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by Matt Logue, Director of Community Rowing, and Row New York coaches

Last weekend, 11 Row New York staff members made the short drive to Philadelphia for the 2015 USRowing Convention. The 4-day conference brought together over 800 coaches, administrators, and athletes from all over the globe to share their knowledge and experience with the greater rowing community.  

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Row New York’s Charlotte Rendon, Queens Novice Coordinator, toured the Vesper Boathouse, and rowed in a mixed quad (sculling), in the wee hours of 5:30am.

For the first two days, seven of Row New York’s coaches took part in an intensive course covering topics about safety, program management, rigging, diversity, and building effective training programs. All of the coaches emerged with an enhanced Rowing IQ and greater confidence in their abilities as program leaders – and their Level 2 Coaching Certification!  

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Other presentations on Thursday and Friday included the America Rows inclusion forum for diversity and adaptive rowing, and the Business of Rowing forum. Author and rower, Arshay Cooper, gave an exceptional talk on his recently published memoir Suga Water, discussing his experiences as a member of the first all-black high school rowing team in the country. Expert Coach and Rigger extraordinaire, Volker Nolte, lead a hands-on discussion on rigging for adaptive athletes and adaptive shells. The presentation provided clarity into the evolving world of adaptive rowing. Carol Quijada, Row New York’s Adaptive Assistant, “learned how to make an effective training plan for athletes to increase development without over stressing them.” These new insights are sure to have an immediate and positive impact on our program when we return to the water next spring!

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Thursday evening’s seminar, led by Arshay Cooper, right. Photo courtesy of USRowing.

 

“My favorite thing about going to these kind of conferences is seeing national and global championship-winning coaches and rowers (like Drew Ginn, Korzo, or Casey Galvanek) sit in on, and have questions, in the same panels our coaches and other regional high school coaches are attending. It’s an environment that brings everyone together at a peer level, regardless of background or success in the sport. As a result, boundaries are broken down, and people feel comfortable with sharing and learning from each other.” – Breanne Fitzsimmons, Queens Youth Program Manager

During the weekend, staff attended Advanced Coaching sessions covering a wide range of topics. Presenters included current United States National Women’s Team Coach Tom Terhaar, University of Oxford Head Coach Sean Bowden, Australian World and Olympic Champion Drew Ginn, and many other exceptional leaders in our sport.

“My highlight was hearing from three-time Olympic gold medalist Drew Ginn on what he believed helped make his crews so successful, and his different theories and approaches to rowing, learning, and finding new ways to improve in a sport resistant to change.” – Tom Eichler, Director of Youth Rowing

These sessions provided a unique opportunity for our staff to interact and learn from world class coaches and athletes, in a very relaxed and informal environment. The universal takeaway from these presentations? KEEP IT SIMPLE! While resources and training tools may vary at different levels, and with different programs, simplicity in teaching and execution are the foundations of all successful crews and programs.  

“I really enjoyed going over a training plan with Kris Korzeniowski. Looking at it spread out in a week’s time, month’s time, season phases, and ultimately, a year’s’ period, made it easier to plan. It was great to go back in my training plan and see where I had unknowingly already been setting up my trainings as such.” – Charlotte Rendon, Queens Novice Coordinator

Looking back on the convention, the memories that stand out most are the moments when our staff got to interact with coaches from all over the country. The confidence and pride of our staff was magnetic and drew in the interest and admiration of everyone we met. The reputation of Row New York as a leader in rowing was only enhanced by the presence and engagement of our entire staff at the Convention. The lessons learned, confidence enhanced, and friendships made will have a lasting impact on our staff and only strengthen our organization and athletes as we move into 2016 and beyond!

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Big smiles from our coaching staff at the USRowing Convention in Philadelphia.

 

 

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