The policy leadership masters sport needs if it is to grow. What can public policy measures do to improve and grow masters rowing?
Timestamps
Sophie Harrington is researching recommendations to improve access to womens and girls sport using public policy measures. Her focus on the male/female side opened up masters sport as a new area where sport for life outcomes could work.
To grow masters sport requires finding the inhibitors which exist and prevent improvement. Some are structural - how we organise, think and run volunteer sport.
Ways to improve access and people's enthusiasm and interest in masters sport. Constraints include memberships - many clubs are annual fees/dues. Can we offer pay-to-play memberships? Also what about time of day pricing as our rowing equipment lies idle for 22 hours a day. Training at quieter times of day between early mornings and school afternoon sport times. Sweat your assets to get more money in for use when not in demand.
05:15 Coach education
Teaching methods used for youth are not as appropriate for older adults. Consider psychology and physiology of athletes so coaches know how to work with a broader range of athletes.
Competition structure is a growth inhibitor. We need 3 layers - local / regional and national competitions including those which are participatory not races e.g. Park Run. What is the rowing equivalent? Scrimmages, touring row or visiting another club. Some people take years before trying racing. Competition for those new to competing needs to be organised so you can go to hyper-local events with low friction (no equipment trailer).
08:00 Athletic pathways for masters
Ways for those of limited experience to go to races against those whose experience is similar. Age doesn't work as a level playing field when years of experience is considered. Having plural athlete pathways which incorporate fitness rowers with challenges (not necessarily races) that move folks into competition gently.
Social inclusion - having a coffee after the workout is important to build friendships and encourages them to stick around as a group.
Facilitating sport for life is the outcome goal.
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This is a thread from Facebook Masters Rowing International Group. Reproduced with permission
Hey folks, boat repair advice welcomed.
I posted this in a fiberglass and composite tips page already, but thought I could probably get some more specialized advice here.
This is repair I did last week on a rowing shell, the crack is along the edge of the deck next to the seating area. The boat is only 1/16" thick here, and these boats are exceedingly thin all over since a 27ft boat weighs just ~25lb without the seat and aluminum rigger.
The approach I took was to squeegee epoxy into the cracks with a credit card and then lay one patch of 6 oz glass over the area. I sanded and taped off around the repair ahead of time, once the glass cloth was saturated I laid a piece of thin plastic over the patch and squeegeed out excess resin with thin credit card type piece of plastic, (an old health insurance card if you know the type). I then covered the whole area with layers of painters tape to keep the edges down while it cured.
I was pretty happy with the result and sanded to 220 to clean up the edges and painted with one good coat of white enamel spray paint. The plastic overlay allowed me to get nimimal excess resin and a smooth finish. the plastic layer I used was just 2 layers of packaging tape assembled glue face to glue face so it wouldn't stick to anything but I'd like to find a better option, I bought some plastic file folders from the office store yesterday and I'll try those. Or maybe just order some proper Mylar from a composite supply house since I need a few things anyway.
I'm curious to hear advice on similar methods. I want to try a similar job with peel ply, and maybe experiment with peel ply, and vacuum bagging the area to get larger laminates saturated and pressed down well.
I have another repair coming up that will need a lot more strength, another crack in a racing shell, but in a more structural area, but above the waterline so I can tolerate a little thickness. I'm thinking about using a few layers of 3k carbon over the area. The area is mostly in compression since its up by the gunnel. I'm not sure what laminates are best in compression, I know carbon is much better than glass in tension, and lighter weight.
Instead of mylar tape, use peel ply which is a fine woven nylon cloth. Cover your repair laminate with the peel ply and squeegee excess resin to the edges wetting out the peel ply. When cured, pull off the peel ply. The peel ply gives you a textured surface that allows to be faired and painted.
Sounds about right. You can also lay wax paper on top of the wet resin to use when you squeegie the excess…. Leaves a better surface and will be removed when sanding.
I have a small fleet of these aeros,24s in about 4 programs. This is a typical repair. Will only tell you how I do it, not whether better than other methods.
I grind the surface off to fiberglass an inch or more around the wound.
I use a belt sander. The wound will have some gaps. I cut up some carbon twill and fiberglass into fine threads.
I paint the edges of the wound with marine epoxy, and work it into the tight splits. Then pack small portions of my glass,carbon threads into the wound, abit at a time, and painting more epoxy. I'll use a spreader to force the thick mix into wound and on the edges of the wound.
I won't cover this patch, trying to leave the wound patch slightly raised bead.
Allow to harden.
Sand the patch with 80 grit to get somewhat level surface that is level with exposed fiberglass around wound.
Should hAve a sturdy black line where the open wound was
Cut heavy carbon twill same rough size as sanded area.
Cut lightweight fiberglass surfacing cloth to similar size. Cut another.
Paint marine epoxy over sanded area
Lay carbon twill over area. Press in with spreader.
Lay down a couple strips of unidirection carbon to raise and support the gunwhale edge.
