Year: 2013

Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Google Talks with James Cracknell

By

Google Talks posted this interview last week with James Cracknell and his wife, Beverley Turner. If you don’t know who James Cracknell is, he is a former Olympian for Great Britain who competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics in the coxless four. Both times he won the gold – in 2000 he was in the boat with Steve Redgrave (when he won his fifth consecutive gold) and Matthew Pinsent, who was also in the 2004 boat.

Related: Video of the Week: Gold fever

This interview that he did at Google with his wife focuses on a lot of different things, but it spends a good amount of time talking about the accident he suffered in July of 2010. He was on an “adventure-quest”, as I’ll call it, to row, run, cycle, and swim from Los Angeles to New York in 16 days. While cycling through Arizona, he was hit from behind by a petrol tanker, a crash that resulted in a serious skull fracture that lead to an even more serious brain injury. His recovery is an ongoing process and it is noted that he may never fully recover due to the nature of the injury he sustained. If anything, his accident should encourage you to always wear a helmet while riding your bike since the helmet he was wearing is probably the only reason he’s still alive.

The video itself is about 55 minutes long but it’s worth the watch when you have time. He’s moved on from traditional rowing but has found many other exciting endeavors to fill his time with. What is it about rowers that leads us to partake in such crazy (but thrilling) adventures?

Ergs Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

Our coach wants us to be pulling miracle splits but that doesn’t happen most of the time! And even though we all work hard, we don’t impress her enough. What can we be doing better on the erg?

At this point, instead of focusing on what you can do better, I’d first try to talk with your coach, either individually or with the rest of your team. As always, approach the situation maturely and respectfully. Don’t be accusatory but make your feelings known. Explain how you feel as though you’re working hard and pulling good times but you don’t feel like she agrees since she is always unimpressed with your scores. Get some feedback from her on why she expects you to be pulling the splits that she does. Is she trying to motivate you to constantly do better or is she just randomly picking out numbers that she thinks you should be able to pull? The latter sometimes happen with new coaches who aren’t sure of their rowers abilities yet – I know I’ve been guilty of it until I’ve gotten to know my rowers and seen what’s realistic to expect of them.

If she’s trying to be motivational, which I can understand in a way if that’s her intent, I’d explain that it’s not really working. Ask for feedback on your individual technique and what you can do better so that you can work towards pulling the splits that she’s looking for. Take that into consideration and try to implement her suggestions the next time you hop on the erg.

If you and your team truly are working hard and performing well on the ergs, there’s really no reason why she shouldn’t be impressed with your efforts thus far. There’s nothing wrong with expecting more of your team and continually raising your expectations as improvements are made, but those expectations need to be realistic based on your age, skill level, fitness, etc.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By

Clear something up for me about the relative importance of stroke vs. 7 in an eight? My coach today inferred that because I’d rowed stroke most of last season 7 should be easy because it doesn’t have the same responsibility, it’s just following. I always thought stern pair were equally important as 7 “strokes” bowside. Am I wrong?

I think I understand what your coach is saying, although I don’t think he phrased it right. I’ve always been taught that stroke and 7 are equally important despite the difference in responsibilities because your stroke sets the rhythm but 7 is the one who relays it to the rest of the boat. It’s not “just” following – if 7’s timing is off, the other six rowers will probably be off too. That’s why you usually want your most consistent rowers up front.

Related: Hey, as a coach you might be able to tell me, in a quad how do you decide who goes where? And the same for an eight? Where you’re placed in the boat, should this tell you anything about where you “sit” compared to the rest of the crew?

Assuming you can row both sides you’d probably do fine at 7 since your experience at setting and maintaining a rhythm in stroke seat would (theoretically) make it easier to translate the new stroke’s rhythm back to bow six.

Technique: Good and bad technique on the erg

Ergs Technique

Technique: Good and bad technique on the erg

By

I got a question last week that asked if I had any videos that showed good vs. poor erg technique. Below are some I’ve found on YouTube (that for the sake of brevity I’ll avoid breaking down) that should give you a clear idea of what proper technique looks like.

