Stand-Up Paddler (SUP) Tanja Ecker has loved two things since she was a little girl in Germany’s Black Forest region, close to the borders of France and Switzerland: Sports and nature. Thus, it is no surprise that she studied sustainable development as part of her sports management master’s program. And that is why becoming an EcoAthletes Champion is a perfect fit for the 2021 German first place finisher.

“I grew up near a forest and would take walks there often with my dog,” Ecker recalled. “And I was outside, in the environment, for many of my sports, whether it was cycling or running. I was very concerned about trash from as far back as I could remember and now, I see it in the water at our races in California, Australia and elsewhere.”

Ecker discovered SUP (“it was love at first sight — it’s a great full body workout!”) in 2013 during her university days in Munich where she studied sports science. After getting her degree, she moved back home and found a sports club that had a SUP program and things began to get much more intense.

“I learned and compete in the four SUP disciplines: long distance (8 to 20km), ultra (40km), technical-slalom with buoys (1-5km) and sprints (500m) on both flat water and the ocean,” recalled Ecker. “The keys to success are overall fitness, balance, and endurance. There is a lot of strategy, with drafting. Contact between racers is common as are falls. My first race was in Switzerland in 2017. Early on, I kept finishing in fourth which certainly was a great motivation to do better.”

Soon, 404 Boards came on board as a sponsor and she stepped up her game, winning the prestigious 2018 Swiss Racing League championship. The next year, Ecker competed in her first world class international races, garnering respectable results in Spain, France, and the Netherlands. And she notched strong 3rd and 5th places finishes at the German Championships. That opened the door to the World Championships in Qingdao, China that October (she paid her own way) where she finished in the Top 10.

Ecker saw firsthand the environmental problems in China.

“The smog was absolutely terrible; it impacted the races,” she recalled. “Afterwards, I toured Beijing and the Great Wall, and the pollution was just awful. It’s insane that the IOC decided to hold the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.”

Next up was a trip to California in March 2020 to train with Danny Ching, owner of 404 Boards and one of SUP’s legends, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She was able to fly home and somehow, despite the shutdowns across Europe, SUP competitions continued, albeit at a reduced schedule.

And Ecker’s journey up the world rankings continued in 2021: She took first place in all five disciplines at the German Championships and made the podium in four international competitions.

Climate change has also been a presence on the international SUP scene.

“The heat has been just brutal when I’ve paddled in Australia and California,” Ecker noted. “And then wildfires would follow. Trash has also been a real problem at many races, although not so much at home.”

She decided to do something about it when she started a master’s degree program at the University of Bern (Switzerland). While pursuing sport management, Ecker added a concentration in sustainable development. Her thesis is focused on how to make sports events, specifically the SUP 11-City Tour, more sustainable.

“Right now, we’re developing a questionnaire for the athletes and for sponsors about their attitudes on what would make for a sustainable SUP event,” she said. “Small things like refillable water bottles and limiting food waste and bigger things like finding sponsors that align with your values on climate and the environment. Of course, some of the athletes are not aware of the climate problems, and that is a big problem. We’ll be doing something similar with sponsors. My plan is to make recommendations on how SUP events can improve their environmental performance; my goal is to finish it by the end of the calendar year.” 

Ecker practices what she preaches in terms of working with green-minded sponsors, from equipment to environmentally friendly clothing to reusable and recyclable bottles and more. And she’s using her platform to talk about the need for climate action at SUP camps and clinics, to a variety of audiences, from advanced paddlers to kids. Growing her platform and her power to activate her followers are two main reasons she found a home as an EcoAthletes Champion.

“I want go from building awareness of climate among my supporters to leading climate action,” Ecker asserted. “EcoAthletes, through its Resource Hub, gives me the tools to do so. I’m also very keen to empower women to lead on climate and so I’m thrilled to see women lead the way as EcoAthletes Champions!”

Lew Blaustein, the nonprofit’s founder, and CEO, believes Ecker is a key addition to the Champions roster.

“SUP is a fast-growing sport with a young and diverse fan base,” noted Blaustein. “Tanja is not only among the world’s best paddlers; she also is doing significant research to find out how the sport can green itself. We are excited to work with her to bring the #ClimateComeback to SUP and beyond.”

You can follow Tanja Ecker on Instagram