Paint more epoxy, lay down glass layer
Over, press wit spreader, paint more epoxy.
In my experience, these two layers should lay slightly above previous surface, if not add another glass.
Then do your plastic and tape trick.
I use freezer bags and cut to size.
I lay the plastic, use the spreader to smooth surface, and paper towel with acetone to clean excess epoxy that squeezes out I mask over everything and run spreader over tape.
Do some surface sanding, primer and fill when that dries.
Ideally you’d cut off the top section of damage, check/replace the Nomex, sand back 0.5mm and build back up with a layer of carbon. Rub down when cured and possibly need another piece of glass over the carbon. Go down through the grades, up to 1500/2000 and paint. I sometimes use shrink tape to squeeze out excess resin.
I’m sure every boatman has a different method, if the repair is watertight and painted, you’ve done a good job. 
The photo is so close we can't see the location of the damage. Sorry to be negative, but I have two main concerns with the repair: it looks as if you have prepared a paintable surface without tackling any underlying strength issues and if if you haven't sealed the back of the damaged area water will get into the structure and gradually turn it into mush.
Drill small holes at the end of each crack. Then follow all the other recommendations. The holes stop the spread of cracks.
Boat weight classes across your fleet can be assessed against members' weights.
Many masters group 'inherit' boats but for optimal club alignment match the boats with the membership needs. Assess the current fleet - look for the manufacturer's label - serial number, year of construction and athlete weight. Log these for your whole boat fleet.
Different boat moulds accommodate the water displacement for heavier and lighter athletes. Variations can be built in by lowering the deck or the saxboards. When my club did the survey we added in a "state of repair" for each boat. Some are used more than others. And the frequency of boat use - we have some which are favourites and get used a lot more than others.
All members were asked anonymously what their weight is in kg and if they are men or women. We had fallen into the habit of calling boats "mens boats" or "womens boats". This was erroneous - we had men and women in three out of four weight categories. Masters do a lot of mixed rowing and so we need boats suitable for mixed and single gender users.
We found a spread of needs across 4 ranges of boat weights. Remember crew weights are averaged to align with the boat. 4 Sizes of boat - Lightweight 60kg boats - Mid lightweight 70kg boats - Mid heavyweight 80kg boats - Heavyweight 90kg boats 48% of our members could fit into a 60kg lightweight boat; 60% of our membership can fit into a mid lightweight boat; 44% can fit a mid heavyweight boat; and 23% fit a heavyweight. Our club is skewed to female members and older females who are smaller in height and lower body weight. This affects the fund raising, boat purchase plan and the boat maintenance plan where club resources are focused.
10:30 Considerations for purchases
The resale value of second hand boats is important to consider. This is not just about the boat's age and state of repair - it's who wants to buy this type of boat. Resale values for coxless quads is high in New Zealand due to a lack of supply. Few clubs choose to buy 60kg double sculls because lightweight rowing is being phased out of schools and international rowing.
Boat builders can advise what size of boat they typically build. Size inflation has happened in boat weights - classified at one weight but will fit a bigger range of athlete weights than previously. It used to be +/- 5 kg and I believe it's larger than this now - maybe 10kg range. I believe that you want the oarlocks to sit half way up the pins for the average weight of the athletes when they sit in the boat with oars squared and buried at the finish.
Too heavy athletes in a boat and you find insufficient freeboard to get the oars out at the finish or to row square blades. Too light athletes in a boat and you find you have to hold your handle higher up your chest in order to keep the oars buried at the finish and you cannot keep your wrists level with your elbows in the power phase.
Gain an understanding of the number of years you use a boat before you replace it. Plan a replacement strategy so you can get the right range of boats for your needs. For example, we boat a lot of quads and now have a quad in three of the four weight ranges. Champagne tastes on a beer budget - we always want more equipment than we can afford to buy!
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You've likely seen it happen - a female rower acquires status and authority within your group and you notice things have changed. Their will determines what the group does, they select lineups they want to row with, they always seem to get the coaching and the "best" equipment.
Somehow if you don't ingratiate yourself, you get left out and feel increasingly frustrated.
Queen bee syndrome is a social phenomenon where women in positions of authority or power treat subordinate females worse than males, purely based on gender. It was first defined by three researchers: Graham Staines, Carol Tavris, and Toby E. Jayaratne in 1973.
Frequently there are more women than men in a masters rowing group and so you may find that this situation arises in your club. It's a difficult situation to handle because the person's authority and standing enables their behaviour and makes it hard to challenge them without finding yourself on the 'outside' of the favoured group.
Any sort of clique behaviour is death to a masters rowing group. It's a slow death yet a certain one.
What happens is that the in group run themselves, they ignore the leadership and the accepted group behaviours that everyone else has to follow. In the medium term, natural wastage means the group size reduces (people stop rowing, move away) and the queen is left with fewer and fewer people in her inner circle. You'd think this would reduce her power - but it doesn't. The favouritism is doubled down and she likely invites a couple of newbies into the group to make up the seats for folks who have left.
