This is incredibly sad – incredibly sad – but in a really passionate, inspiring, kind of way.
College Rowing Teammates & Coaches Video of the Week
Month: September 2013
The hardest core workout you’ll ever do
If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw my post about the plank progression the guys did at practice today. I definitely recommend trying it and seeing how far you can make it through the progression. It’s a great way to build core strength, which as we all know is crucial to having a good stroke. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though … it hurts.
8 seconds middle plank – 8 seconds left side plank – 8 seconds right side plank
5 seconds rest
16 seconds middle plank – 16 seconds left side plank – 16 seconds right side plank
5 seconds rest
32 seconds middle plank – 32 seconds left side plank – 32 seconds right side plank
5 seconds rest
64 seconds middle plank – 64 seconds left side plank – 64 seconds right side plank
5 seconds rest
2:08 middle plank
5 seconds rest
4:16 middle plank
5 seconds rest
8:32 middle plank
In total that comes to about 21 minutes of planking if you manage to make it all the way to the end. A good way to gauge whether or not you’re doing the planks right is if you’re shaking and having a hard time breathing … good luck!
Image via // @mitmensrowing
High School Q&A Teammates & Coaches
Question of the Day
Hi (I’m in high school). One of the reasons I’ve always loved rowing is the people and my coaches but both my coaches have left and we’re going to be coached by existing coaches who we’ve already come across. But I feel like the atmosphere will be completely different. I’m planning to give it a trial few weeks and have a decision made by the end of September about continuing, waaay before my school starts racing. Is this a good idea?
I wouldn’t say it’s a bad idea but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea either. I get why you’d be apprehensive about a new coaching staff but if you’re going to give it a trial period, it’s essentially got to be for the whole season, mostly because there are only SO many people that can cox a boat (whereas with rowers, it’s usually not too difficult to find a replacement of adequate skill). Even if the end of September is way before your team starts racing, you’d still have been with them for at least two to three weeks, meaning your coach would have gotten used to you in the boat and your crew would have started getting used to you as well. If you left they’d have to find someone else to put in there and they’d only end up with maybe three weeks with that crew instead of having the same person in there for six to eight weeks.
I’d talk to the people on your team who were coached by these coaches previously and see what they say about them. How was their coaching, what was the atmosphere/culture like with them in charge, etc. Go into it with an open mind and then make a decision after the season ends. The atmosphere probably will be different just because the new coaches are completely different people … that’s not a bad thing so I wouldn’t write them off just because they’re not who you’re used to working with.
Question of the Day
How do you respond if you aren’t chosen to be recruited?
If you’re not recruited, it’s not the end of the world. In most cases the coaches would still like you to be a part of the team and would welcome you to walk-on if rowing in college is still something you want to pursue. There are only a handful of “spots” on the team for recruits and you want to make sure you save those spots for the best of the best. The athletes you know will or have the potential to be “game changers” are the ones you want to give those spots to. It’s that straightforward.
Think of it like the NFL draft – the top players that get drafted in the first round are drafted there for a reason. They’ve got something special. That’s not to say though that they won’t be a bust or get an injury or retire and someone chosen in the lower rounds will have to step up and take over. Perfect example is Tom Brady. Dude was pick number 199 in the sixth round and look where he is now. People chosen in the lower rounds have gone on to lead their teams to multiple Super Bowl wins just like how rowers and coxswains who weren’t chosen as recruits walked on to the team and helped lead their crew to an NCAA or IRA championship. You can still do big things and play a huge role on your team if you’re not one of the “chosen few”.
If you hear back from a coach that unfortunately they won’t be supporting your application, first of all you should thank them for meeting and talking with you in the first place. Being on the flip side of things now I’m seeing just how much work goes into the recruiting process and guys, I’ve gotta tell you, it’s a lot. You really have no idea how much time is spent on athletes that aren’t even a part of the team yet. Every step of the way, make sure you’re thanking the coaches for talking to you on the phone, answering your emails, inviting you to campus, showing you around the boathouse, etc. Secondly, ask them if you were accepted to the university and were still interested in rowing, would walking on be a possibility? I guarantee you they’ll say yes. If you were a potential recruit in the first place they were clearly looking at you for a reason so they’re not going to turn that down just because they can’t offer you a recruited spot. Experienced walk-ons do exist and they’re essentially treated the same as the recruits so it’s really not that big of a deal.
