Selections - Round 2 (Boat Race)

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.

What would you give?

Rowing hurts... it blisters your hands, chews at your calves, fills your muscles with lactic until they burn and go numb, deprives you of sleep, puts you at the mercy of seemingly sadistic coaches in the heat, cold and wet... it disappoints and disheartens, defeating you so much sometimes and kicking you when you're down so hard that you don't want to get up even if you could...

Why do we do this to ourselves? Do we like being sore and tired all the time?What's in it for us? The rewards are fleeting... so distant and uncertain that is it ever really worth it?

I've noticed that a few of the girls are asking these very questions and not finding any answers. We know that we're faster, fitter and more technically efficient than we all were at camp, but without some guide or measure as to how we are really performing relative to the competition, it's difficult to keep focused on what we're trying to achieve.

The girls need to understand that this season is a journey... taken one step at a time. We need to concentrate on what's happening now and stop worrying about where we will be next week or next month or next regatta or next year. Each session needs to be broken down stroke by stroke, making sure that every movement and every sequence is as perfect as they can make them at that moment. If things go wrong, a missed catch or an out of synch leg-drive, they need to learn from it and move on, making sure that the next one is better. If we carry on like this, everything will start coming together and the girls will start finding answers to some of the questions they've been asking themselves.

Sure, rowing hurts. But it hurts even more when you know you could've done better and didn't. Training's been tough over the past few weeks since camp. The girls are tired and I'm even feeling the early mornings and long sessions a bit. But if we get to SA Champs and lose by a bow-ball, what would we give to have trained that little bit harder or longer - just to be that split-second faster?