GOOD ROWING TECHNIQUE

BAD ROWING TECHNIQUE

 Image via // @ruben_markiewicz

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

By

“Fake it till you make it.” Do you believe in that for coxswains? Because of today’s terrible practice I wouldn’t have been able to fake anything for the life of me.

I do to an extent. If you’re at the point where you can’t even fake like you have an idea of what’s happening, speak up and say something. I really only say “fake it til you make it” (and I’m not even sure that’s the right term to use) as a way to get coxswains to act confident even when they’re not sure of something … like, they’re 85% sure but there’s that 15% of doubt. I don’t want to hear the 15% of doubt in your voice. Even if you’re only 85% sure, I want to hear 100% confidence when you talk. I’ll trust you a lot more if you at least sound like you know what you want vs. someone who is like “ummm, yea…I think that’s right”. If you genuinely do not understand how to do something or the coach says something that makes NO sense, just raise your hand and say “Coach, I don’t understand, can you go over that again?” After practice, if you still don’t understand, talk to them privately or ask one of the experienced coxswains. They might be able to explain whatever it is a little better than your coach can.

Faking it should never be a substitute for actually knowing how to do something. Safety is a huge issue when you’re on the water, so I would never want a coxswain to fake knowing a skill just to avoid asking for clarification or to avoid slowing down the speed of practice. $40,000 boat + 8 other people = your responsibility (no pressure). Not knowing how to do something and not inquiring as to how to do it puts you and your crew at risk for an accident. I think that you should approach every situation confidently and not let anyone question that what you’re saying is exactly what you want, but at the same time if you don’t know how to do something, don’t understand something, have a question, etc. you should always ask. I say this all the time and it holds true here…there are MANY stupid questions out there but a question for clarification is never stupid. Be confident but not cocky to the point that you don’t know when to ask for help.

Coxing How To Novice

Question of the Day

By

Any tips on how to properly dock an 8+?

Trying to explain docking without any kind of visual is tough. I just think it works better when you can see what’s happening. Docking, like most basic coxing skills though, revolves around common sense. It’s also very trial and error based – you mess up a few times to figure out how to do it right. Trial by fire could also be an accurate description.

Obviously how your dock is set up will dictate how you come in but this should give you an idea of how it’s done. (Also, if it’s not obvious, read the image from the bottom to the top.)

You should never come into the dock with any more than stern pair rowing and you should never come into the dock with bow pair rowing. I don’t know WHY some coaches teach this because it seems so completely illogical to me. If you think about what part of the boat is hitting the dock first, wouldn’t it make more sense to have the rowers who are hitting the dock last be the ones rowing?

Also, don’t try and point towards the dock from the middle of the river. The current will pull you downstream and by the time you actually get to the dock, you’ll be at a 90 degree angle. Set yourself up so that even when you’re two or three lengths away, you’re only two or three feet off the dock from the end of the starboard side’s oars. If you end up taking too sharp of an angle to the point when your bow is on the dock but you (the coxswain) are five feet off it, have your stroke or seven back row, depending on who is on the river side and who is on the dock side. Obviously if your stroke is on the dock side they can’t row so have your 7-seat do it.

Last tip – make sure that you account for the speed of the current and the wind as you make your approach and tell the rowers to be quiet so they can hear what you’re saying. Docking can be tough when the elements are working against you so they need to be listening at all times in order to hear when you tell them to do something.

If you’re a novice, freaking out about docking is only going to make the actual event that much more scary. There’s probably a 99% chance that you’re not going to get it right on your first try – most of us don’t. Your coaches know this and should be on the dock to catch you and prevent any avoidable damage to the boat but if they’re not there to help you, they’re more at fault than you are because you’re still learning. However, that does not exempt you from using your common sense. Be smart about docking and it will come much quicker and easier to you.

Coxing Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

By

What do you like to do to cheer yourself up after a lost race or tough practice?

