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Selecting a crew sucks... What irritates me the most about it is what happens afterwards... some quit and some stay on but still have a despondent attitude that they deserve to be in the boat and that the selector is wrong.Any coach in any sport will tell you that selections are based on a range of criteria, some quantifyable (objective) and other not (subjective). In rowing, there is often the scenario that the fastest combination on paper is not the fastest combination on the water. Things like technical skill and cohesion with the other athletes play a huge role in who makes a boat. Doing well in one aspect of the selection does not automatically qualify you for a spot in a particular boat.
When considering between one or two athletes for the last spot in a boat, I tend to include aspects like the person's attitude and commitment towards racing and training. If, for example, an athlete repeatedly asks a coach before the season if she can cox since she knows how difficult it will be to make a crew, I'm not going to think highly of her attitude towards getting some work done to make the crew, and that athlete will have to prove herself that liitle bit more to make that boat. Coaches will use everything they see, no matter how insignificant it seems at the time, to select between two athletes with nothing between them... and it helps to perform on the day since, like racing, you only get one shot at selections to show your worth.
The most interesting aspect of this post-selection period is the number of athletes that quit the sport. I have incredible respect for those who, when they have not made it into a crew, try to fight their way up, and nothing but dissapointment and a small amount of anger for those who cut and run. Coaches and team-mates have invested a considerable amount of time and effort into making an age-group or club as strong as it can be, and these are the people who are let down by quiters. The resignation is always accompanied by statements that the reason for leaving is not due to selections or the fact that they have dropped... I have a hard time believing that.
There are members of this age-group that would give an eye to be in a boat and race, and even though they can't participate to the extent that they want to, they make the effort for the rest of us, no matter where they fit in... those kids are the life of this club, and it's for those girls that I have all the time in the world.
There is a bigger picture here guys... if you didn't make the boat that you wanted to be in, keep fighting for that spot. Because by doing that, everyone will do well... the kids who struggle to make the 3rd crew will benefit, and so will everyone below them.
I don't care who's in a particular boat, as long as that crew is the fastest that I can field after considering all of my selection criteria... both subjective and objective.
7 comments:
"In rowing, there is often the scenario that the fastest combination on paper is not the fastest combination on the water."
What isnt written on paper is the coaches personal ties with specific rowers as well as , as said by you "Enough time" to conduct water trials for all members of the team.
"The resignation is always accompanied by statements that the reason for leaving is not due to selections or the fact that they have dropped... I have a hard time believing that."
About the above comment, if a rower was unhappy from the beginning of a season, and was contemplating quitting for a long while fuelled by the attitudes of those surrounding that rower, and said rower's performance dropped as their heart was not in it leading to that rower being dropped twice in quick succession - what would've been the appropriate time for that rower to quit without the quiiting being blamed on seletions and dropping? I didn't quit because I was dropped, matt, I quit because I no longer felt that rowing was adding any value to my life, and that being in that environment was simply bringing me more down.
Matt, the only person who doubts our ability is you. I asked to cox, not beacause i was afriad of the compitition, but because i really do believe that i would be well suited to the position on the basis that i WAS NOT selected for first quad. First quad was my main priority which you know as well as i do. Matt, i fought my way up the whole first half of the season. but its seems there is a bar to improvement and promotion when not part of the pre selected crew.
your dissapointment in us "quitters" is mirrored by our sadness in leaving a sport we once loved more than anything else.
Thank you for your honesty in expressing how you feel and I appreciate you views and concerns...I do, however, need to clarify a few things.
Do you really love this sport as much as you'd like me to think? ... if you did, you'd still be here. No, there are those that love rowing and sculling for what they can get out of it... the glory and honour of being in the top boat in the club, for example.
I've been in this game for close on 13 years now, and I've seen people whose goal it is to just make the first crew... hell, I used to be one of them! But what about what comes after that... the racing and striving for great performances in whatever they do, whether that be in training, racing or selections? The real test is not striving for the first crew, but fighting for that gold medal at the end of it all. That's what I want for the first team I coach.
I'm not here to make everyone happy... I try, but there are only 5 spots in a boat and someone's bound to be pissed that they didn't make it in. I'm here to choose the fastest boat and make them faster, regardless of whether I like the person or not... and I think I'm doing just that right now. St Mary's and Holy Rosary are throwing the best they have at us, and we'd better do the same or we'll get left behind!
"... if a rower was unhappy from the beginning of a season, and was contemplating quitting for a long while fuelled by the attitudes of those surrounding that rower, and said rower's performance dropped as their heart was not in it leading to that rower being dropped twice in quick succession - what would've been the appropriate time for that rower to quit without the quitting being blamed on selections and dropping?"
I hate quoting you to make my point, but I hope it'll get through after all of the explanations I've given you in person. Why should you quite at all? If anyone should be prompted to quite due to the attitudes of those around him/her it should be John and I. Negativity breeds negativity, and I have seen a whole lot of negativity... curiously from those that are no longer with us. You did not perform in the initial selections, and so you didn't make the crew. Plain - and - simple. Had I put you in one of the top two boats, how the hell do I explain to the others that performed better than you did in the trials that you made the boat and they didn't?
“I asked to cox, not beacause i was afriad of the compitition, but because i really do believe that i would be well suited to the position on the basis that i WAS NOT selected for first quad. First quad was my main priority which you know as well as i do.”
