The last day of camp...another two sessions and a midday college talk answering questions that the athletes had on rowing in college. We did some pair addition and competitive work in the afternoon session with the two women's eights who showed some great intensity and a great deal of progress from where they were at the beginning of the week. It's really striking to see how much of a difference a standout athlete can make on a relatively inexperienced eight. The two strokes of these even boats make a big impact on the rhythm in terms of length and power...how do we find more athletes like that?
Also had a discussion on the way out to the boathouse about how many paradigms of thought that we take for granted (I'm examining these paradigms from a public policy perspective).
For instance, the US system of roads and highways and the speed capabilities of cars. Cars traveling at 55-65 mph are more fuel efficient, cause fewer vehicular accidents, injuries, and deaths, and in some cases cause less road wear. The benefit of driving faster than the speed limit is that the individual arrives at their destination faster. However, what individual would voluntarily submit to legislation limiting speeds on automobiles? What car maker, oil company, or politician would ever take the risk to propose changes that would mandate slowing down automobiles?
What if the rules of the road were changed to allow for powered or non-powered transportation? How would one even begin to try and implement such a change...the rules of the road work because they have been agreed upon for enough years to make sense to those who are licensed. Changes to that system might be completely intractable.
Similar thoughts come to mind about how we, in the western world, approach education, social security, health insurance, etc. Are the paradigms so set that it may be incredibly difficult to create change? Phew...I hope not. More discussion on this later on.
