This blog entry comes during a stressful time for high school rowers who are trying to be the best possible at school, standardized tests, at the rowing club to make the top boat, and last but not least, on the erg to stay relevant in the college recruiting process.
My heart goes out to them and their families. Below is a short list of club coaching issues that do not alleviate high school rowers stress levels:
1. Constantly being tested on the water, because the coach has not made up their mind as to who is going to sit in which boat at the next regatta.
2. Surprise 2K to “help” the coach decide who should be in the boat. This usually results in the second boat beating the first boat and creating total choas.
3. As tensions run high, the quality of information coming from the coaching launch becomes more cryptic, which leaves the high school rower not knowing how to fix their technical issues.
4. High school rowers notice that their erging ability are not improving and even start to regress.
Getting elite constructive feedback is critical during such a stressful time. I was extremely lucky to have had the help of my Elite Rowing Coaches who guided me and helped me make the right decisions during such stressful times.
Thanks to them I was recruited to Brown University. I set a junior indoor rowing record and stayed undefeated with Brown. I went on to win Olympic gold and silver in the men’s single scull.
Elite Coaching is a live changing experience for rowers. I feel extremeley lucky. If you want more information, you can directly contact me at 949-400-7630.
Read and watch: 5 Mistakes to avoid at all costs.