the EJ's guide to teaching his roll. 


The above video series is over 10 years old by now (maybe a lot older) and subsequently EJ refined the steps as follows:

Phase 1. 

Phase 2. 


Phase 3. 


Phase 4. 


Phase 5. 


Phase 6. 


EJ has tons of other videos on paddle technique and river running etc., all well worth checking out.


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