Heavies, Opens, Lightweights
This is a rather quick summation of what I believe as I am attempting to get my thoughts onto paper as I also remind myself that I need to be heading toward practice.
A friend of mine posted an article about this girl who struggled with weight control and then gave a brief run down of her trials during her time on our crew team.
The question of lightweights has been one that I've debated with my staff at each and every stop I've made during my coaching career. I know that some coaches are very big on lightweights - some having been lightweight themselves - while others cite concerns of eating disorders or unhealthy weight loss. While the arguments and reasons have varied greatly the one constant has been that there doesn't seem to be a single cure-all for dealing with the rigors of maintaining a lightweight team.
I myself have only dealt with a true lightweight boat once before although my novice squad from last year and this year's team barely qualify as anything but lightweight. The lightweight boat we had at Pacific Rowing Club was a true lightweight boat with every guy hovering within 2 or 3 pounds of being a lightweight. This meant that instead of crash dieting before a competition they could bring their weight off gradually.
The changes I would like to see in lightweight rowing:
1. Increase the maximum weight for both men and women. 130 lbs for women and 150 - 155 for men is ridiculous. Most of the lightweights that I've seen are not true lightweights but open or heavy weight rowers who cut weight in order to make it. I would like to see women increase to 135 and men to 160.
2. Certain weight limitations where if you are over you cannot row lightweight. I get tired of seeing athletes who only are lightweights the day of the race struggling to make weight. Each season when an athlete asks me about rowing lightweight I tell them the story of an incident I saw one year at a big regatta where a competitor did everything she could to make the weight - including weighing in naked, jogging in trash bags and eventually shaving her head - only to not make it. I understand doing things for the team but in my opinion if you have to do that much, there's a serious problem.
3. Eliminate lightweight rowing in high school and create additional categories for smaller or lighter athletes. We already know that sweep rowing at a young age can do bad things to development. What about high school aged kids cutting weight to make it into lightweight? What about the stigma we fight with girls not being happy with how they look and developing bad eating habits or worse, an eating disorder and yet we promote lightweight rowing? I find this as counter productive as the complaints of the rise in teenage pregnancy and yet we don't teach abstinence, we teach "safe" sex.
I know that these changes would be difficult if not impossible to make without a change in thinking and in some cases impossible regardless. I think instead the best way to make sure lightweight rowing stays viable and yet safe is that the coaches and programs need to take an active role in regulating lightweights. You shouldn't take a 170 pound athlete and make him try and drop 20 pounds just so you can have an eight. That's reckless.
In the end it's about personal responsibility as both the individual and the coach and I believe in the case of a coach, the greater part of responsibility and the ability to make sweeping changes lies with us.
A friend of mine posted an article about this girl who struggled with weight control and then gave a brief run down of her trials during her time on our crew team.
The question of lightweights has been one that I've debated with my staff at each and every stop I've made during my coaching career. I know that some coaches are very big on lightweights - some having been lightweight themselves - while others cite concerns of eating disorders or unhealthy weight loss. While the arguments and reasons have varied greatly the one constant has been that there doesn't seem to be a single cure-all for dealing with the rigors of maintaining a lightweight team.
I myself have only dealt with a true lightweight boat once before although my novice squad from last year and this year's team barely qualify as anything but lightweight. The lightweight boat we had at Pacific Rowing Club was a true lightweight boat with every guy hovering within 2 or 3 pounds of being a lightweight. This meant that instead of crash dieting before a competition they could bring their weight off gradually.
The changes I would like to see in lightweight rowing:
1. Increase the maximum weight for both men and women. 130 lbs for women and 150 - 155 for men is ridiculous. Most of the lightweights that I've seen are not true lightweights but open or heavy weight rowers who cut weight in order to make it. I would like to see women increase to 135 and men to 160.
2. Certain weight limitations where if you are over you cannot row lightweight. I get tired of seeing athletes who only are lightweights the day of the race struggling to make weight. Each season when an athlete asks me about rowing lightweight I tell them the story of an incident I saw one year at a big regatta where a competitor did everything she could to make the weight - including weighing in naked, jogging in trash bags and eventually shaving her head - only to not make it. I understand doing things for the team but in my opinion if you have to do that much, there's a serious problem.
3. Eliminate lightweight rowing in high school and create additional categories for smaller or lighter athletes. We already know that sweep rowing at a young age can do bad things to development. What about high school aged kids cutting weight to make it into lightweight? What about the stigma we fight with girls not being happy with how they look and developing bad eating habits or worse, an eating disorder and yet we promote lightweight rowing? I find this as counter productive as the complaints of the rise in teenage pregnancy and yet we don't teach abstinence, we teach "safe" sex.
I know that these changes would be difficult if not impossible to make without a change in thinking and in some cases impossible regardless. I think instead the best way to make sure lightweight rowing stays viable and yet safe is that the coaches and programs need to take an active role in regulating lightweights. You shouldn't take a 170 pound athlete and make him try and drop 20 pounds just so you can have an eight. That's reckless.
In the end it's about personal responsibility as both the individual and the coach and I believe in the case of a coach, the greater part of responsibility and the ability to make sweeping changes lies with us.
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