Do you think having my team do yoga once a week is beneficial? We bring in a teacher from a nearby studio for an hour once a week. I’ve been having them do it for a while but the boys coach recently stopped having his rowers do yoga and I’m wondering if I should do the same.
The first thing I would do is talk to the other coach and figure out why he stopped having his team do it. It could be that the boys were just uninterested and he felt time could be better spent elsewhere or no one felt like they were getting anything out of it so they weren’t putting any effort in. Get his take on it and once you’ve got his input, talk to your team. Ask them if they’ve been enjoying it, if they’ve noticed their bodies feeling any different as a result, etc. Don’t say “are your bodies feeling better” because that kind of leads them into an answer. By being vague in the question you’re giving them the chance to be descriptive in the answer – “yea, I’ve noticed I don’t feel as sore later” or “no, I’ve noticed that my back is twinging a lot more than it used to”. Give them a chance to tell you what they think and then make your decision from there.
I know of one Oxford College who has squad pilates sessions once a week specifically because they were overtraining really badly last year and people kept getting injured. However, their alumni society which provides their funding is convinced they should be spending money on boats/gear/coaching instead. I don’t need to tell you that the Captains find that pretty annoying, and I really hope the alumni don’t force them to stop doing it because it’s an extremely sensible thing to be doing.