Summer in the pair

Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone should go out, get themselves some sexy unisuits and race some national team guys at big regattas over the summer. I'm suggesting something much more terrifying for some of my athletes: go and row the straight pair.

One boat, two rowers, one oar each. No coxswain and no room for mistakes. Training in the straight pair has been all the rage for the last few years. Much like the single, if you can row the pair well, the thinking goes that you can row anything well.

The boat is tiny. I routinely pick up pairs alone in the boathouse when I'm working on them. It's bigger than a single, but not by much. After an entire season in fours or eights, most people react the same as a single when they get in the first time. Pushing off the dock brings a deer-in-the-headlights look of I'm about to flip.

And pairs do flip. Miss the catch badly enough, and you're going in. Catch a crab? Swim time. Heck, pairs sometimes flip when practicing racing starts. If the coach screwed up the rig, hope your heels are tied in well. Nevermind that steering is an adventure, with two power applications every stroke. A rudder many times does more harm than good, with the steersman so distracted by trying to go straight that their rowing suffers.

The pair is simply not like any other sweep boat. It requires absolute concentration at all times. The stroke must be consistent in everything they do, not just the rowing, but from how they push off the dock to how fast they come up the slide to do a start. The bow must (usually) steer the boat, call the race and somehow perfectly match the stroke. Unlike an eight, where body positions can be all over the place and slightly different hand levels can be overlooked, the pair forces bow to match everything, even what the stroke is doing wrong.

Rarely does the pair look good out on the water. Emily likened them to watching a duck with a broken wing flap along the top of the water, trying to get airborne. But when they are right........like nothing else.

Some of my best memories of rowing happened in pairs. Every summer I was involved in the sport, I found a partner to row a pair with. At Yale, HVT and I rowed every summer, most mornings of the week. After a few days, the pair just felt good. We rarely did anything very hard, and only had a coach out with us a few times. We would race at the Canadian Henley in August, but mainly we were just rowing around, staying in aerobic shape and enjoying nice mornings and smooth water.

And I know it made me a better rower. I believe it can do that for anyone who can spend the time in the boat. The pair in the summer is a sweet way to chill out, get better, stay in shape and go swimming from time to time.

Categories: Rowing, Memories

A fork in the college rowing road

I agreed with the recent NCAA decision not to include men's crew in the NCAA championships. The reasons for my position have been discussed here before and are not really germane to today's topic. One possible side effect of that decision is what I would like to address.

I believe the explosion of women's rowing due to Title IX has been a great thing. There is no question that women's rowing was undervalued and ignored by university athletic directors, like all other women's sports. Requiring a close balance in funding between men's and women's sports has been a great boon to the sport. Anyone who began rowing in the mid to late 90s can attest to the huge difference Title IX has brought to our sport.


HOWEVER: "I sense a disturbance in the force." The beginnings of a split between men's and women's rowing greatly concern me. While the intervention of the NCAA has benefited the sport as a whole and women's rowing in particular, NCAA intervention has changed some traditional aspects of rowing on the women's side. While the men continue mostly unchanged, the women are moving in a different direction, at least in the college area of the sport.

Here I refer to Fight in the Dog and a recent post there about possible changes in novice entries on the women's side. Specifically, I believe women's rowing is moving away from recruiting novices in college. Athletes at the highest-level women's rowing programs are assumed to have rowing in high school, and novices are not expected to contribute (ie compete) until they are upperclassmen.

I'll leave all the other arguments save this one: if women's rowing is going to become the female football, then I don't believe that sort of equality is what we as a society should be striving for. The beauty of rowing is the simplicity of the stroke, the fitness of the participant and the teamwork required by the boat. Closing that opportunity to novices in college simply because they didn't have a large body of water with a boat club in their hometown seems an injustice.

I believe the sport should continue to grow. I believe women's programs should continue to lead the way at the collegiate level; for the most part, rowing in general has benefited. However, I sincerely hope collegiate coaches leave a little room for instruction of novices and keep novice racing around. Those who learned to row in college many times come back to become the greatest alumni supporters.

I'm not sure what else I need to say or want to say in this post. Perhaps our readers can contribute more to this. Simply because the NCAA is involved doesn't mean the sport should move away from its roots.

Categories: Rowing, Politics, College

I am NOT Batman

I love movies. The stunts are great to watch, and suddenly it seems possible for a human to fall three stories and get up without any ill effects. Will and I have been watching the Star Wars movies this past weekend. He loves them. Emily said they might be too violent, and he answered "I like violent." Aren't we great parents?

Anyway, perhaps those movies were running through my head when I was on the roof of the porch on Sunday, cleaning out the gutters on top of the house. Emily was working on recovering a flowerbed. Will was out front with her. To get down, I would need her to hold the ladder, but I had jumped down a few years before. So I tossed down my tools and took a leap off the roof.

And landed really wrong. There was an internal sproing in my left leg. It went a little numb. And I knew I had done something really stupid.

So I'm limping around the house now. I can put weight on the leg, but my knee and ankle are really sore. Today has been better, but Emily doesn't miss an opportunity to call me an idiot. I guess I can't jump off the roof anymore. I'm not Batman.

