Yours, mine, ours
I've been having an on going conversation about plagiarism with a friend who is a volleyball coach, and who is currently earning her masters. She is a TA for a class, and in the process of reading over papers last night, discovered several blatant instances of plagiarism by some students.
There is an argument in cooking that there's no more innovation, just improving upon what has already been done. I am paraphrasing here, but the idea is that every good idea has already been played out, and what's left is seeing how an individual can alter the status quo a bit.
In my years of coaching, I believe that this is somewhat true. One of the fun games that I've played with many different coaches is, "What's next?' What is the next innovation going to be? I've heard about sliding riggers coming back, or quick change rigging - WinTech - changes in blade design - oval blades - and finding newer, lighter materials to build shells with. More than anything, we tend to agree that the next innovation will probably come through coaching techniques, changing the "foundation" of rowing, and using techniques that 10 years ago were never even considered.
In a way, I believe that I've seen that. I always tell my friends that coaching is more than just, "x's and o's" or what you see at practice or the day of the race. It's physics, nutrition, kinesiology, physiology, psychology, and, "magic." When I was rowing/coxing, stretching was static. Do your warm up, then circle up, down right/left/middle, and hold for 10 seconds. Even three years ago nearly every team that I saw at a regatta was doing this. And then I was introduced to dynamic stretching with tin soldiers, oil rigs, etc. Four years ago the program I was at had the athletes doing bench pulls, and leg presses. The last two years we've been doing front squats, Bulgarian split squats, and inverted rows. Instead of a Saturday water practice, we'll do a long yoga session. The shoulder lean I learned changed to shoulders square, to body lean with squared shoulders.
Times are changing.
So what does this have to do with plagiarism?
All of my training ideas were influenced, or in some cases, taken directly from things that I was taught. Along the way, I've added new techniques, set others aside, come back to the "old" and in some cases, throwing things away. Four years ago I tried to teach a new way to row because I was tired of "un-teaching" certain techniques - failed miserably.
I read something a while back, I believe that it was in the Wolverine Plan from Michigan - a great training plan in my opinion - or a write up on the plan itself, that they - the coaching staff - had no problem posting their plans online for others to read, or copy. The reason was that while other programs may emulate their plan, they don't fully understand the plan and how Michigan uses it, therefore, the plan isn't as effective as it should be.
I was sitting in on a coaches clinic, listening to an excellent coach talk about sharing knowledge, how some people will, and some people won't. This coach said that if you e-mailed them, they would tell you what they know, no holding back. The reason for it was because that's how coaches get better, and get smarter. It's how we strengthen our chosen profession. We share what we know, what works, what didn't work, and we ask questions. Keeping your knowledge, "secret" benefits no one - I believe the implication from that is that you didn't just come up with your training, it started from someone else who taught you.
In summing up, is there innovation left in rowing, and when do we cross the line with plagiarism? I believe there is innovation still waiting to be discovered. Remember we rowed with tulips, then spoons, and it wasn't until the late 80's - I believe - when Coach Gladstone at Brown brought out the big blades - I might be completely wrong here, but I believe he used them first. Innovation takes time. It's lighting in a bottle at times, but it will take time.
As for plagiarism, I believe that in a way, we've all borrowed training ideas, rigging combinations, etc. from other coaches who we've worked with, for, or been inspired by. I believe in the statements made by the coach who said we should share what we know, and behind the Wolverine Plan that how they use the plan is the real "secret," not the plan itself.
Finally, I believe that the only real fault here in this sharing is to claim an existing idea as your own - the essence of plagiarism. To quote one of my favorite movies:
"...I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here, it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could..."
Jurassic Park, a great movie. That's a little broad brushed, and blunt, but I believe that the meaning behind it stands. You cannot simply claim the knowledge handed down to you as yours. It may be widely shared knowledge, it may have been given willingly, and without reservation, but it's not yours. And in the interest of becoming a good coach and in the interest of innovating, I believe that there must be credit given to those whose shoulders you stand on.
There is an argument in cooking that there's no more innovation, just improving upon what has already been done. I am paraphrasing here, but the idea is that every good idea has already been played out, and what's left is seeing how an individual can alter the status quo a bit.
In my years of coaching, I believe that this is somewhat true. One of the fun games that I've played with many different coaches is, "What's next?' What is the next innovation going to be? I've heard about sliding riggers coming back, or quick change rigging - WinTech - changes in blade design - oval blades - and finding newer, lighter materials to build shells with. More than anything, we tend to agree that the next innovation will probably come through coaching techniques, changing the "foundation" of rowing, and using techniques that 10 years ago were never even considered.
In a way, I believe that I've seen that. I always tell my friends that coaching is more than just, "x's and o's" or what you see at practice or the day of the race. It's physics, nutrition, kinesiology, physiology, psychology, and, "magic." When I was rowing/coxing, stretching was static. Do your warm up, then circle up, down right/left/middle, and hold for 10 seconds. Even three years ago nearly every team that I saw at a regatta was doing this. And then I was introduced to dynamic stretching with tin soldiers, oil rigs, etc. Four years ago the program I was at had the athletes doing bench pulls, and leg presses. The last two years we've been doing front squats, Bulgarian split squats, and inverted rows. Instead of a Saturday water practice, we'll do a long yoga session. The shoulder lean I learned changed to shoulders square, to body lean with squared shoulders.
Times are changing.
So what does this have to do with plagiarism?
All of my training ideas were influenced, or in some cases, taken directly from things that I was taught. Along the way, I've added new techniques, set others aside, come back to the "old" and in some cases, throwing things away. Four years ago I tried to teach a new way to row because I was tired of "un-teaching" certain techniques - failed miserably.
I read something a while back, I believe that it was in the Wolverine Plan from Michigan - a great training plan in my opinion - or a write up on the plan itself, that they - the coaching staff - had no problem posting their plans online for others to read, or copy. The reason was that while other programs may emulate their plan, they don't fully understand the plan and how Michigan uses it, therefore, the plan isn't as effective as it should be.
I was sitting in on a coaches clinic, listening to an excellent coach talk about sharing knowledge, how some people will, and some people won't. This coach said that if you e-mailed them, they would tell you what they know, no holding back. The reason for it was because that's how coaches get better, and get smarter. It's how we strengthen our chosen profession. We share what we know, what works, what didn't work, and we ask questions. Keeping your knowledge, "secret" benefits no one - I believe the implication from that is that you didn't just come up with your training, it started from someone else who taught you.
In summing up, is there innovation left in rowing, and when do we cross the line with plagiarism? I believe there is innovation still waiting to be discovered. Remember we rowed with tulips, then spoons, and it wasn't until the late 80's - I believe - when Coach Gladstone at Brown brought out the big blades - I might be completely wrong here, but I believe he used them first. Innovation takes time. It's lighting in a bottle at times, but it will take time.
As for plagiarism, I believe that in a way, we've all borrowed training ideas, rigging combinations, etc. from other coaches who we've worked with, for, or been inspired by. I believe in the statements made by the coach who said we should share what we know, and behind the Wolverine Plan that how they use the plan is the real "secret," not the plan itself.
Finally, I believe that the only real fault here in this sharing is to claim an existing idea as your own - the essence of plagiarism. To quote one of my favorite movies:
"...I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here, it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could..."
Jurassic Park, a great movie. That's a little broad brushed, and blunt, but I believe that the meaning behind it stands. You cannot simply claim the knowledge handed down to you as yours. It may be widely shared knowledge, it may have been given willingly, and without reservation, but it's not yours. And in the interest of becoming a good coach and in the interest of innovating, I believe that there must be credit given to those whose shoulders you stand on.
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