Thank you Opens 2007/2008...

I lost it a bit on Saturday... I wasn't angry that we didn't make an A Final in the double and it was quite an effort to keep my chin up going into the quad racing on Sunday.

In the grand scheme of things, I see now that I did the best that I could have done - the girls got off the water and there were no harsh word or 'what ifs'... only an quiet disappointment from the girls and a whole lot of soul searching in the beer tent for me. I know of other crews that got off the water and were ripped to shreds by their coaches for not performing - was that a good move with the important racing still to come and the athlete's nerves a bit frayed? We ended up winning the B Final and going home a bit dejected, but ever positive about the big one the following day.

It always amazes me how the troubles of the past are washed away with just one good performance. The girls blasted through to a silver medal in the A Final of the quad on Sunday - and all was forgotten and forgiven. All of the seemingly wierd and counter-productive things I had been doing in the past became genius and I caught a glimpse then of what Jake White must have felt like as he held aloft the Rugby World Cup Webb Ellis Trophy.

There are a great many thank you's that need to be said after a long and testing season. If I've left anyone out, know that I will always remember every single person that made the 2007/2008 season what it was and everyone who taught me some valuable lessons along the way.

Cayley (the quiet one), Dan (for enjoying the sport for what it is, not what you can get out of it), Faye (bubbly), Kris (love the eyes), Kel (for smiling almost 24/7), Ashley (my voice of reason), Minx (still full of shit, but I love it), Aimee (sorry about yr last race, we missed you), Urshula (maintenance-lady), Gen (quiet but crazy - can put a 400kg boat and crew through the eye of a needle), Jess (you worked hard... and it paid off), Lisa (you taught me alot - thank you), Bianca (Plan B!), Alex (keep smiling - you're the one who'll miss this sport the most - and for the right reasons. Thanks for the support), Abby (no hard feelings),Bronwyn (my favourite Swede - I've never seen anyone push so hard), Phil (my fellow cat-lover), Jani (keen as hell and the most infectious laugh), Claire (good luck for squad), Jomi (you give ginger kid's alot of street cred), Courtney (see? short kids can do amazing things! to me, yr 6ft tall!) and Amy (you've achieved almost exactly, if not more, than what Jo did... and you lived yr dream).

Sue & Greg (you're finally free!), Dave & Anne (you're to blame for that extra speed!), Clive, Derek, Willem, Marie, Arthur & Barbara, Wayne & Jackie and all of the parents and the committee - this club is what it is and where it is because of you.

Matt H (you helped me through a whole lot and stood by me more than you had to - thank you), Nic (you're gonna be an awesome coach), BJ (one of the best and passionate coaches I've ever met) , Meri (my cuddle-buddy), Steve (the Steveniski 17 help a whole lot!), Maxine (my arms still hurt), Marco (well friggin done mate!), Vicky (we fought less this season sis... I think we're growing up!) and John (a 5-star chef and 5-star friend - you had a bigger part to play in this than you think bud - thank you).

Next season's a few months away... and we've set ourselves up for a good one. But for now... we can all sit back, relax, have a social life and forget about the sport that drives us crazy for 6 months of the year.

Time to Work... Hard!

A friend of mine (who coaches the JW16's at the same club as I do) said something to me this weekend that got me thinking... that the girls should tick off every session as 'money in the bank'... resources that they are going to cash out at Champs. Every interval, every push, every stroke, every rep... things that will make them faster for that one day that counts.

My girls have had a pretty tough week or two... we've had to shift them around in the crews due to illnesses and it has not been very comfortable on John or myself. It has been a real disruption, and I cancelled half the sessions this week so that everyone was at least getting better over the course of the week. All of this happened at just the right time though... our first race of the season was this previous weekend, and we had to field the fastest crews that we could. The first race is, after all, the first proper reference point to see where we stand relative to the other clubs.

We got beaten... quite badly, although the girls enjoyed the racing and it calmed their frustrations at not knowing how fast they really are. They needed to be beaten I think... rather now than when it's too late to wake up and get some work done to fix it. It jolted them into realizing how much work we really have to do to beat the opposition, and I think that they'll be alot more focused and driven from now on. They're beginning to understand the 'money in the bank' analogy... and John and I are too. Everything we say and do must be geared towards driving them on to perform better.

On the bright side... we didn't race our proper crews this weekend, and I still don't know how fast we really are with everyone at 100%. We've got 8 girls to pull from for that 1st crew, and we definately are faster than we showed this weekend. The gaps are close-able but only if we work hard now... because the other clubs will be faster by the next time we line up next to them.

Some of our comptitors have written us off a little and that's a nice place to be... let's race as underdogs.

Everyone loves an underdog...

Everyone loves an underdog… why? Maybe it’s the surprise upset of the favourites falling to a lesser team, or that everyone hates seeing the same people winning every time… or maybe it’s that love of witnessing a group of individuals overcome all odds and realize the potential within themselves that they can play with the big boys… and win.

The best way to train is competitively. Girls aren’t as naturally competitive as guys are, and so they have to be put into competitive situations more frequently and there’s nothing better to watch than a group of athletes fight and grit their teeth against another until one pops. John and myself have allocated 2 sessions a week to competitive training on the water and we did one of the first proper ones today. We had an amazing outing. It was difficult, but the girls fought through it and every one of them got something out of it. What helps is that John and I are blatantly biased on the water with our crews. We often scream out for our crew against the others and it definitely helps the athletes get over the taunts and comments that they’ll experience in a race.

I wasn’t going to include my 4th crew in the pieces that the 1sts and 2nds/3rds were doing and was happy to let them paddle steady around the lake for 6 or 7 laps, but I decided to include them at the last minute to add another crew into the racing mix. They complained and moaned, but got on with it. John lined them up about a length clear in front of the 2nds/3rds who were a length ahead of my 1st crew.

Two TR pieces later, they had held back the charge of the faster crews admirably, but they were buggered and asked that they be allowed not to finish the session. I did feel a bit bad lining them up again after shrugging off their complaints and we did another 3 or 4 pieces where they didn’t really hold off the other crews, but they kept up the intensity. They were beaten convincingly in the last interval and I could see them give in as my 1st crew got contact with their stern.

I didn’t shout or scream at them, nor was I even disappointed. They had performed really well against crews that were substantially stronger and quicker than they were. They had had a great outing and were glad that I had made them finish… they will definitely be faster for it and I think that they learned something: that they only need to succeed as an underdog once to rattle the nerves of a faster crew, even if it was one or two pieces out of six or seven. They’ll have bragging rights for eternity (almost), and the boost it gives to the crew is immense… they begin to see that potential within themselves and they’ll push harder for that feeling again… because the experience is far, far better when you win when you're expected not to.

Everybody loves an underdog… I definitely do.