Last thing is to not look at it you’re being told to never pick up an oar or cox box again. You’re not. Take it in stride and move forward. And hey, you never know, maybe not being recruited will be a good thing for you. You can still have a great college experience without crew – it really all depends on what you want out of your four or five years on campus. Not being definitively locked into the sport for four more years gives you the opportunity to figure that out. If you decide you want crew to be part of that experience, walk on to the team. If not, go find an awesome club to join. Most schools have a ton to choose from so you can definitely find something to do in place of rowing if you want.
Question of the Day
Hi! I’m a novice and I have a problem with my oar. My coach said that it doesn’t square early enough. I square just before the drive but he said I need to square earlier. I don’t understand how I can do this ? I feel like I will catch a crab if I square too early (which I did twice today). Do you have any solutions or a way to know how to square at the right time? Is my oar too close to the water on the recovery? Thank you, your blog is the best btw!!
When you say “just before the drive” I assume you mean just before the catch. You do need to square earlier than that, so your coach is correct. Ideally, you’d be squaring or starting to square over your knees, meaning that when you reach the bodies over position of the recovery your blade would be squared or starting to square. I usually like to have the people I’m coaching start squaring over their knees and be completely squared by 3/4 slide, that way all they have to do when they reach the catch is unweight the handle and drop the blade in. If you wait longer than that and start to square around 3/4 slide (this is know as a “quick catch”) you run the risk of going in the water late. (This is more so the case with younger rowers, not so much experienced ones.)
If you’re catching crabs trying to square your blade then yes, your blade is probably too close to the water. That’s probably partially because of the boat being unset and down to your side and your hands being too high. Both of those things seem counter-intuitive but it only takes one person to offset the boat, so it is possible.
Next time you go out I would focus really hard on keeping your hands level coming out of the finish (imagine gliding them across a table top) and starting to square as soon as your hands are over your knees. It’s going to feel awkward and uncomfortable but that’s how most changes in rowing feel. I promise it’ll help a lot though. Just think to yourself “hands away, square, place, push”.
Music to erg to, pt. 8
In addition to being accompanied by one of the most badass sequences of cinematography like, ever, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s version of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” practically made that Henley scene from The Social Network. Not bad considering the song was originally composed in 1876.
https://play.spotify.com/user/1241641027/playlist/44ZORVupgqujoBma1oM2BPCollege Novice Q&A Rowing Technique
Question of the Day
Hi! I started rowing last spring for my college and I was sculling basically all the time. (I swept like twice I think, the first 2 learn-to-row things). However, this year, my coach wants me in a four. We had our first practice yesterday evening and it was awful. I couldn’t do anything right and I was a pain in the ass for the others. Do you have any general advice for a rower that goes from sculling to sweeping ? (I was rushing my slide and couldn’t get the blade in correctly either). Thanks!
If it was your first day in the four and only third time sweeping, there’s only so much fault they can put on you for practice sucking. I mean, if you’re used to sculling it might take a couple days to get used to sweeping. That’s fairly natural, I think. I would talk to your coach about the issues you’re having and ask her to maybe work with you a bit if you’ve got a dock rower or to maybe lengthen out the warmup a bit and watch/correct your form as you go along before you get into the day’s workout.
With regards to rushing, just … relax. Get used to following another person and taking your time on the recovery. Keep your eyes forward and watch their body move. Anticipate their movements and move with them. Focus on the sequence (arms – back – legs coming out of the finish) and matching your sequence to the person in front of you.
With getting the blade in right, there’s a million things that could be. It all starts at the finish though. If your recovery is poor you’re not going to have a good catch. Work out those issues and getting the blade in will start to become a little easier and feel a bit more natural. Get to the catch, place the blade, then push. Repeat that to yourself – place, push. Place, push.
Understanding what the buoys mean
Fall season is just getting started and before you know it it’ll be time to start racing which means buoys … buoys everywhere. Buoys in all sorts of different colors scattered all over the place. If you’re unfamiliar with what they stand for then it can be easy to become confused and/or disoriented when trying to figure out where to go on your way to the starting line or worse, when you’re on the course.
RED buoys should always be on your port side (meaning the boat should be to the right of the buoy).
GREEN buoys should always be on your starboard side (meaning the boat should be to the left of the buoy).
YELLOW (or sometimes orange) buoys are used to indicate some kind of potential hazard, such as a log submerged under the surface of the water, a sand bar, etc. and can be on the left or the right. As they pop up you just have to adjust as necessary. In my experience they’ve also been used to mark stakeboat turns on the race course during head races.
