Meet Yacob Cajee, owner of Red Kite Nordic Walking in Alsager, England. He is certified through British Nordic Walking and the International Nordic Walking Federation. Yacob has published on Nordic walking in Men’s Fitness. He is helping us advance in our Nordic walking journey by sharing his ideas and experiences as well as telling us what his group is doing.
In short, Yacob is a leader in his community. When you read his remarks, you’ll see how they trust him and have invested in him to bring the benefits of Nordic walking to the community.
Yacob will be also be a webinar guest of Nordic Walking Groups on Facebook on August 21 at 3:00 PM / 15:00 Europe/London time.
- I linked a time converter so you can determine your local time.
- You can get the Zoom link by joining Nordic Walking Groups on Facebook.
- The webinar will be 30 minutes long, and there will also be a questions-and-answer period.
Let’s learn more about Yacob and the work he does with his group. He was kind enough to provide photos and videos of group activities.
Here is the Red Kite, the symbol of Yacob’s group.
Yacob was also kind enough to share a video of some of his clients practicing their technique.
- Tell us about you and your group:
- What is the proper name of your group? Red Kite Nordic Walking.
- What are the links to your group’s website and social media? Twitter: @RedKiteNW
- How did you get started in Nordic walking? I saw a television report about Nordic Walking which really interested me, so when a taster session was run in my village I decided to go along.
- Why did you want to become a Nordic walking coach? After really enjoying the taster session, I (and several of my fellow villagers) was keen to learn properly, but we couldn’t find anyone locally to teach us. So we decided to train one of us to be able to offer training as part of a community project to get people off their couches. I managed to secure about £1,500 to fund my training and a community bag of poles and ended up training about 80 people from the village.
- Where is your group physically located? Alsager, Cheshire, England
- Tell us about what your group does:
- What is a favorite group excursion? What makes it a favorite? I relocated to Cheshire from Pembrokeshire in West Wales shortly before the Covid pandemic so have as yet been unable to establish a local group.
- Do you have a funny/memorable/poignant story you can share about your group? The treasurer of our local community forum was desperately keen to learn to Nordic Walk, but for several months was prevented from doing so because of having to care for her husband with Alzheimer’s Disease. When eventually she was able to learn, she loved it so much that each evening, once she’d put her husband to bed, she would spend 20-30 minutes Nordic Walking around her large garden to de-stress and re-energise.
- Tell us about Nordic walking and what makes it so great:
- Why should beginning Nordic walkers seek out professional coaching? Anyone can walk with two poles, but if you want to Nordic Walk it is important to learn the basic technique and to have sone understanding of what you’re trying to achieve and how it should feel when you’re applying the technique correctly. A qualified instructor will also be able to advise on the pros and cons of the various poles available and make sure that you get the right length poles for you – often they will have a range of different poles of varying lengths that you will be able to try out before buying.
- How have Nordic walkers managed their meetups during this pandemic? Restrictions in the UK have limited lessons/sessions at different stages of lockdown to either 1-2-1s or groups of 6. Apart from two individual lessons, my Nordic Walking activity during lockdown has been limited to walks with my wife.
- What advice do you have for Nordic walkers who would like to start a local Nordic walking group with friends and neighbors? Find an instructor (or get yourself trained as one) and then do it. NW is a very social form of exercise and is a brilliant way to get to know your friends and neighbours (UK spelling) better
- What are some life lessons people have learned as a result of Nordic walking? That Nordic Walking is a much more sustainable form of exercise than jogging/running.
- What are some memorable outcomes people have experienced as a result of Nordic walking? One of my first students was a man in his 60s who struggled to take his dog out for a walk because of knee problems, which meant that he regularly had to have fluid drained from it. At the end of our first lesson, his wife was astounded when he marched off in front of the group, his knee free from any kind of discomfort.
- Any last thoughts or advice for Nordic walkers? Walking with poles is not Nordic walking; walking fast is not Nordic Walking. To get the most benefit out of Nordic Walking, learning and applying proper technique is essential, but also remember that we are all different, so stretch yourself within your own limits.