During the summer and fall my practices were from 5-7:30am so if I wasn’t immediately working or coaching afterwards I’d just go home and sleep for a few hours. If I had a particularly shitty practice, I nearly always felt better once I slept it off. If it was a really shitty practice, I’d call my dad and talk to him. He and I are very similarly minded when it comes to sports and stuff like that, so most of the time he knows where I’m coming from when I get frustrated. Another thing that helped me get some aggression out was to just turn the radio up and listen to the music on the drive home. That’s my go to stress reliever for practically anything.

Later on in the day when I wasn’t as irritated I’d reflect on why practice was so tough that day. Were the rowers not responding to what I was saying or was I being unnecessarily hard on myself? Were my coach and I not communicating properly or was I not communicating well with the crew? After asking myself those questions I could usually figure out why practice didn’t go well and determine what I needed to do differently the next day to ensure that whatever happened that day doesn’t happen again. It doesn’t always work out that way – sometimes practice just sucks – but most of the time it did for me.

In the long run, wallowing over a bad practice or race isn’t worth it. Is that going to cheer you up? Probably not. What will cheer you up is figuring out how to make sure whatever happened doesn’t happen again and then going out the next day and busting your ass to ensure that you have a good practice or that your next race is your best one yet. It seems cliche (trust me, I know this) but using those experiences as a learning opportunity ultimately makes you a lot happier than just focusing on how shitty your day ended up being.

Coxing Drills How To Q&A

Question of the Day

By

Transitioning by fours in an 8+ always confuses me. I know you start with stern four, then stern pair out, then three four in, but what’s after that? Who goes in and out in what order? Thanks!

It’s actually pretty simple because there’s only two pair switches you need to make to get between stern, middle, and bow four. Once you’re done with bow 4 it’s only a matter of whether you’re continuing rotating through the fours again or going to 6s or all eight (in which case, the addition of the rest of the pairs is self-explanatory).

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

By

As a coxswain, I guess you could say this is my first actual leadership position. I’ve had a little experience with being in charge of activities, but never the safety of a 30 thousand dollar boat … or people. What would you say makes an effective leader? Most people if they are, are born leaders. How would you bring that out of someone, if that’s even possible?

One of the most important parts of being a good leader is being engaged, so be involved with the team. The more involved you are, the more likely people will be to look to you as a “team leader”. Also, be assertive and know the difference between that and just being bossy. Don’t wait to be told to do something either, just step up and do it. The more time you spend on the team and with the coaches the better you’ll be able to anticipate this. In the mean time though, just always be willing to do whatever needs done. If you don’t know how to do something, partner up with someone who does so you can learn.

Related: I was reading on a rowing forum a commenter said that good coxswains are born not made. They can be guided to be successful but not much more than that. Is there any truth to it?

Observe your team captains and what they do, how they act, etc. You can also always ask them or one of the more experienced coxswains for advice on how they’ve become better leaders over the years. Coxing is, in my opinion, 99.9% using your common sense and that alone can go a long way in helping you develop your leadership skills.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

By

Going off a previously asked question, in your experience if you called a specific rower out then after practice went and made sure you two were OK/on the same page, do you think that would help them not be as pissy about it?

It depends on the situation. If I can tell they’re in a bad mood because of it then I might say something just because it can help minimize any bad feelings there might be on their end. If it seems like they’re getting frustrated at me because I’m calling them out then I’d take them aside after practice and make it clear that I’m not “calling them out” for any reason other than it’s purely part of the job.

Related: In the boat, when you’re calling a rower out to make a change, is it better to call them by their seat or name? A rower told me that by using a name it puts them on the spot – but isn’t that the point to make a change?

I’ve definitely coxed and coached people that I really did not like but as soon as I got in the boat I tried as hard as I could to neutralize any personal feelings I had for them so I knew that when I called them out, it was rowing related and not personal. I might apologize if it seemed like I was focusing on them more than any of the other rowers but I certainly wouldn’t apologize for pushing them or staying on them to make the changes that I or the coach are asking for.