When I Grow Up...

To follow up on the previous post about the use of microwaves or more specifically, using tools and the acceptance of using tools, you can start to see the main aim my my philosophy and approach to coaching.

Take the generally accepted, repeated at nauseum tropes, and drill down through them. 

My athletes will tell you that I'm often saying, "We don't ask better questions so much as we ask more detailed questions." It's not the what, it's not even the why, it's the how does this make us better, and can we do this better?

One of the main things that I talk with athletes about as we're goal setting is to set them up for when their goals are going to get hard. They'll see great strides in times and numbers as they start their journey, but as they get closer to their goal, as they gain experience, the chances that those numbers are going to get smaller is quite real. 

They're going to reach the peak of what they can do at this level. College will take them the next step because of what colleges offer vs. what we can offer at the junior level. 

So rather than focus on numbers getting smaller or bigger, we start to look at what the numbers mean. Are we more efficient or effective on the erg or in the boat? What is our stroke length looking like at various positions and pacing? Instead of watts generated, let's consider watts sustained. 

Asking different questions, asking questions that lead into discussion or thought. 

But I digress.

I'm taking a break from trying to run pivot tables in Excel - less fun - and am watching the background workings on NFL teams. One of my favorite things to do is see how the staff - coaches, equipment, scouting especially, analytics, etc. - work behind the scenes of games and practices. 

And as I'm watching this, my mind drifts back to the early years of my coaching career. My first time stepping into a launch with the head coach. Specifically, I remember the first time I was at practice when visiting college coaches came calling. 

I could run through a list of names which would sound impressive, but really, it's simply part of the job. What I do remember was riding along in a launch or driving a launch with the other assistant while the head coach and the visiting head coach rode in another and talked athletes. Or me driving quietly, hoping I wouldn't screw up - tiller driven 2-stroke engines aren't fun to manipulate even on a lake - as my head coach led us through a practice. I learned early that I did not want to try and anticipate what they'd want but instead be in a position to react quickly. Some may disagree with that, but we recall what the saying is when one assumes. 

Mostly I remember in my own naive way, "Man, I can't wait until I'm the one doing this." 

And now, 20 years later, I am the one doing this. Thankfully the launches I'm using are easier to drive. Actual launches vs. tin cans or at least using 4-stroke motors rather than antiquated and quite dirty 2-stroke that have no guts and respond like an old man does when you want to wake him from a nap: Not well.

It's amusing to be sitting where my head coach was 20 years ago remembering what it was like to seeing Coach Gladstone or Coach O'Neill walking into the boathouse and down to the launch - I believe things were slightly different due to our proximity to Cal as well as my head coach being a two-time Olympian who had built different connections. 

I'm usually riding along with an assistant coach or getting emails from an assistant coach regarding specific athletes or programs looking to fill their next class or classes. It's interesting being back on this side of the desk where coaches are coming to you looking rather than the last two years where I was the one looking. 

This job, coaching, isn't X's and O's so much as it's HR and PR. How are you handling your athletes and how are you working with them? What type of relationships are you building with coaches and programs? It's not simply about developing good athletes. There are plenty of stories that go around the hotel bar table after practice or after a regatta day where coaches, usually assistants, or in my case, assistants when I was an assistant, talking about which programs do what, which coaches do what, our gripes and such. PR. It's important, almost more important than anything else you do. At least in my opinion. My athletes may not always be top of the heap, but I know, based on the coaches I talk with, that the ones who've gone on and rowed or are rowing in college are good culture fits, good teammates, and good with the oar and are coachable. I don't need to fly the flag of the schools they've gone to. Some have gone DI, some have gone DIII, some went the ACRA route. All are viable options and all make me proud.