It’s not true that you only mentioned wanting to cox after you didn’t make the first crew… I remember having that conversation even before Long Row in June or July (selections were in August or September). You would not have been the cox of the first or second crews anyway… we have some brilliant drivers in the group and you had very little (if any) prior coxing experience.
"... What isn’t written on paper is the coaches personal ties with specific rowers as well as, as said by you "Enough time" to conduct water trials for all members of the team... Matt, the only person who doubts our ability is you.”
These are very strong accusations and I'm sorry you feel this way. Again, I can make everyone happy, and I'm sorry I've failed in that in your eyes. If you feel that you didn't make the crew because I get along with others better, then you're a bit delusional... I wouldn't be where I am in South African rowing if I have been going around doing this.
I never intended for this blog to be a forum on which to criticise... it's here as a place where I can share my thoughts and where I can discuss my passion for rowing and sculling with others. I'm not going back on what I said in the post... these are my feelings, and as much as you'd like to believe that it sounds like criticism, it's only what I'm thinking - I am disappointed, and to say so is not a dig at you or anyone else.
I truly believe that the other coaches and I are doing our jobs properly and to the best of our ability... the parent committee, the school and the Head Coach will back that up. If you're angry at how the season panned out, don't blame us or your fellow athletes... look to yourself. That's all I can say... walk it off champ.
im sorry u feel that way, we all trust matt and believes he selected the correct crews...
its a sad day in rowing when peolpe have to turn the sport in which we love ( not only if that means being in a first crew) into a place that they make everyone hate just.. mearly... participating
a word of advice, the less u care about the posistion ur placed the more u achieve , whether that be a personal achievement or a physical one.
the love of a sport or anything for that matter means, u would do anything and everthing to just participate and enjoy it.
the love ..."of the idea".. of being in your ideal crew is where things become complicated. it does not mean u love the sport , it means u love the sport when its appropriate.
Everyone has been dissapointed many many times , the firsts for being whipped many times by the other first crews....the twos for not making the firsts even though they insist to be there... the 3s for being being short of being in the second crew ,after they measured up-at times-next to the firsts... and the 4ths for rowing and wishing they can be just one higher...
we all are dissapointed at one stage in the game, but true heart is when someone can stick in there after all that dissapointment, not to give in or give up ... but rather give in time, since your willing to fight and climb.
sorry about this situation, we'll miss u , just see that we really do love our sport... no matter what
For the previous comment, we ONCE loved rowing. And will hopefully grow to love it once again, within another club. We are sorry that this has turned into a place to criticise, we did not mean for that to happen. We simply wanted to state that we do not agree with what was said and felt that the original blog was directed at us, and wanted to defend ourselves against the negative light we've been put under. WE DID NOT QUIT BECAUSE OF SELECTIONS. We just felt that staying after disappointment after disappointment after disappointment, when you are striving to be the best you can be, is not worth it. Sometimes it takes a little self respect to realise when its time to let go, to stop grasping onto the dream of actually enjoying rowing under the conditionns experienced. We reached our personal goals and felt that the time spent fuming over lack of recognition was time wasted.
We are not complaining because we havent been put in first crew, we are complaining about the negative image created by you through this blog. We do not expect to be put in the best crew possible, but to be put in the crews we deserve regardless of age, personality and prior conversations; for the above mentioned do not take play on the water. Rowing is not a talking sport, its a doing sport.
Matt, this isn't a comment to be posted but we realised you believe these comments are written by just one person, they aren't. The one part you quoted from our comment you directed at the wrong person.
Again... thanks for the honesty. I sincerely hope that you learn to love the sport again one day. John and myself have had some rough times in our rowing and coaching careers, so we know exactly what you're going through. Just realise that by giving up when you did hurt the other girls more than it hurt John and I. You are not slow athletes by any means, and there are those in the age-group that really loved having you in the boat with them because it meant that they were a faster crew.
I am disappointed that you guys left, and I do think that it was because of selections. We have great boats, an awesome bunch of girls, a dedicated and incredibly supportive parent committee, a school staff that is behind us all the way, and a very experienced and energetic group of coaches. What reason could you have for wanting to leave such a club, other than disappointment at how you performed in selections?
John and I have explained ourselves more than we should have over the past five months, and so anything I explain to you guys you will have heard before. You've left the club and will no doubt be enjoying the extra free time, so let us be... I have no desire to argue with you any longer. John and I made the right decisions and whether you choose to believe that or not really makes no difference to me. The coaches and the club will continue to do things the way they have always been done, and the girls in my age-group don't need to see the negativity in these comments. We have 39 days to Champs and the athletes have a job to do... I want everything to be as positive going foward as possible. Unless you attach your names to any future comments and have something constructive to say, please don't waste my time.
thanks mat... tjis is only aimed at one girl, becasue the other is always by our side supporting us every regatte. one of the girls should keep herose out of rowing, dont u dare ever comment on the weaknesses in this club , u have no right.
i thought we lost a great rower, but actually u just jusitified that ur a bad friend.
its one thing quitting , it another hating a past coach, but to bad mouth a crew member and "FRIEND" in front of others is just mean.
pls u have no connection to this club anymore, so stop making it unpleasent for us all.
if any thing we just wanted u back...
just respect us all and leave this club to be the great club we ARE... with each and every girl.
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