Coach Thrasher

Guest Coaching Adds Depth

Today we had Richard Edwards as a guest coach for the varsity men. Richard rowed at the elite level in England, and has coached several men's eights. I wanted to get a different perspective on the state of our current rowing, so Richard came to us as somewhat of a "finishing" coach to give us some excellent pointers and to add additional depth to our understanding of technique as we approach Championships.

He spoke of using hand speed to increase stroke rate and power, rather than push raw power with the legs. I think this was a really great point. It's not that the legs are less engaged, rather the focus moves to moving the hands (and oar) faster.

He also added an excellent relaxation drill: smiling! I thought this was cool because it's so simple. Smiling helps us to relax and gain confidence in the boat.

Richard discussed several other items as well, and the guys asked good follow up questions in discussion after practice. I really believe that having a different coach adds depth to a rower's "tools chest" of knowledge. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.

Posted at 09:01AM May 11, 2006 by jason in General  |  Comments[1]