RowingChat Rebecca Caroe

What's the drill for? How to use it to improve your skills and errors to watch out for.

01:00 Drills and Skills
We do them for crew alignment, blade handling, technique, isolating part of the stroke or exaggerating part of the stroke to amplify its effect.

01:30 The reverse pick drill
This starts at the catch - sitting at full compression. Start with a very short stroke (2 inches of the slide). Some like to start with a blade placement before this stage.
- Tapping and placement
- 2 inches stroke (5 cm)
- from catch to 3/4 slide [using one quarter of the slide]
- from catch to 1/2 slide
- from catch to 1/4 slide
- legs only rowing [note different from normal rowing]
- legs and body [straight arms]
- normal rowing including arms
04:45 what's the drill for?
1) Placing the blade before the leg drive begins. Some people assume the blade placement and leg drive are simultaneous. They are not. These are sequential movements - on the recovery your hands move upwards so the blade goes down towards the water while still moving forwards on the slide.
2) Get the correct sequencing off the catch - legs initiate the drive and back/arms follow.
06:00 How to use this drill
The effect of this drill is to make a longer stroke if the blade is placed more rapidly and closer to full compression on the legs (so you miss less water). It helps to align the leg drive of the crew.
Coaches - view your crew from 45 degrees from the stern to watch their knees rising and falling through the stroke cycle.
When to coach an individual versus whole crew
https://fastermastersrowing.com/focus-on-whole-crew-or-an-individual/
08:15 How to teach the reverse pick drill
You need to slow it right down and if possible in a stable environment with half the crew sitting out. So others can use square blades.
Rehearse each of the static positions slowly with the boat stationary.
They must all know these first - start at the catch (blade square and buried); move to 2 inches from the catch; one quarter from the catch; half slide from the catch; three quarters slide from the catch; legs only. Straight arm rowing and finally adding the arms so you end the drill at the finish position with the blade still buried under the water.
Rehearse each several times.
10:30 Start to do the drill at the catch placement into the water with raising and lowering the blade in and out of the water. Watch for shoulder shrugs and folks using a back swing to place the blade rather than the arms lifting moving alone.
Move onto 2 inches on the slide. Show the athletes how to push on the foot stretcher to initiate the drive phase. Emphasise the hips driving backwards and the body angle doesn't change.
11:30 Many people find it difficult to separate the leg drive from the body swing. Watch for chins lifting if this happens.
12:15 Best not to do more than 10 strokes at each position. It's a lot of load on the body.
Inflexible athletes will find it hard.
Article on easy setup for comfort in the boat.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/adapting-rowing-rigging-for-masters-physiology/
Join in the rest of the crew progressively so that the people who have done the drill are are focused on their catch and leg driven power phase - as the boat moves faster, they will find it more challenging to get the same feeling of placement and "grip" on the water before it moved. They can anticipate the catch and adjust their timing to keep the feeling of load.
15:00 Repeat the drill three times during an outing. Teaching it on the land first using an erg can be helpful as you can get up close and position an athlete's body.
How to get the athlete to learn the leg drive using hips first.
16:00 Errors to watch out for
- Using the shoulders lifting to place the blade
- The slide doesn't move the same distance from the catch as the handle does
- Drive before placement
- Wait at the catch before placing the blade
18:30 This drill benefits from frequent practice. Maybe use it in your warm up or on the erg.

We need to map an athlete pathway for masters. All other parts of rowing have this as it guides federations, funding, coach resources and competition. Why don't masters have a pathway?
Timestamps:
01:00 Rebecca's advocacy work to get masters taken seriously, our needs to be noted.
Speaking out on behalf of masters as the fastest-growing part of the rowing community.
Would people who run the sport and set policy acknowledge the needs of masters? We are not the same as youth rowers - what's right for them is not right for us.
02:30 A pathway for masters
This is one aspect of big-picture policy setting for masters. Pathways guide policy for sport and I hope this will enable masters to be part of the overall plan for sport in your club / region / country.
04:00 Systems thinking is a framework we can use to find answers for masters needs
A call for a working group to create the pathway and change our sport to become masters-friendly.
Link to Rebecca's slides for download
https://www.slideshare.net/rcaroe/sys...
06:00 Systems Thinking for Masters Rowing speech
The situation in 2019 - what is broken in masters rowing?
The Frustrations of Masters Rowers article.
08:45 How masters come to the sport and how the sport of rowing organises around masters - clubs and federations' roles.
What is needed for "Rowing For Life"?
10:15 Four things that help us to solve the problems faced by masters rowers.
A list of solutions already in place to help masters overcome the frustrations listed earlier. Three of the 9 solutions are:
- Too few masters regattas
- Ignorance of rigging
- Reducing friction in club administration
15:15 The Athlete Pathway for masters
As it is now - starting with learn to row. The learning journey is not smooth and needs to include intermediate stages where athletes masters parts of what's needed to race well in competition. It's rare for someone to jump up these levels.
16:45 A Masters Pathway proposal
Includes 2-5 years of racing with people whose learning is equivalent to yours. Masters train fewer times a week compared to young athletes and so it takes us longer to acquire the same level of skill and capability at the end of a novice year.
Federations should acknowledge this as a status - providing credibility.
Clubs need to continue learn to row classes.
Regattas should offer racing in these classifications.
Hyper-local events are needed for this group of new masters learning to race.
19:45 Without Masters diversity fails.
Diversity and inclusion fails if it doesn't also include anti-agist work for masters.
20:45 Get the free advocacy articles for yourself or your club.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/advocacy
Please invite Rebecca to speak to your group and hear this presentation.

