Purpose
Why we exist
To grow every Arizona kid into a confident paddler, a working field scientist, and a lifelong steward of the water.
About · Arizona SUP AcademyThe paddle board is our classroom,
The paddle board is our classroom,
our lab, and our boat.
We grow every Arizona kid into a confident paddler, a working field scientist, and a lifelong steward of the water — on one vehicle that does all three at once.
Vision
By 2030
Every Phoenix-metro middle-schooler can name their watershed, take their own water sample, finish a 5K paddle race — and bring a younger sibling back the next season.
Mission
What we do
We coach Arizona youth in stand-up paddling, watershed science, and lake stewardship — eight weeks every spring at Tempe Town Lake, three cohorts on the same board.
Our Promise
Scholarship seats in every cohort. ACA-certified coaches. Real water samples to real partners. No kid turned away for cost.
Three pillars
Field Science. Performance. Stewardship.
Three pillars. One vehicle. The paddle board is how a young person gets into all three at once — and every product the academy offers sits under one of them.
Field Science pillar
Field Science
Observe. Measure. Defend your finding.
Start here
Ecology Lab
Open the flagship →
Performance pillar
Performance
Train deliberately. Race honestly. Recover hard.
Start here
Academy Season
Open the flagship →
Stewardship pillar
Stewardship
Leave the lake better. Lift the next paddler up. Tell the truth.
Start here
The Coach Path
Open the flagship →
The Academy Code
Three promises. One creed.
What every instructor, parent, and athlete signs onto. Said out loud, repeated until it's instinct. Three promises that govern how we coach. One creed the kids carry off the dock.
- 01
Coach the body, the boat, and the lake.
One season. One board. Three things every athlete leaves with — paddle skill credentialed through the ACA, field-science protocols they can repeat without us, and a working relationship with the water they paddle on. The board does all three at once. We coach all three on purpose.
- 02
Tell the truth — to the athlete, to the parent, to the water.
Honest race calls. Honest skill assessments. Honest financials. Honest safety reports. If a coach got it wrong, the coach says so. If a sample reads bad, we publish it. The hardest truth is still cheaper than the cheapest lie — especially with kids in the water.
- 03
Leave it better than we found it.
The lake, the paddler, the season. Every cohort ends with the lake cleaner than they found it, the next paddler invited in, and the family ready to bring someone back. Stewardship isn't a service day at the end — it's the posture every practice runs on.
The kid line
Stand up.
Stand out.
The four words the kids carry. Said on the dock before every practice. Said in the boat after every race. Said off the water, the rest of their life.
Why the board, specifically
Outside. On water. Standing up.
The research is loud.
We didn't pick the paddle board for vibes. Youth development, mental health, and nature-exposure research all point the same direction — and water-based, full-body, outdoor sport sits at the intersection. The board is what gets a young person into all of it at once.
120minutes / week
Just two hours a week in nature is the threshold associated with significantly higher self-reported health and wellbeing across adolescents and adults.
Source · White et al. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports.
21%
Adolescents who spend regular time outdoors in nature report ~21% lower stress and improved mood vs. screen-bound peers — even controlling for exercise.
Source · Tillmann et al. (2018). Mental health benefits of interactions with nature in children and teenagers: a systematic review. J. Epidemiol. Community Health.
Blue mind
Proximity to water lowers cortisol, slows heart rate, and shifts the brain into a focused-yet-relaxed state. The "blue space" effect is now well-documented across age groups.
Source · Gascon et al. (2017). Outdoor blue spaces, human health and well-being: A systematic review. Int. J. Hygiene & Environmental Health.
Whole body
Stand-up paddleboarding is a full-body, low-impact activity that builds balance, core strength, proprioception, and aerobic capacity — all relevant to adolescent neuromotor development.
Source · Schram et al. (2016). The physiological, musculoskeletal and psychological effects of stand-up paddleboarding. BMC Sports Sci. Med. Rehabil.
Sources cited above are peer-reviewed; we'll keep this section honest as the literature evolves. If you'd like the full bibliography, ask and we'll send it.
The Racing Path
From SUP Academy
to the Olympics.
When you join the Academy Race Team you're automatically a member of every U.S. federation a youth racer would ever need. From there the path splits into two lanes that lead to two different world championships. Pick one or do both — each lane below shows the races you need to enter and the places you need to finish.
01Start line
Academy Race Team
The path begins on home water. Join the Academy Race Team and start logging the water hours every step below assumes you have.
Included with Race Team enrollment
ACA, USA Surfing, and USA SUP memberships — plus every sanctioned-event entry fee on the lanes below. You never need to join a federation or pay a race entry yourself. Race Team enrollment is the only sign-up.
What it takes
- Join the Academy Race Team
- Train through an Academy Season — Tempe Town Lake home water
- Race the Academy regional series to build a baseline ranking
02The fork — pick your federation
U.S. youth SUP racing splits here. Two federations, two world championships — and the ISA lane extends one more stop to the Olympic horizon, since ISA is the IOC-recognized federation for surfing at the Games.
