Red Vines and road trips
I've been wanting to put up a post for a few days now but I've been stopped each time by various technical issues or a lack of motivation or focus.
I'm currently in San Francisco, getting ready to spend my last day here before flying home on Monday. I've been down here for a few days visiting crews and riding in a couple of coaching launches. I didn't get as many rides as I had hoped but the schedule wasn't firmed up till late and I felt it was better to under book rather than over book.
That being said, I've had a fantastic time down here and picked up a couple really good drills and some fantastic advice. Pacific Rowing Club and Stanford were nothing short of classy and I had a really good time picking the brain of coaches who know more than I, getting their take on a few ideas and getting a lot of questions answered. This trip was expensive but well worth it and I'm hoping to get in a few more trips - closer to home this time - before we start back up in the spring.
Pacific
I spent a long afternoon with Bob Maclean over at Pacific. As loyal readers you'll know that this was my first port of call as a coach and while many things seem similar, much has changed since I was here. Due to some technical difficulties with the course that they'd laid down - one of the lines had been cut and needed to be repaired - they were not able to get in a full practice. However, I did get to talk with Bob about a few things and observe his varsity eight and jayvee eight do some pieces against each other. Bob was full of apologies for the delays and lack of water time but it was still an excellent ride and I picked up a great drill that I plan on adding to what we do for the spring.
Stanford
The highlight of the trip was being able to go and ride in a launch with Stanford's women's program and their coach Yasmin Farooq. I admit that I got to the boat house very early - almost an hour and a half ahead of schedule - because I was worried about being late. Meeting Yasmin was definitely a thrill and she and her assistants were very gracious. I toured around the boathouse while they were finalizing their lineups and practice and then got to ride in Yasmin's launch for the duration. I was definitely a little nervous not wanting to do anything silly like fall or say something that made no sense but I felt very comfortable around her and Nate. I got to ask her a few questions about what they were doing and bounce a few problems that we were having off her. She was good natured and very down to Earth and it was nice not having to be "prim and proper" around her and just simply exist as a coach. She gave me a great drill that I hope will help cure our hands dropping at the catch in the men's boat and I got to make some observations on a couple of her rowers which she appreciated. The thrill of the afternoon was her commenting on how great I was to point out the positives in one of her freshmen athletes who was struggling a little with technique. I was definitely floating up out of the launch at that point. It seems silly but when someone that accomplished and well recognized takes the time to tell you they appreciate your observation and that you chose to point out the good rather than the obvious, you feel pretty good about yourself.
The rest of the practice was great and I picked up a couple of drills that I really like including a different version of what Bob and Pacific were doing. With all respect to him, I think that I want to use Stanford's version simply because it seemed to emphasize our problem areas more than Pacific's but both are good and are going into the bag of tricks. I also learned what a "Rusty" was and think that it would do wonders for both of the novice programs that I'm currently responsible for. One thing that I will need to be careful of is carrying this directly over to our programs. Stanford can recruit and the athletes I was observing had plenty of rowing experience so I might have to modify the drills a bit to both account for the novice level and our water. Stanford rows on a really nice stretch of water though the open water was a little rough and we row on a narrow river with some serious current.
Currently I'm wrapping up my notes on the this trip and writing down the drills and what they were used for into the notebook I brought with me. Tomorrow is my last full day in the Bay area so a friend and I are heading down to Montery and Los Gatos to hang out and have some fun. While I'm a little disappointed in leaving - I never really like leaving San Francisco; it still feels like home - I'm anxious to get the spring season kicked off.
I'm currently in San Francisco, getting ready to spend my last day here before flying home on Monday. I've been down here for a few days visiting crews and riding in a couple of coaching launches. I didn't get as many rides as I had hoped but the schedule wasn't firmed up till late and I felt it was better to under book rather than over book.
That being said, I've had a fantastic time down here and picked up a couple really good drills and some fantastic advice. Pacific Rowing Club and Stanford were nothing short of classy and I had a really good time picking the brain of coaches who know more than I, getting their take on a few ideas and getting a lot of questions answered. This trip was expensive but well worth it and I'm hoping to get in a few more trips - closer to home this time - before we start back up in the spring.
Pacific
I spent a long afternoon with Bob Maclean over at Pacific. As loyal readers you'll know that this was my first port of call as a coach and while many things seem similar, much has changed since I was here. Due to some technical difficulties with the course that they'd laid down - one of the lines had been cut and needed to be repaired - they were not able to get in a full practice. However, I did get to talk with Bob about a few things and observe his varsity eight and jayvee eight do some pieces against each other. Bob was full of apologies for the delays and lack of water time but it was still an excellent ride and I picked up a great drill that I plan on adding to what we do for the spring.
Stanford
The highlight of the trip was being able to go and ride in a launch with Stanford's women's program and their coach Yasmin Farooq. I admit that I got to the boat house very early - almost an hour and a half ahead of schedule - because I was worried about being late. Meeting Yasmin was definitely a thrill and she and her assistants were very gracious. I toured around the boathouse while they were finalizing their lineups and practice and then got to ride in Yasmin's launch for the duration. I was definitely a little nervous not wanting to do anything silly like fall or say something that made no sense but I felt very comfortable around her and Nate. I got to ask her a few questions about what they were doing and bounce a few problems that we were having off her. She was good natured and very down to Earth and it was nice not having to be "prim and proper" around her and just simply exist as a coach. She gave me a great drill that I hope will help cure our hands dropping at the catch in the men's boat and I got to make some observations on a couple of her rowers which she appreciated. The thrill of the afternoon was her commenting on how great I was to point out the positives in one of her freshmen athletes who was struggling a little with technique. I was definitely floating up out of the launch at that point. It seems silly but when someone that accomplished and well recognized takes the time to tell you they appreciate your observation and that you chose to point out the good rather than the obvious, you feel pretty good about yourself.
The rest of the practice was great and I picked up a couple of drills that I really like including a different version of what Bob and Pacific were doing. With all respect to him, I think that I want to use Stanford's version simply because it seemed to emphasize our problem areas more than Pacific's but both are good and are going into the bag of tricks. I also learned what a "Rusty" was and think that it would do wonders for both of the novice programs that I'm currently responsible for. One thing that I will need to be careful of is carrying this directly over to our programs. Stanford can recruit and the athletes I was observing had plenty of rowing experience so I might have to modify the drills a bit to both account for the novice level and our water. Stanford rows on a really nice stretch of water though the open water was a little rough and we row on a narrow river with some serious current.
Currently I'm wrapping up my notes on the this trip and writing down the drills and what they were used for into the notebook I brought with me. Tomorrow is my last full day in the Bay area so a friend and I are heading down to Montery and Los Gatos to hang out and have some fun. While I'm a little disappointed in leaving - I never really like leaving San Francisco; it still feels like home - I'm anxious to get the spring season kicked off.
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