Why do you coach?
I started this post with the mindset that I was going to address the title question and only that particular question. However as usually happens with me, I called my own audible and instead will address a few things that have been on my mind the last few days. I've actually been meaning to write this post for a while now but with the long hours and busy schedule keeping on top of things, it's been shuffled off to the side. The next few paragraphs are going to be brief - it's bed time for those of us who wake up on the early side of 4 am - and scattered but I wanted to get the thoughts down while I have some momentum.
So why do I coach? That's a great question. I don't have a good answer as to why but I do have reasons why I don't coach.
I do not coach for medals and titles. Yes I am human and yes there are things that I selfishly want. I want an NCAA championship though I know once I have one, I'll want more. I want to work for US Rowing as a coach and one day fly off to a foreign country for the Olympics. I want people to think about some of the great coaches in this sport and have my name come to mind. That is selfishly what I want but I do not allow those desires to get in the way of what I do and how I do it.
I coach for days like today. Today was not a remarkable practice in the sense that we went out, laid down some stellar pieces, kicked the weather in the teeth and threw some great punches. In fact, today was the exact opposite where we spent most of our time rowing low and slow, focusing on tweaking parts of our catch, body position and rotation. But I love days like today because I could see progress. The lights were beginning to come on in the heads and I could see them transitioning from forced technique to automatic. The girls were laughing and chatting in the boat between pieces but when the call came, they snapped in and were focused. I live for days of recognition and realization. This is why I coach. I love days like this. I could go on and on with the usual rhetoric of changing lives, opening doors, etc and that's all true but I love when people suddenly "get it."
I know I'm opening a can of worms here and I won't get to address all of it so I apologize but I want to briefly touch on the subject of pauses.
I have heard from several different coaches that you should never teach using a pause drill when working on the catch, the reasoning being that if you do that, athletes will automatically pause at the catch. I've heard this and yet in my opinion, this is completely silly. In that same vein that would mean you can't pause at the finish, arms, arms/body, 1/4 slide, 1/2 slide, 3/4 slide, exaggerated lay back, wide grip, narrow grip, outside arm, inside arm, eyes closed, gunwale tapping, 3/4 feather, cake cutters, etc. The list goes on and on but the point is that if pausing at the catch teaches you to pause at the catch, then every other pause drill teaches you something wrong. Can you imagine watching a crew do cake cutters down the course? I shudder thinking about it.
Look, like most everything, I take coaching advice with a grain of salt. I listen to it, I consider it, some times I use it, some times I file it away and some times I let it slide. Why? Because if I changed my coaching technique and ideas every time someone disagreed with what I did I'd be going insane and have no basis for my own technique. Change for the sake of change is not always good.
I understand the reasoning but as I outlined before, if adding a pause in a particular area, the catch in this case, teaches athletes to pause at the catch then what's to stop them from pausing at the finish or a 1/4 slide or to do cake cutters as a way to feel boat movement? In a word, nothing. What are the benefits of adding pause drills? The athletes can see what it looks like and how it feels when they do it right. They develop a tangible sense of what you are looking for and what you are hoping to not see.
Rowers are not dumb athletes by any means. Rowing is an intelligent sport. You have to think about this. It is not a sport for the "meat heads" who are all muscle and no brain. I learned this from a friend who taught middle schoolers and high schoolers as a volleyball coach; kids are smarter than we give them credit for. In my mind, 99% of the athletes I get are going to realize quite quickly and usually without me saying much, that pausing or taking the time on a drill or using a drill, isn't necessarily a good thing to transfer over to actual practice. I learned wide grip, inside arm only rowing and did pause drills when I learned to row and yet was smart enough to realize through the benefit of good coaching that if rowing was about flow and function, then stopping it wouldn't be beneficial to speed.
I think as I start to look longingly at my bed that we need to give our athletes and ourselves a little more credit for putting together 2 and 2 and coming up with 4. I like pause drills and use them from time to time. I think the benefits outweigh the possible negatives.
So why do I coach? That's a great question. I don't have a good answer as to why but I do have reasons why I don't coach.
I do not coach for medals and titles. Yes I am human and yes there are things that I selfishly want. I want an NCAA championship though I know once I have one, I'll want more. I want to work for US Rowing as a coach and one day fly off to a foreign country for the Olympics. I want people to think about some of the great coaches in this sport and have my name come to mind. That is selfishly what I want but I do not allow those desires to get in the way of what I do and how I do it.
I coach for days like today. Today was not a remarkable practice in the sense that we went out, laid down some stellar pieces, kicked the weather in the teeth and threw some great punches. In fact, today was the exact opposite where we spent most of our time rowing low and slow, focusing on tweaking parts of our catch, body position and rotation. But I love days like today because I could see progress. The lights were beginning to come on in the heads and I could see them transitioning from forced technique to automatic. The girls were laughing and chatting in the boat between pieces but when the call came, they snapped in and were focused. I live for days of recognition and realization. This is why I coach. I love days like this. I could go on and on with the usual rhetoric of changing lives, opening doors, etc and that's all true but I love when people suddenly "get it."
I know I'm opening a can of worms here and I won't get to address all of it so I apologize but I want to briefly touch on the subject of pauses.
I have heard from several different coaches that you should never teach using a pause drill when working on the catch, the reasoning being that if you do that, athletes will automatically pause at the catch. I've heard this and yet in my opinion, this is completely silly. In that same vein that would mean you can't pause at the finish, arms, arms/body, 1/4 slide, 1/2 slide, 3/4 slide, exaggerated lay back, wide grip, narrow grip, outside arm, inside arm, eyes closed, gunwale tapping, 3/4 feather, cake cutters, etc. The list goes on and on but the point is that if pausing at the catch teaches you to pause at the catch, then every other pause drill teaches you something wrong. Can you imagine watching a crew do cake cutters down the course? I shudder thinking about it.
Look, like most everything, I take coaching advice with a grain of salt. I listen to it, I consider it, some times I use it, some times I file it away and some times I let it slide. Why? Because if I changed my coaching technique and ideas every time someone disagreed with what I did I'd be going insane and have no basis for my own technique. Change for the sake of change is not always good.
I understand the reasoning but as I outlined before, if adding a pause in a particular area, the catch in this case, teaches athletes to pause at the catch then what's to stop them from pausing at the finish or a 1/4 slide or to do cake cutters as a way to feel boat movement? In a word, nothing. What are the benefits of adding pause drills? The athletes can see what it looks like and how it feels when they do it right. They develop a tangible sense of what you are looking for and what you are hoping to not see.
Rowers are not dumb athletes by any means. Rowing is an intelligent sport. You have to think about this. It is not a sport for the "meat heads" who are all muscle and no brain. I learned this from a friend who taught middle schoolers and high schoolers as a volleyball coach; kids are smarter than we give them credit for. In my mind, 99% of the athletes I get are going to realize quite quickly and usually without me saying much, that pausing or taking the time on a drill or using a drill, isn't necessarily a good thing to transfer over to actual practice. I learned wide grip, inside arm only rowing and did pause drills when I learned to row and yet was smart enough to realize through the benefit of good coaching that if rowing was about flow and function, then stopping it wouldn't be beneficial to speed.
I think as I start to look longingly at my bed that we need to give our athletes and ourselves a little more credit for putting together 2 and 2 and coming up with 4. I like pause drills and use them from time to time. I think the benefits outweigh the possible negatives.
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