Buying rowing training programs online - making your decision.

Timestamps
01:00 A customer writes ""I have presented the options to our club & pushed heavily for the program. There are some very vocal people who feel like there are robust free training plans online Some suggest we reuse our plan from 6 years ago and that would suffice for our purposes. It’s more of an uphill battle than I expected. The next step is for people to submit their own recommendations for our committee to consider. Once that’s done, we will put it to a vote.
People are just very largely against paying for a plan and think that we have enough talented, intelligent people on our team to put something together that’ll be good enough. We are a recreationally competitive club with no real desire to progress beyond that."
Is this a situation that looks familiar to you?
02:00 Our challenges are often similar but local situations have nuance.
- A committee that makes decisions
- Vocal people in the group
- Perceptions about what will "do the job" of a programme.
03:00 any free rowing program MUST be written for masters. If you're athletic, and well-trained, aged 40 or less You will have no problem using free online programs written for 2k racing.
Men and women cannot do the same program because our physiology changes through the decades.
Try a sample of the Faster Masters Rowing programs sign up free here
https://fastermastersrowing.com/rowing-program
05:00 When buying a training program, speak to the person who has written it - ask about their experience training masters.
Do they have a good understanding of masters physiology? The diversity of people from beginners through returning rowers. How to deal with adult novices, rigging adjustments, general adaptations for masters to row in comfort?
06:30 Broken Oars Podcast reviewed online training programs including Faster Masters Rowing.
The review is from the point of view of any athlete.
This is what they said about Faster Masters programs.
07:00 "This program for 4 weeks ticks a lot of good boxes".
Your Guide to Purchasing Rowing Coaching
Good reasons to spend money on a specific program for 1k racing.
This program takes you there quite quickly - it has one week of training (specific preparation with a taper week). You get 7 days of training which you repeat each week and then move into the taper week before the regatta.
As you get closer to the race, you need to practice distance in meters, not minutes of workout.
This workout is focused on 500m, 750m and 250m workouts aligned with learning the race distance within one workout.
This is a GOOD Training program for one thousand meters, I found it hard to get my training right for this distance.
11:30 Feedback we gave to Rebecca Caroe - the price could be increased to include a consultation - or to buy a consult on its own to get individual coaching suited for yourself.
Buy coaching from Faster Masters Rowing - buy time and expertise in the technique review service.
http://fastermastersrowing.com/our-courses/
13:00 The full Faster Masters program offering is currently US$39 per month [2023]; it also includes gym strength and conditioning training as well as 4 articles on technique, peak performance, rowing lifestyle and a bonus.
Coaches can buy these programs in a Word doc format so you can edit them and adjust to your own situation.
https://fastermastersrowing.com/coach/
Our offer is 100% refund if within 14 days you aren't fully satisfied. Keep the program as our gift for you.

Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192

5 dos and don'ts for. crew alignment... when to coach the whole crew versus coach one individual.

Timestamps
01:00 When in a mixed ability crew it can be challenging, especially if you think you're the least experienced.
Working on one thing for the whole crew at the same time created common endeavour in the boat. Whole crew coaching creates a singular focus.
Five situations where there's an advantage of picking whole crew or individual coaching
03:30 Warming up
We all do this every practice - the outcome we want is to refresh our memory of the movement and to be warm enough to do the workout. I need the warmup to activate muscles and get into the rowing stroke pattern. This is best done with a coaching focus on the whole crew.
Focus points - these help each person to check their own movement and technique in one area of the stroke. It brings everyone together in one point of the stroke cycle and creates alignment. Try using these in your next workout.
First create a common understanding of the static positions in the rowing stroke.
07:30 Drills - learning
When doing them for the first time, it's important this is done by the whole crew, practicing together.
Do the drill 3 times in a workout so the crew learns it fully and is confident executing it.

Older Athlete and Aging webinar
https://fastermastersrowing.com/older-athlete-aging/

10:15 Drills - repeating
You already know how to do the drill this is the moment to move to an individual focus. Are we all moving in the same way? Check they are doing the drill correctly, that they are moving in time with the rest of the crew.
Tell the crew *how* to make the change, not just the change you want made. This can help everyone to do the movement in the same way. Example how to get blades closer to the water before the catch.
For regular crews, you may already had agreed how to do a drill or movement - so this may not be needed.
13:30 Pieces
This is a whole crew focus situation where a common mental focus is needed and helps the piece to be executed better. A call to focus on one part of the stroke is good as the crew all does it together. Keep 10 strokes between every focus call, ensure the crew had done the focus you called. It's the only thing the crew is trying to do together.
Exception is to call it a second time if the crew doesn't do the change you called.
15:30 Moving from a drill to a piece
Take a technical focus into a hard work piece is an opportunity for individual focus. It's harder to do the change when you are under pressure, in a more challenging situation.
This helps create more alignment in the crew.