Well, perhaps this Batman.....



Categories: Personal

How long until government decides who we get to marry?

Go here. Then ask yourselves the question above. My question: whose bloody business it this sort of thing anyway? Is this China, where people are told how many children they can have, where they can live and where they will work? Seems like it's heading in that direction. Since when do people need "occupancy permits" to give government a say over which house they live in with thier families? Amerika, here we come.

Categories: Politics

Tribute to the last-minute lineup

Coaches sweat, obsess and drive their spouses crazy debating lineups. We try and set lineups four weeks or so before the final race of the season, so boats get an opportunity to "gel" together. The boat develops its own personality and approach to a race, the coach identifies this and puts together a race plan accordingly. We sit back on the shore and (hopefully) everything comes together with a winning race.

Makes a nice, calm picture, doesn't it? Makes sense; there is a process to this whole thing. The team likes this idea, because is reinforces the idea that the coach knows what's going on, thus the team knows what's going on and everyone thinks they know what is going to happen.

Then the coach gets the situation faced by the Pitt heavy 4 last weekend. The stroke went down with a foot infection on Wednesday before they left for Philly and Dad Vails. A boat that had been stable, selected and racing well, pointing toward a finals finish suddenly needed to find a new stroke rhythm, and quickly. Plus, a new member, who hadn't rowed in that boat for the last month was being introduced into the mix. In an 8, this might not be such a big deal. 8s have a personality, and a new oarsman just has to go along with what's happening. 4s aren't so easy by a long margin.

Then add in the idea that the new member of the boat would also stroke it. My expectations, as well as theirs, weren't that high.

Coaches like control. That's why we obsess about lineups and results and the competitions' race results and seat racing and erg scores and weather patterns and rigging and race plans and hull selection. We've been oarsmen before, and want that same feeling of control that we had when an oar was in our hands. So we try and fool ourselves with figures and theories and seat racing into believing that we can predict the future. Then when disaster strikes, we assume that because that boat won't have the benefit of time together and our knowlege and experience and theories that it will suck.

Then the oarsmen go out and prove us dead wrong. After such a displacement, the Pitt 4 made the final of Dad Vails. I don't think they believed they would make it out of heats. I had no idea what to think. What the heck was I thinking anyway? Obviously, I have no idea about what I'm doing......

But then again, perhaps I and other coaches do. It's not about seat racing and erg scores and rigging. Yes, these have a place, but not anywhere near the weight we place on them. The best indication of a boat's possible success is the heart and courage and will of the athletes in it. If they believe they can do something special, they usually will. As many other discussions on this blog come down to, it's all about trust. If a boat trusts each other, they will push harder than a crew without that belief. The only way for a lineup to become a crew, and not just a list of people is for those people to trust in the effort and will of each other. That is what makes crews faster than the sum of their parts.

What's funny is that this can't be taught in one workout or drill. It's something a coach can help grow. Mainly, such trust and belief is created by the members of the team themselves. Well done, heavy 4. Beyond expectation, you accomplished the highest talent a crew can master in a season, and it carried you into the finals and great racing.

Categories: Pitt, Rowing, Tribute, Regattas, Coaching

Another tribute to coxswains

They always want to row. It could be 35 degrees and raining, but if there's an extra coxswain, they'll beg like kids in the cereal isle for an opportunity to row. I don't know why, perhaps because they are usually smaller than the athletes they command, but coxswains always want to row.

I give this little speech once a year to somebody. I don't know how else to put it. Some people are just the perfect size to be a coxswain. Yes, they could row, and be in the 3V. Or, they could make a bigger contribution to the squad and be a cox. Then I'll give examples. I seem to have a new one every year, and this past weekend gave another.

M is the FC varsity coxswain. He had a JV 4 this weekend at Scholastic sprints that was thrown together at the last minute. (There is a tradition of these things.) As seems the case every year, that 4 made the final. (Again, this always seems to happen.) They were leading the final when a volunteer launch, too eager to take up the course, waked them out, dropping them to second place. That wake didn't hit any other boat.

M protested. He talked to the refs, presented his case and agreed to their suggestion that first place be shared. The guys in his boat had already raced three times that day, and another time down the course wasn't a guaranteed win. M made the right call. The points gained by that shared 1st place got FC a tie for the boys' points trophy and assisted in the overall points win.

Coxswains: this is what you do. Provide some rational thought out on the course. Win races and trophies by using your mind. Yes, what is said to the crew is important, and steering is vital. But using the one muscle the oarsmen don't have good use of brings big results from the coxswains. When to sprint, when to move, when to lock on, when to coach and when to sweet-talk the refs are the coxwain's responsibility. Athletes really aren't good at this, because they are in lactic acid burn. The brain has a habit of shutting down in that state.

Coxswains usually gather the majority of flak from the coach at practice and plenty of grief from oarsmen as well. The fact is that coxswains can make big differences. Like the kicker on a football team, they are disrespected all year until the big moment comes. At that point, you need Adam Vinatieri, not Mike Vanderjagt.

