Re: How to improve your racing starts...


"boatie" <rebecca@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:c94d4383-44c7-4520-a7fd-28e5900f7ab6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

snip
Katrine McPherson was out in her WL2- and queuing behind him to
land... she quietly and gently suggested that holding onto the sculls
was a good idea.

And she coaxed him onto shore safely!

chuckle


Like you, I love coaching beginners. There's a new surprise every
time.

I love seeing my assumptions and pre-conceptions shattered.

Had this young woman show up, small but athletic looking.
I knew from the email address she contacted me from that she
was a Stanford student - I asked her what she was doing there,
and she said she was in Med school, thinking of surgery.

I'm always impressed with those ppl, I'm an instant fan.

As we went through the nomenclature, and beginning stuff
I generally ask if they've rowed before, ask about their swimming
ability, athletic background. Turned out she was on the gymnastics
team at a major midwest university. wow again.

The hardest part for beginners is always getting that outboard
oarlock the first time. I teach to step into boat, get balance
in the shell first, then reach out after you've established the ability
to keep your weight over the single. She handled it with no
trouble at all, even with the extra far reach she had to do because
of her height. After balance beam, how hard can it be?

So I trimmed my instruction time, figuring she was going to be
so coordinated that she'd just take off. Usually I hold the
Aero and have them take some strokes while I hold the boat
at the dock, and let them practice until it looks like they'll be
ok, then cut them loose to problem solve. In this case I had
her take a couple strokes which looked a bit clumsy but I
anticipated the next few she'd just take off.

We have a protected small lagoon I keep first day ppl inside
that I can reach everybody easily with a swim of
no more than 400 yards if I don't want to launch a single.

This young athlete turned out to be a complete klutz, mostly with her
hand coordination, and once she eventully figured out how to move the
boat somewhat, had no idea how to push or pull to move the boat around,
or any sense of how to get the oars in and out of water.

It was absolutely remarkable to see. People will often get themselves
stuck along the shore, it's all soft mud and can be a frustrating problem
to get themselves out. I tell them ahead of time to be patient and problem
solve and I won't let them be stuck for too long, but that it's a good
lesson
in how to manuever the boat, just try some things.

I had to go rescue this girl, I felt like I had to punish myself for rushing
her a bit and making some poor assumptions as instructor, so I swam
to her to get her out. She just couldn't figure out how to make herself
back up. There's this minor indent in the shore where she got stuck,
I still call it "Amy's cove" to this day.

I told her she looked like me trying to do gymnastics! I can't do
any of it. :^)

I didn't say anything, but I can't imagine that she became a surgeon!!!







.

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