Through the line
A minor controversy brewing for the New York Yankees.
Generally, I find effort in sports vs. sports gamesmanship to be an interesting balancing act that you hope you get correct, but mostly hope you avoid getting horribly wrong.
There are a few instances where you have to make a decision and having found myself on the end of them, you're hoping you made the correct call. Rowing being one of those sports similar to swimming, or cross country where once the athletes leave the launch area, you don't see them and have no communication with them till after they cross the finish line.
I have opinions when it comes to running up the score - I don't necessarily believe that this exists passed a certain level of athletic participation - or gamesmanship and living to fight another day - easing off in a race to qualify if you're out, or if you're comfortably in contention.
Effort is something else entirely.
I won't address what Gary Sanchez did. I believe he's taking enough of a beating in the public eye that I don't need to pile on.
What I will address is my own experiences with handling a lack of effort or a perceived lack of effort.
I've found that rowing, unless we're working on land, is a difficult sport to judge. Can you tell if someone is dogging it or not? In the extreme cases, yes, but in general cases, I find that to be more difficult to know.
Can we tell by riding in the launch if someone is putting forth their best effort? Do the size of the puddles from the blade indicate effort? Does sweating or a high heart rate indicate effort? Bend on the blade? Boat speed?
All sound rather simple to tell, but are more complex when you begin to ponder the broader spectrum and questions.
Are they novice? If so, there's a chance that a novice athlete believes he or she might be giving it their all, but they aren't. They haven't tapped into that well that we discuss. They might be afraid to dig that deep, fearing that if they do, they won't make it through an entire practice.
Are we looking at potential injury, something the athlete has not disclosed to the staff or trainers? I've watched it before where an athlete is giving it their best in the boat but sore muscles, a strain, or some other ailment is preventing them from going hard. Mentally they are there, but physically they're falling short.
I began coaching in 2004. In my entire time as a coach, I've only witnessed one practice where an athlete was truly throwing in the towel. I've seen athletes who could have given more, but throwing in the towel - which is what I believe the articles on Gary Sanchez are accusing him of doing - is a rare occurrence.
In my entire experience as a rower/coxswain/coach, I've only heard one athlete tell their boat that they could have given more at the end of a race. Would that have made a difference in the result? Doubtful, but since RaceTrack has long since gone the way of the dinosaurs, I can't recall what the finishing times were and what the margin of loss was.
I suppose if I had the money or were at a program that had the money, we'd have the Peach System that would give us the power curve on the oars in the boat, and we'd be able to know. We might have heart rate monitors for everyone and have established a heart rate baseline so we'd know whom was putting in the effort, and who was lacking.
The example with Gary Sanchez not withstanding, I've found in my experience that athletes don't dog practices or races. More often than not they simply don't have the experience in going to the well, digging down 25 feet and searching for more. One of my coaches in college would tell us, "None of you have ever gone so hard that you're on the verge of blackout." That's was an accurate statement, and my team my senior year absolutely did not go to the verge of blackout during any race or practice. I myself have never pushed so far that I've been unable to move, though there were times that I felt I was on the verge of death.
Dramatics.
The easiest call to make is to bench someone for failing to put forth the expected effort. It's easy from the cheap seats to make that call. It's also easy to say that as a professional athlete, you're expected to set a certain standard and failing to do so warrants some sort of punishment.
But what I hoped to make clear above - the thoughts are a big random - is that the Gary Sanchez example aside, it's not necessarily easy to make that judgement call. Or it's easy, but substantiating it with proof is another matter. Rightly or wrongly, it's going to be a tough call to make, and you do run the risk of getting the call wrong - you'll most likely get the call "wrong" in the eyes of the athlete you do call out. Does this mean you never call them out? Absolutely not. I'm simply stating that making that call comes with some prickly questions that should be considered prior to walking out and yanking someone from the seat. It does happen, it will continue to happen, but it's not always cut and dry.
A quick example to wrap up. In 2011 I was coaching novice boys at a local program, and I was struggling with an athlete. This athlete and I went head to head a few times before it came to a climax when I left him on land to complete a 2x5k workout. It did not go well, and while I believe my thought process was right, it was not the correct call, and not one that I would make again. The workout was too much, the expectation was too much, and if I'm going to hand out such a workout, I need to remain on land to make sure it gets done, and so the athlete understands that I'm disciplining them, not punishing them.
A few months later, I watched this athlete row a single during our summer free row sessions. I'd not taught this athlete to scull during my time as his coach, and he was doing an excellent job. The shell was moving, he wasn't hashing the front end, and the releases were clean. It was then I realized that I'd made a massive mistake with said athlete, assuming that what I perceived as a lack of effort over winter, and fall was a sign that he wasn't committed. Instead it was a freshman athlete attempting a rigorous sport for the first time in their life, and I was making it more difficult through the assumption.
I spoke with that athlete and his mother that afternoon admitting that I'd made a mistake as his coach, and that I was glad my mistake hadn't cost him. This athlete went on to row for an excellent collegiate program, and I'm happy to say that we stayed in touch after moving on.
Lesson to be learned: Perceived effort is just that. It's what we perceive. Perhaps it is easier in a sport like baseball where failing to run during an out makes front page headlines, and perhaps it can be spotted in rowing. But I believe the general principles are the same. It's easy from land. It's less so on the water.