Be heroes, coxswains. Be the best at what you are. I'll let you row over the summer.

Categories: Coxswains, FC, Pitt, Tribute, Motivational, Regattas, Rowing, Photo

The Moment

Most crews experience a moment during their seasons that define how they will approach the rest of the spring. Sometimes early, sometimes just before the championships, the turning moment is recognized by everyone in the boat. The entire crew instantly understands what has happened, what they are capable of and what the mission has become. Perhaps a team that didn't believe it belonged in the finals has a great tune-up race, or a crew that didn't believe it could win takes down the favorite team in the league. Perhaps a JV finally takes down the varsity, or a novice 4 has such a great practice that the crew begs the coach to enter them at the championships. A great sprint piece, a strong long-distance row, the first time setting a boat on the square; any of these can be that moment. The common thread here is a boat that finally gels together and feels fast.

This moment must be seized upon and built upon. Concentrating on how good the boat felt in that moment can carry a great crew through weeks or even month of preparation. Remember, there is a large mental portion to this sport. How a team prepares mentally for the final championship regatta will impact the results far better than any last few days of drills or tiny rigging change by a coach. There is rarely a sudden lineup change in the final week that will find an extra second over 2000 meters, but that second can be found where it always was, in the athletes. A great moment, either in a race or in practice is a great help to mental preparation.

With a week remaining before the "championship weekend," I call attention to that moment, because I believe each crew I've been associated with has experienced a great moment sometime this season. There have been distractions, obstacles and disappointments, but these have been mostly off the water. Concentrate on what has happened on the water, and those moments when the boat gelled together and ran.

Categories: Motivational, Rowing, Regattas, Teamwork

The importance of being JV

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
Baltasar Gracian (1601 - 1658) Spanish philosopher, writer
In "Quotations of Wit and Wisdom," ed. & John W. Garder et al., 1975.

First old rowing saying of the day:

Behind every great crew is a very good JV. I'm not saying a great crew always has a champion JV, but they will be good. They have to be, by definition. Those are the guys that didn't make the top boat. They are usually rather annoyed by that fact, and take their displeasure out on the oar. It's not always smooth, controlled or anything pretty. However, good JVs will drive the coach nuts once per practice.

How? By going kamikaze and taking one piece from the varsity. They may be useless for the rest of the day, they may cheat on the rating, they WILL make snide comments to each other about that idiot in the launch, but they will push the varsity endlessly. And the coach will sit in the launch, stew about what the heck is wrong with this varsity that he's chosen and do I really have any idea about what I'm doing......

It's even worse for the guys in the varsity. They sit there, wondering what the hell is going on, can't we even beat the JV, how are we supposed to beat anyone, etc, etc. But the real result of such victories in practice is sharpening the mental edge of the varsity. By pushing that hard, the varsity gets faster.

Second of the day:

Nobody ever gets promoted out of a slow JV. This may have been disproved at some point in time, but it makes sense. The JV isn't a throw-away boat, ever. That is an opportunity for athletes to get better, developing for a push at the varsity next year. The JV is also an opportunity for athletes not in the varsity to race athletes of similar caliber from other crews. I've asked this question of a JV before: what boat would you rather be in? Varsity 4? 2x? Light 8? Who am I supposed to replace with whatever athlete decided they deserve to be in a higher boat?

Finally, the JV gets its own event at just about every regatta we go to. That event contributes points to the overall success of the entire team.

It's funny. When the coach steps out from behind the curtain and reveals just how much worry, sweat and guessing goes into boat selection, oarsmen tend to cease complaining. They know the score just as well as a coach, sometimes better. Every rower I've ever been associated with always wants the same thing: the fastest possible boats for their crew. It never comes down to people wanting to row with their best friend, thankfully. Watch Miracle at Oxford for the result of such insanity.

But there is one great part of being in the JV. It truly is the "party boat." Always will be. Third varsities have their own coach, as do the freshmen. The JV is supposed to share time with the head coach, but they never feel they get the attention they deserve. If the bowman is supposed to be the comedian of any crew, JVs seem to be all bowmen. Any why shouldn't the JV be the fun boat of the team? Isn't this supposed to be a fun sport after all?

JV story: I was in the JV for the first month of my sophomore year at Yale. The crew travels the first week of April to the San Diego crew classic, and we get rental vans at the airport. The varsity got one van, the JV another and the coaching staff get a car. Following the "staff car" out onto the California freeway system, the JV managed to follow along. The varsity, with the team captain behind the wheel, missed the exit and stopped in the middle of I-5. He then continued on to points unknown. We waited on the exit for awhile, until the CHiPs guys on motorcycles came along and sent us along. Upon arrival at Miramar (yes, we stayed at the "Top Gun" Naval Air Station) we were told we would race varsity tomorrow if the other guys never showed up........

There is another story from that year that involved a lunch at "Hooters" and our 4 seats lunatic attempts to convince our server to accompany us to Tiajuana. However, this is a "family blog" and I've probably said too much already.

Categories: Memories, Teamwork, Motivational, Yale, Rowing