Innovation by accident
Sometimes the obvious is too obvious. At the end of each season I've always walked away kicking myself over one thing: not enough time spent with the video camera. At the end of the year banquets or award ceremonies when pictures of my boats flash across the screen I find myself still critiquing form and wondering how a small change might have affected the outcome of a race.
My first encounter with using video to correct technique was in college where on two different occasions we filmed a practice or several pieces. Being what it was at the time and not really realizing the full value of what we were seeing, most of both video sessions were a mixture of amusing observations and laughter. The first time I both put video to use and put it's importance together was while I was working at Pacific Rowing Club with then varsity head coach Ted Murphy. We spent several practices and early season races recording the boats and then broke them down with the athletes. Since then I've been hooked and have spent many hours a season trying to come up with a way to both safely drive a 20 foot launch and still get useful video recordings of practice. Occasionally I've used an injured or sick rower but most of the time it's the case of an assistant coach needing an assistant.
It wasn't till the very end of this season when I was kicking back and watching both highlight video and slide shows that I realized that I had an acceptable alternative to live video. I've seen it countless times while watching an NFL or college game where the offensive or defensive coordinator has his squad huddled around recently printed photos of formations and plays. Why couldn't this same idea be used in rowing? Video cameras are definitely a great option but require a lot of extras such as a large screen television - have you ever tried to get 30 athletes around a 13 inch tv? - and either an extra practice or a practice off the water. A good digital camera provides a low tech version of roughly the same thing especially if you are able to get your hands on a good camera that can take a rapid series of pictures. The bigger upside of using a camera is that it's much faster and requires less extras. Most laptops these days have an SD card slot so you can quickly go from camera to laptop without having to wait for a large room or screen. And instead of having to concern yourself with video card requirements and capabilities, you can send a series of pictures to an individual athlete over e-mail along with detailed explainations of what they are seeing and what you'd like to see change.
My first encounter with using video to correct technique was in college where on two different occasions we filmed a practice or several pieces. Being what it was at the time and not really realizing the full value of what we were seeing, most of both video sessions were a mixture of amusing observations and laughter. The first time I both put video to use and put it's importance together was while I was working at Pacific Rowing Club with then varsity head coach Ted Murphy. We spent several practices and early season races recording the boats and then broke them down with the athletes. Since then I've been hooked and have spent many hours a season trying to come up with a way to both safely drive a 20 foot launch and still get useful video recordings of practice. Occasionally I've used an injured or sick rower but most of the time it's the case of an assistant coach needing an assistant.
It wasn't till the very end of this season when I was kicking back and watching both highlight video and slide shows that I realized that I had an acceptable alternative to live video. I've seen it countless times while watching an NFL or college game where the offensive or defensive coordinator has his squad huddled around recently printed photos of formations and plays. Why couldn't this same idea be used in rowing? Video cameras are definitely a great option but require a lot of extras such as a large screen television - have you ever tried to get 30 athletes around a 13 inch tv? - and either an extra practice or a practice off the water. A good digital camera provides a low tech version of roughly the same thing especially if you are able to get your hands on a good camera that can take a rapid series of pictures. The bigger upside of using a camera is that it's much faster and requires less extras. Most laptops these days have an SD card slot so you can quickly go from camera to laptop without having to wait for a large room or screen. And instead of having to concern yourself with video card requirements and capabilities, you can send a series of pictures to an individual athlete over e-mail along with detailed explainations of what they are seeing and what you'd like to see change.
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