Bulldog Rowing Camp Day 2 + Monday Check-In

Great day on the water in pretty rainy conditions - it promises to be rainy all week and right now we're in a very foggy bus on the way back to campus. Kids are very much asleep and are doing that continuous head roll...I guess they worked enough today.

I'm working with the second girls boat and this morning we did a demonstration illustrating the importance of achieving a strong bodies over position and attempting to produce a strong push off the foot stretcher. We met with mixed success but made great progress from the beginning of practice through to the end.

Completed a great workout with Coach Tynan - the Filthy Fifty and put up a solid time of 21:12. My burpees were of very poor quality and I could have made the jumping pull-ups harder. However, not feeling in great shape makes it harder to do each exercise better. Ironic I think.

Our second practice was legitimately excellent with some balance work, abbreviated slide rowing, and more emphasis on bodies over to allow the boat to keep running. Could be a challenging night in the dorms because of the rainy conditions but we'll make the best of it.

Week 1 Complete

The first week of Bulldog Rowing Camp finished yesterday and I have to say that the collection of campers made it really enjoyable. The racing went off smoothly with only a couple of epic crabs in the beginner boats but some very close racing in the boy's and girl's finals. It's always interesting to get a chance to speak to the parents about their son or daughter's potential in rowing, their work ethic, their enjoyment of the camp, and their behavior in the dorms. Getting a chance to know the athletes in a living environment is very different then just seeing them at practice - one can only act for so long before the true colors come out.

Now I'm back in Hartford blitzing through some work and especially recruiting - we're lining up our visits for the fall and getting in touch with as many qualified scholar-athletes as possible.

Bulldog Rowing Camp Day 5

Friday's sessions at the boathouse were a little bit of a mixed bag. The morning session with the girl's second boat was solid with some emphasis on the back end of the stroke to the top of the wall and then some all eight work back to the dock. The added sense of balance and boat run was good and it looked like they gained a little bit of confidence in being able to move out of bow together. We then rowed back to the 2000m start and rowed 5 boats across with the girl's first boat and three boy's boats for some 20 stroke pieces. I thought the athletes did a nice job of being competitive throughout the workout and were able to sneak away with one piece and then be right in the mix for the others.

For the Friday afternoon lecture I took the campers through a relaxation induction series that got them to focus and block out distractions, increase their body awareness, and then find a relaxed state of mindful rest. At worst the campers fall asleep and at best they feel totally engaged, refreshed, and energized. It was fun to get back into it and see the type of reaction the athletes had to a new experience.

The afternoon session was more difficult because of boat traffic and a mixed lineup of girls had a tough time racing against the other mixed lineup. It was bouncy enough that we never really got into a consistent rhythm and I think the campers were frustrated.

Bulldog Rowing Camp Day 4

Heading to Vespoli now for a tour of the factory after two quick rows this morning. I took a mixed girls boat and we did a lot of back end stabilization work and I was really excited to see their progress as they were able to balance the boat far more securely by the end and started to see some actual free run. With two novices in the boat I was pretty impressed by their concentration though I was staying on them consistently.

There has also been some discussion amongst the coaches about how to create an amazingly competitive team atmosphere and one that reflects a commitment to training to win. That's kind of tough to define and it probably evolves more quickly than we think.

Congratulations to the USRowing MIT Development Camp Trinty rowers...Mina and Deede were able to win their heats in the 2x and Mina won her heat in the intermediate 1X. Our commitment to sculling has to continue and I hope more and more athletes will get involved.

For full results from USRowing Club Nationals please click here

Bulldog Rowing Camp Day 3 recap

Rowed twice yesterday with the second girl's boat and a more advanced girl's boat in the afternoon. In the morning we continued to work on feeling good power and body preparation though it was challenging to continue to concentrate over the entire duration of the practice. In the afternoon we worked on feeling acceleration and some starts to feel great connection. All in all successful day!

Bulldog Rowing Camp Day 2

Two sessions today with beautiful weather on the Housatonic River. Worked on the fundamentals of how to sit on the seat to allow for good torso mobility and how to hold on to the handle in order to be able to hold your body weight on the handle. The first session was primarily rowing by sixes using hands away and bodies over pauses and primarily rowing legs only and legs and back with straight arms. The second session moved into all eight rowing one and two strokes at a time with full strokes letting the blades skim on the water. The coxswain steered an excellent course and the rowers did a great job of paying attention and supporting one another. Tomorrow's plan will be to try and gain a little bit of time on the slide and to enjoy the free run of the boat that the rowers earn through their efforts. We'll also try some problem solving games to get their minds tuned into the idea of improvement.

Bulldog Rowing Camp Check-In Day

Day 1 of Bulldog Rowing Camp Week #1 and there are over 30 campers staying in our dormitory for the week aiming to improve their fundamental grasp of boat moving. I'm planning on looking at the very basics with the two groups that I'll be coaching and trying to minimize 'scattered' effort and find a couple of clear focal points that the whole group can key in on quickly and effectively.

Fab Five Recent Movie List:

1. Gran Torino

2. The Skeleton Key

3. Wanted

4. Role Models

5. Footloose 1984 version