Coaching

Tonight we went over some simple truths. The results are what they are, and you can't change them. The weekend is over, and we felt bitter defeat. One of our novices made an astute point, the point I wanted them to take away. Losing breeds a special kind of motivation and learning that winning never can and never will. When you win what do you learn, that everything is validated? Maybe. Or maybe you're racing slow crews. When you lose... You ask questions. Through that process you come to some brutal understandings about your approach, your motivation, and yourself. You have found out how you measure up and it doesn't look good. Do you seek improvement? Then it's time to leave that eve behind and get to work. The Process is the Result, as Drew Ginn would say. Leave the plan to me, all I asked my novices for is 90' of their attention, 6 days a week. Everything else is BS, and we're not concerned with it anymore. We train to win, to cultivate a culture of success through effective work, not one based on pride and presumption. I'm glad we finished as we did. There was a swagger to my crews they had done nothing to earn. That gets you nowhere in rowing. It's exciting to up the ante for them because this is a good group, and they flourish under extra pressure and challenge.

I absolutely love coaching, and thank you so much to Craig Hoffman our head coach, and the other coaches Art Post, Nicole and Sam Cunningham, Pat Quinn, Craig, and also Alex Twist for riding w me in the launch this afternoon. It was a glorious flat uncrowded sunset row in Conshohocken. To all coaches in their spring racing seasons, I hope you are able to inspire a passion for the sport in your athletes. I only feel a shadow of the coach my novice coach, Jim Bargfrede, was to us in high school, and constantly compare myself to the leadership he gave our crews in 2001. 12 years later, here we are, where will these kids be in 2025?

Malvern on the dock in Conshohocken.  Would have killed for opportunity to row in Empachers in high school...

Throwback: Alex (right) and me (hair) winning the 2011 Head Of The Lake
in Seattle, WA.  We didn't learn a lot with this win, but it was a fun row.