A coach is often heralded as the 10th member of a rowing crew. Within the rowing community, great coaches are household names; think of Jurgen Grobler, Robin Williams and Steve Trapmore to name but a few. Even at a club level, ‘great’ coaches receive special recognition, and are paid a huge amount of respect; after all what rower doesn’t want to impress their coach? But what does a coach really add? In the early days of this sport, the coach was the only pair of eyes on the river bank, someone who could give technical pointers to help rowers improve. Their expertise was relied upon to set the training programme and give direction to a crew, and to be the final voice in selection decisions. But with recent advances in technology, do these skills really matter anymore?
On top of all the German carbon fibre that money can buy, the must have toolkit for any rowing squad looking to make it at the highest level includes a dazzling array of tech: Rigger/canvas mounted cameras, GPS speedcoaches and cox boxes, and at the top of the pile – telemetry. Able to harness athlete data such as force curves and power outputs, this is the top of the pile for telling rowers who is making the boat go faster, and how they are doing it. If the telemetry numbers are good, a rower can have instant real time feedback about what they are doing well, and how to improve.
So where does the coach fit in? Now, a rower can analyse frame by frame video to show them what they are doing wrong technically, access data from a relatively inexpensive GPS watch to show them their effort levels and how this relates to the boat speed. And with telemetry they know if they are applying enough power effectively enough to be moving the boat. Selection can be carried out exclusively based on the telemetry numbers, or even on seat racing data which, thanks to the advent of GPS watches and segments on apps such as Strava, doesn’t even need a coach on the bank to take timings anymore. As long as a rower knows what they should be doing, they can figure out for themselves if they’re doing it, and who they should be doing it with.
One of the key attributes of a successful coach is being able to write a good training plan. However, with most plans shared in the form of physical documents, and the season being fairly repetitive year on year, rowers themselves can easily rely on collective knowledge to construct their own plan. Either that or they can use a plan shared from a club they are trying to emulate. Even making adjustments to the plan to avoid under- or overtraining is easy. Even a relatively inexpensive GPS watch can use HRV status and other information to know how well recovered an athlete is better than any coach would. It is also easier than ever to find high quality information regarding rowing technique, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and recovery, with various internet sites providing high-quality regimens for each.
Yes, all the technology I have mentioned so far has a price tag associated with it, but for the top clubs, the cost of the equipment would likely add up to less than the annual cost of a paid coach. And with all the data a modern coach is likely to want to work with, the question must be raised about where the added value lies in having a human coach at all?
My own squad was challenged last year when we found ourselves coach-less a few months out from Henley Royal Regatta. Yet despite knowing everything we did, and possessing much of the technology touched upon in this article (telemetry excluded), we still never contemplated moving forward without somebody on the bank. Ultimately, a coach is the voice of experience. They can be the glue that binds the squad together, and be the ones to look a crew in the eye and reassure them on days where things go wrong and the data doesn’t look so good. They take on a huge amount of responsibility (which rower really wants to be culpable for any contentious or marginal selection decision?) and if their crew wins, they very rarely receive a trophy or a medal. And, perhaps most importantly, they carry the blades!
Since I was a J14, and in 10 seasons since, my coaches acted as invaluable mentors and I am proud to say that, even after 3 changes of club as I have grown up, I do keep in touch with most of them. Whilst I do think it won’t be long before we see a self-coached Henley winning crew, I really hope I’m not in it.
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