WHITE buoys are used to outline the course, although they’re more commonly used during sprint season to mark the lanes than during head race season. Head of the Charles uses them though to separate the travel lanes and the race course.
Typically at the coaches and coxswains meeting the regatta officials will go over any buoys on the course with you and tell you what they mean but for the most part they should follow the nautical definitions fairly closely.
During sprint season, buoyed courses are set up using the Albano buoy system, which is the marking of the race course with parallel lines of buoys. The first time this was done was at the 1960 Summer Olympics on Lake Albano in Italy, where the rowing events were held. The course is, as we know, 2000m long with six 13.5m wide lanes that are separated by seven lines of buoys that are set 10-15m apart. For the first 100m and last 250m of most courses the buoys are red whereas the other 1650m are white.
Image via // @tristanshipsides
Question of the Day
Hi! I have a couple of questions. I recently switched schools and I’ve noticed that my new team doesn’t check pitch and spread. Is this weird? And if I were to say something like “and send!” would I call that at the catch?
Are you in high school or college? If you’re in high school I wouldn’t think it’s too weird. I don’t think I ever saw my coaches do anything with the rigging (although it’s possible they messed with it when we weren’t around). I know some high schools that pay way to much attention to that kind of stuff for the level their kids are rowing at and others who don’t pay any attention to it. It couldn’t hurt to ask your coach just out of curiosity. If you’re in college and they don’t check it, that’s probably a little more rare since you’re starting to row at a level where those minor changes can actually have a big impact on your stroke.
With “and send” you would say “and” at the catch and then “send” at the finish since that’s when the boat actually sends. Instead of saying “and” though, make a call for the catch. “And” doesn’t really do anything, even though I get why you do it. If you say something like “jump”, “press”, or whatever other words you can think of, that has the ability to initiate a stronger response from the rowers which in turn will make the drive more powerful and the run a little longer. You want to say as few words as you need to in order to get your point across but the key to doing that is making sure every word means something. If you can eliminate the useless words and replace them with something more likely to elicit a response, you’ll be a more effective coxswain.
Question of the Day
Can you go over NCAA recruiting rules? Like when they can call, email and talk to you, and how often, and whats the difference when you are a senior and a junior.
With written correspondence (letters, emails, brochures, etc.), D1 coaches can start sending you info after September 1st of your junior year. So, if you’re a junior right now, since it’s September 4th, you’re “eligible”, for lack of a better term, to start receiving stuff from coaches. For D2 programs I think it’s sometime early in June, maybe the second week of the month or so. You can send as many emails, etc. as you want throughout the time you’re in school but coaches can’t initiate them until after September 1st. They also aren’t allowed to talk to you about recruiting-specific stuff but they can answer general questions or direct you to people in the athletic or admissions department who can also help you out.
D1 coaches can start calling athletes on July 1st after you’ve finished your junior year, so during the summer before senior year begins. D2 is a little different in that they can start calling athletes on June 15th before the start of their junior year, which is an entire year earlier than D1. After those dates coaches can call you once a week for any length of time. You can only get one call per university, meaning if Callahan calls you from Washington on Wednesday, his assistant can’t call you on Friday. It’s one or the other but not both. You can call the coach as many times as you want throughout the time you’re in school though. If the coach answers you can talk for any length of time but unless it’s after July 1st or June 15th after/before your junior year, they can’t call you back if you’ve left a voicemail, so you’d have to just keep trying and calling them until you get them if you have a pressing question. If it’s after those dates and they haven’t used their one allotted phone call for the week, they can call you back.
The other big difference between junior year and senior year is that you can start going on official visits following the first day of school your senior year. Before that you can only go on unofficial visits.
Related: Official vs. unofficial visits
Coaches can also observe you at practice up to seven times during the year. Contact also becomes a bit more limited as they aren’t allowed to contact you or your parents more than three times while you’re a senior. In D2 there are no limits. The contact referred to is in-person, face to face contact at your house, at practice, at a regatta, etc. If you meet up at a regatta, there are a lot of rules that go into effect. Basically the coach can’t contact or call you from the time the races start until they end and you’ve been released by your coach. They can talk to your parents or family at any time though. So, if you just finished racing and the coach was standing with your family and they see you coming off the water, your parents can say “good job!” but the coach can’t, otherwise that would be considered contact. It’s all a little confusing so it’s best to read and learn the rules so you know what is and isn’t permissible.