Talk about what happens after the workout - did the changes work? Was it more effective to do individual or crew coaching?
Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192

Dave Houchin is researching masters rowers and intrinsic motivation. What makes us what to do what we do?

Timestamps
01:00 Dave started rowing 18 months ago after retirement at Ancholme Rowing Club.
If you row and race, you accept that motivation is part of the deal. Masters are the most diverse population in our sport.
02:00 Masters diverse motivations
The approach is different from juniors - coached in a different way, explanations and buy-in are different.
He wants to know more about masters' motivators and the positive and negative factors affecting your enthusiasm for rowing.
There is little academic research into masters' motivation. Dave is leading the charge.
With masters there's no obligation to show up and what you put into rowing is up to you. So the coach needs to be flexible. It's harder to set the learning environment and atmosphere for masters when you are coaching.
Motivation is about how we move into action.
Dave believes masters motivation needs a different approach.
06:00 Self-determination theory
This assumes we have 3 psychological needs - competence, relatedness and autonomy. Dave is researching if the balance of these three alters as we get older.
Autonomy is about doing things because we want to do them - self-motivation.
How can coaches best meet these autonomy needs?

Help Dave's research with a 3 minute survey. He is gathering survey responses here [12 November deadline].
https://wolverhamptonpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3qKe0jwJQs8LoZE

Coach Mastermind Group - monthly meeting.

Coaching very senior executives is interesting - why are they coming to rowing, how do they take direction from a rowing coach? Relativity - people are very experienced in what they do with skills developed over decades. Relatedness is low when you are new to a club. Autonomy - you hand this over to the coach to guide your learning. Dealing with these people, most have enough expertise to say what they want, despite being new to rowing.
10:30 Sports coaching is very controlling - this doesn't work for masters nor is what they usually want.

The Older Athlete and Aging Webinar 2023
https://fastermastersrowing.com/older-athlete-aging/

12:30 Executive coach versus sports coach
How to find ways to improve your own coaching delivery. A shift in emphasis - less telling and directing and more asking questions and listening. A coach should probe and explore with questions to get to the core of what the person wants.
Sports coaching courses often include athlete-centred coaching information.
Give the athlete more responsibility - it makes it easier for the coach.
17:30 an executive coach never takes anything at face value. They are challenging for participants.
What does it look like to set out to win the World Rowing Masters Championships?
What do you mean from me to achieve that?
Let the other person come up with the plan and commit to their process.This is internal commitment.
Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.
20:00 Do your autonomy needs (volition and control) need change as we get older? Dave's research is about do these things apply equally to the whole population.
The key elements are your age, number of years rowing, the frequency of coaching you get.
22:00 Key takeaways for us to reflect on.
Make it a 2-way process with a contract at the start of the session. Challenge your athlete but give them a high degree of choice and responsibility.
Give rationale for what you are trying to achieve and how it relates to what the athlete is trying to achieve.
Create shared responsibility by giving more responsibility to the athlete so they're more likely to commit.
Many coaches at a club level are there because they want to get athletes to where they want to do. The coaches need motivation too - so as athletes can you help the coach feel motivated working with you - a shared participation?


Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://

You've done the race. What happened? How to decide what could be improved. And what to do about it.

Timestamps
03:00 What we can do to improve our head race performance,
Race review - what happened in the race. Look beyond just the race course. Consider the 24 hours beforehand, what you did well to prepare for the race. 10 things you did really well so you can repeat that in another competition.
What could have been better?
05:00 Review photos and video of your crew and race - ask friends and family to share.
How did you steer every corner? What made you anxious or frightened?
When we came close to another crew people turned their heads to look, someone yelled, we lost our rhythm and balance.
Good race results come from many small gains.
Get the free ebook about aspects of Head Racing

08:00 What to do about it?
When someone not so good happens ask yourself
- Could I have anticipated this?
- What you could have done to change it
- What are the unexpected things that happened to your crew?
- Have a response that you've thought about for these situations.
10:00 Write down the things you did well and the things you need to improve.
Think through scenarios - Marlene's sculler lost his oars because someone took them by mistake.
Being well-rested helps your concentration and focus. You will make better decisions and maintain your focus if you're rested. Focus is key.
11:50 Talk to other people. Hear what happened to them, what they did to respond to situations. Learn from their experience. Use pens on a table to illustrate where crews were positioned and how they moved as the situation developed. This helps give you a visual memory of the situation.
14:00 Mentally you can practice putting bad strokes behind you and not worrying about them. Focus on the upcoming strokes, not what has passed. Train yourself to stop thinking about what was bad.
Couching something in negative terms "don't do this" gives worse outcomes than using positive terminology "do this".
As you become a better competitor you learn how to recover from bad strokes better. Know what you need to do in order to refocus and get your head back in the boat.



Want easy live streams like this? Instant broadcasts to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. Faster Masters uses StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5694205242376192