10 days and counting
We are in the final stretch run of winter practice and soon we'll be back at the boat house doing a little spring cleaning, checking equipment and enjoying warmer - relatively - afternoons and longer days.
The final push at winter has the guys working harder than before although a part of that might be because I announced Monday that this Friday I would post who is going to start the spring season in what boat. Lineups are not set so seats can be won or lost but barring anything crazy happening I know who will be where when we hit the water two weeks from now.
Yesterday's practice was fairly good but there are still some athletes who don't get it and aren't pushing themselves. All I can say is that come Friday I will listen to "Why am I not here" questions but I will have some fairly harsh answers for some. I've been telling the boys that ergs don't lie meaning they record everything and that a single off stroke is never really a single off stroke. There are usually 5 - 10 strokes off. You don't go from averaging a 2:00 to 2:27 and then get it back in a single stroke. Doesn't happen and if the urgency isn't there, it doesn't happen for a while.
Overall I'm about 70% with this winter. It took us a long time to really get started and while we came on late, I can see how it has affected us in terms of our inability to push for long periods of time at spring speed and that's simply base rate and not yet sprinting. The other coaches have started working on starts and sprints but I tend to hold these back for a bit, focusing on transitioning fully on the water. I want us to be in contention for medals in late April and early May, not spending our pennies at the very first race weekend.
Looking at the athletes who are returning and who should be coming out of winter I'm looking at starting with about 3 boats - two fours and an eight - and I've decided to reward the top guys with the best four, use the eight as a trainer and use the second four as a way to train experienced novice who need more technical help. That means finding 3 coxswains which will be difficult but I'm not too worried about it. We always seem to find them.
This spring should be a very interesting go and I'm looking forward to seeing how things turn out with cautious optimism.
The final push at winter has the guys working harder than before although a part of that might be because I announced Monday that this Friday I would post who is going to start the spring season in what boat. Lineups are not set so seats can be won or lost but barring anything crazy happening I know who will be where when we hit the water two weeks from now.
Yesterday's practice was fairly good but there are still some athletes who don't get it and aren't pushing themselves. All I can say is that come Friday I will listen to "Why am I not here" questions but I will have some fairly harsh answers for some. I've been telling the boys that ergs don't lie meaning they record everything and that a single off stroke is never really a single off stroke. There are usually 5 - 10 strokes off. You don't go from averaging a 2:00 to 2:27 and then get it back in a single stroke. Doesn't happen and if the urgency isn't there, it doesn't happen for a while.
Overall I'm about 70% with this winter. It took us a long time to really get started and while we came on late, I can see how it has affected us in terms of our inability to push for long periods of time at spring speed and that's simply base rate and not yet sprinting. The other coaches have started working on starts and sprints but I tend to hold these back for a bit, focusing on transitioning fully on the water. I want us to be in contention for medals in late April and early May, not spending our pennies at the very first race weekend.
Looking at the athletes who are returning and who should be coming out of winter I'm looking at starting with about 3 boats - two fours and an eight - and I've decided to reward the top guys with the best four, use the eight as a trainer and use the second four as a way to train experienced novice who need more technical help. That means finding 3 coxswains which will be difficult but I'm not too worried about it. We always seem to find them.
This spring should be a very interesting go and I'm looking forward to seeing how things turn out with cautious optimism.
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