ICF · canoe lane
→ leads to the ICF SUP World Championships
USA SUP runs the racing · ACA picks Team USA from your finish
Selection eventUSA SUP Nationals · Narrows ChallengeGig Harbor, WA · USA SUP runs the racing; ACA’s SUPCC uses your finish to pick Team USA for ICF Worlds
- 2026: Sep 18–20
- 2027: TBA
- Race the Junior division (ages 15–18)
- Finish top 4 in Long Distance and/or Technical to earn a Team USA spot for ICF Worlds
World championshipICF SUP World ChampionshipsICF — the international canoe federation
- 2026: Sabaudia, Italy · Oct 14–18
- 2027: TBA
- Race the Junior (U18) division in Sprint, Technical, or Long Distance
ISA · surf lane
→ leads to the ISA World SUP Championship + the Olympic horizon
USA Surfing runs the racing and picks Team USA — they are the U.S. ISA federation
Team TrialsUSA Surfing SUP & Prone ChampionshipsOceanside, CA · USA Surfing’s national champs that double as the ISA Team USA Trials
- 2026: June 12–14
- 2027: TBA
- Race the Junior (U18) division at the SUP & Prone Champs
- Top junior man + junior woman in Technical earn Team USA selection
- Open top 2 men + 2 women per discipline (Distance · Technical · SUP Surf) also make the team
World championshipISA World SUP & Paddleboard ChampionshipISA — the international surfing federation
- 2026: host + dates TBA
- 2027: TBA
- Race the Junior (U18) division in Distance, Technical, or SUP Surf
Olympic horizonLA28 + future Games — honestlySUP racing is not on the LA28 program. ISA proposed it, the IOC declined. ISA still governs shortboard surfing at LA28 — that makes this the lane closest to SUP’s Olympic horizon if it ever opens.
- LA28: July 15–18, 2028 (surfing only, no SUP)
- SUP racing is not in LA28 — watch ISA + IOC announcements for future Games
- Shortboard surfing at LA28 qualifies via ISA World Surfing Games, WSL Championship Tour, and the 2027 Pan American Games
Paddle-skills certifications run separately through ACA L1 → L2 → L3 SUP. Federation links: ACA, ICF, USA Surfing, ISA, USA SUP.
Governance
How we hold ourselves to it.
Three pillars + nine values are what we DO. Governance is who's accountable, by what structure, on what timeline. The credibility signals ESA reviewers, sponsors, and parents actually look at — sourced, honest, and never glossed.
501(c)(3) determination
PendingArizona SUP Academy filed IRS Form 1023 for tax-exempt status. Until determination lands, we say so plainly on every donation surface — contributions are not yet tax-deductible. ClassWallet vendor application + scholarship-fund operation continue on the operating-non-profit posture per AZ Corporation Commission.
Board of directors
FormingFive-seat founding board (chair · treasurer · secretary · two at-large). Composition + meeting minutes publish on this page once seated. Board reviews safety incidents, annual budget, scholarship allocations, and any conflict-of-interest disclosure.
Two-deep youth protection
LiveNo coach alone with an athlete, ever. One-on-one on-water coaching always within sight of other instructors and paddlers. No private rooms. No private rides. No coach driving an athlete home, at any time, for any reason. NCSI background checks, SafeSport, CPR/AED on every coach — non-negotiable.
Financial transparency
Live100% of sponsor dollars are athlete-direct — gear, scholarship seats, race entries, athlete travel. Coach pay comes from tuition, never from sponsors. This rule is written into every sponsor agreement and we will publish the audit trail annually once 501(c)(3) lands.
Recognized affiliations
LiveCurriculum + cert pathway through the American Canoe Association (ACA). Race + competition pathway through USA Surfing → ISA → Olympic governance chain. DDD-qualified intermediaries for HCBS Code H2014 therapeutic-recreation billing (Cortica · Choice Care · Mentor AZ). Every claim on this site is sourced from one of these.
Annual transparency report
PendingOnce 501(c)(3) determination lands, we publish: revenue + expense allocation, scholarship seats funded by source, athletes served by program, safety-incident summary, board membership + meeting cadence. ESA reviewers, sponsors, and parents see the same numbers — no separate decks.
Governance is intentionally a public, sourced surface. Anything we claim here has a primary record — IRS filing, board resolution, ACA cert, NCSI report, HCBS provider agreement. Email Josh@ArizonaSUP.com for verification of any item above.
Our youth-protection promise
An instructor is never alone with your child.
- →Two-deep leadership at all times. Instructors and volunteers never have a private one-on-one with an athlete. One-on-one coaching happens on the water — within sight of other instructors and other paddlers — never behind a closed door.
- →No private transportation. No coach drives an athlete home, to a practice, or anywhere else, alone, for any reason. Parents handle transport. The Academy coordinates carpool with two-deep family pickups.
- →NCSI · CPR/AED · SafeSport · ACA on every coach. Verified before they're ever assigned a head-coach shift. Standard borrowed from the highest in youth-protection practice today. Non- negotiable, no exceptions.
A note from the founder
From a Pismo Beach upbringing
to Arizona youth.
I grew up in Pismo Beach, California — surfing, kayaking, paddleboarding, and sailing my way through San Luis Obispo Harbor, Avila Beach, Shell Beach, Grover Beach, and every cove in between. I was outside every day. When I wasn't on the water, I was in tide pools, on a trail, watching insects, identifying snakes, asking why each one mattered to the ecology around it. I had the kind of natural-science childhood that shaped how I think.
When I moved to Arizona, I went looking for the equivalent for the youth growing up here. A real ecological, outside-first, water-based youth program. I couldn't find it. So I built it.
Arizona SUP Academy is what I wish had been here: ACA-grounded coaching, race-day milestones, watershed science, and the kind of pod where athletes spend their week outside instead of indoors with a screen. The competition matters because it teaches you how to handle hard things — including the conflicts inside your own head. The community matters because that's where the friendships live. And the water — Tempe Town Lake first, then Saguaro, Pleasant, Roosevelt, and the Salt River — is the classroom we get to spend the season inside.
Welcome to the pod.
— Joshua Vincent, Founder
Stand up. Stand out.
Spring 2027 is enrolling. Three teams. Eight weeks. 99 badges to earn.