Generally, I find effort in sports vs. sports gamesmanship to be an interesting balancing act that you hope you get correct, but mostly hope you avoid getting horribly wrong.
There are a few instances where you have to make a decision and having found myself on the end of them, you're hoping you made the correct call. Rowing being one of those sports similar to swimming, or cross country where once the athletes leave the launch area, you don't see them and have no communication with them till after they cross the finish line.
I have opinions when it comes to running up the score - I don't necessarily believe that this exists passed a certain level of athletic participation - or gamesmanship and living to fight another day - easing off in a race to qualify if you're out, or if you're comfortably in contention.
Effort is something else entirely.
I won't address what Gary Sanchez did. I believe he's taking enough of a beating in the public eye that I don't need to pile on.
What I will address is my own experiences with handling a lack of effort or a perceived lack of effort.
I've found that rowing, unless we're working on land, is a difficult sport to judge. Can you tell if someone is dogging it or not? In the extreme cases, yes, but in general cases, I find that to be more difficult to know.
Can we tell by riding in the launch if someone is putting forth their best effort? Do the size of the puddles from the blade indicate effort? Does sweating or a high heart rate indicate effort? Bend on the blade? Boat speed?
All sound rather simple to tell, but are more complex when you begin to ponder the broader spectrum and questions.
Are they novice? If so, there's a chance that a novice athlete believes he or she might be giving it their all, but they aren't. They haven't tapped into that well that we discuss. They might be afraid to dig that deep, fearing that if they do, they won't make it through an entire practice.
Are we looking at potential injury, something the athlete has not disclosed to the staff or trainers? I've watched it before where an athlete is giving it their best in the boat but sore muscles, a strain, or some other ailment is preventing them from going hard. Mentally they are there, but physically they're falling short.
I began coaching in 2004. In my entire time as a coach, I've only witnessed one practice where an athlete was truly throwing in the towel. I've seen athletes who could have given more, but throwing in the towel - which is what I believe the articles on Gary Sanchez are accusing him of doing - is a rare occurrence.
In my entire experience as a rower/coxswain/coach, I've only heard one athlete tell their boat that they could have given more at the end of a race. Would that have made a difference in the result? Doubtful, but since RaceTrack has long since gone the way of the dinosaurs, I can't recall what the finishing times were and what the margin of loss was.
I suppose if I had the money or were at a program that had the money, we'd have the Peach System that would give us the power curve on the oars in the boat, and we'd be able to know. We might have heart rate monitors for everyone and have established a heart rate baseline so we'd know whom was putting in the effort, and who was lacking.
The example with Gary Sanchez not withstanding, I've found in my experience that athletes don't dog practices or races. More often than not they simply don't have the experience in going to the well, digging down 25 feet and searching for more. One of my coaches in college would tell us, "None of you have ever gone so hard that you're on the verge of blackout." That's was an accurate statement, and my team my senior year absolutely did not go to the verge of blackout during any race or practice. I myself have never pushed so far that I've been unable to move, though there were times that I felt I was on the verge of death.
Dramatics.
The easiest call to make is to bench someone for failing to put forth the expected effort. It's easy from the cheap seats to make that call. It's also easy to say that as a professional athlete, you're expected to set a certain standard and failing to do so warrants some sort of punishment.
But what I hoped to make clear above - the thoughts are a big random - is that the Gary Sanchez example aside, it's not necessarily easy to make that judgement call. Or it's easy, but substantiating it with proof is another matter. Rightly or wrongly, it's going to be a tough call to make, and you do run the risk of getting the call wrong - you'll most likely get the call "wrong" in the eyes of the athlete you do call out. Does this mean you never call them out? Absolutely not. I'm simply stating that making that call comes with some prickly questions that should be considered prior to walking out and yanking someone from the seat. It does happen, it will continue to happen, but it's not always cut and dry.
A quick example to wrap up. In 2011 I was coaching novice boys at a local program, and I was struggling with an athlete. This athlete and I went head to head a few times before it came to a climax when I left him on land to complete a 2x5k workout. It did not go well, and while I believe my thought process was right, it was not the correct call, and not one that I would make again. The workout was too much, the expectation was too much, and if I'm going to hand out such a workout, I need to remain on land to make sure it gets done, and so the athlete understands that I'm disciplining them, not punishing them.
A few months later, I watched this athlete row a single during our summer free row sessions. I'd not taught this athlete to scull during my time as his coach, and he was doing an excellent job. The shell was moving, he wasn't hashing the front end, and the releases were clean. It was then I realized that I'd made a massive mistake with said athlete, assuming that what I perceived as a lack of effort over winter, and fall was a sign that he wasn't committed. Instead it was a freshman athlete attempting a rigorous sport for the first time in their life, and I was making it more difficult through the assumption.
I spoke with that athlete and his mother that afternoon admitting that I'd made a mistake as his coach, and that I was glad my mistake hadn't cost him. This athlete went on to row for an excellent collegiate program, and I'm happy to say that we stayed in touch after moving on.
Lesson to be learned: Perceived effort is just that. It's what we perceive. Perhaps it is easier in a sport like baseball where failing to run during an out makes front page headlines, and perhaps it can be spotted in rowing. But I believe the general principles are the same. It's easy from land. It's less so on the water.
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