If you are invited in, it's appealing - you get to row in the best gear with the favoured athletes.
Rowing with your friends is fun and should not be discouraged. But the attitudes and mores which build up a community rowing club are based on inclusion.
As a leadership group you want to enable people to improve, to move through the training groups from beginner to racing (and to loop in and out of them if your life circumstances change). You want enthusiastic participants in club social activities, in camps, regattas and volunteers to help with fund raising and running your local regatta.
Members need to know the names of other members, the more experienced should be offering their skills to the less experienced at least a couple of times a month in mixed ability crew lineups. And a clear pathway of progression from one training group into other training groups needs to be visible to all. People must know what they "need to do" and what skills they need to have in order to put themselves forward for each group.
Any activity or favouritism that undermines these principles will cause resentment. Few members will challenge publicly, most vote with their feet and leave the club - and you'll never know why.
Having a couple of workouts each month when club members are obliged to row in mixed ability crews is one good method of breaking down these silos. The less experienced learn from the more experienced athletes, plus they get to know each other while in the boat together.
When you notice that the Queen Bee is not showing up for these practices - and she likely won't show - leadership can make it clear that participation is part of your volunteering requirement for club membership. Giving your time to help the less experienced is on a par with helping at the regatta or boat maintenance. If you don't check this box, then privileges get withdrawn - like being able to request to row with your friends, request the best boats, get entered in the races you want.
You may need to re-write your club membership documentation to enshrine the principle of volunteering and community engagement so that any behaviour which doesn't align can be easily spotted and disciplined.
Webinar: Masters v Juniors covers ways to manage training groups, equipment allocation and membership dues to balance the club
Webinar: Club Management discusses how to avoid cliques, digital tools for club administration and fund raising using social media.
In the Masters Rowing International Facebook group we got another discussion on this topic. This message string shows some of the dialogue and solutions.
Coaching Mixed-Gender Masters Rowing Groups is one tool coaches can use to improve the goodwill and common bonds among members. Rowing has a strong reputation as a sport that enables friendships and we know many masters value this aspect of a rowing club.
Unlike nearly all other rowing, masters is nearly always a mixed gender group training together. This presents challenges because of physique - people are different heights, weights and of differing strength.
As a result, many groups choose to train in sculling boats because it is easier to align a crew when each person has two oars, rather than sweep rowing where they have one oar each.
Aside from the training fitness we gain from rowing, community is a major reason why adults choose rowing as their sport of choice. We make friends, real, lifelong friendships with people we meet at the rowing club.
Later in life it is harder to make friendships - there are many reasons for this which I don’t want to dwell on. Today let’s focus on how rowing clubs can facilitate the growth of community and friendships. Because there are many, many reasons why people choose this sport and so it’s incumbent on clubs to understand their membership’s motivations so that the club committee/board can deliver experiences which keeps their members returning to the club each season.
When organising lineups and workouts, club organisers should be planning in three month blocks. What are the events you have on the calendar which will appeal to your members?
Some will surely want to race - and so crew lineups for single sex and mixed crews who want to race together will suit one constituency of your membership.
Socialising after workouts will also suit these people - can you arrange to have a coffee or breakfast together at weekends after your row? Some can use a club room with a kitchen, provide a coffee machine and a toaster so that everyone can get some food, sit down and chat and pay a small sum for the pleasure. Other clubs will prefer to go out to a local cafe where there’s sufficient seating to allow a large table to accommodate a group of rowers in sweaty kit.
How about organising a scrimmage? This is an inter-club meeting with another masters group in your locale. Arrange to go and train at their boathouse one weekend and socialise together afterwards. If you can do crews which mix up the two clubs, all the better. And coffee too!
Jamming sessions are a way of mixing up groups of different abilities. Say you have a novice group and a more experienced group - why not “jam” together [like a band] and put the two groups together for one workout every so often? The less experienced learn from the more experienced and they get to know each other as well.
Social activities like pot luck dinners, picnics, weekends away to row at another club, a coastal rowing adventure, a rowing vacation overseas, or a camp are other ways to build community. You learn a lot about people by spending time together.
When someone new joins the club do you have a person who takes the lead on welcoming them, introducing them to the group and ensuring that they come back for a second time? A simple text message can be enough to encourage them to return.
Your learn to row class is another great way to build community. I get the prior learn to row class to come and be helpers for the new learners. This builds their confidence in the skills they’ve learned when they see that they really do know quite a lot about the sport. It also enables you to have a buddy system for guidance and to use fewer coaches to run the session because you have more helpers.
If you have a clique of rowers who will only row with each other, beware. This is a major reason for a club shrinking, failing to recruit new members to replace those who leave and can become a downward spiral.
If you are too grand to row with other people, you probably shouldn’t be part of a masters rowing club.
Elite clubs do exist (frequently they are virtual ‘rolodex’ crews) and they’re a place for high performing masters athletes. But we all know that there is no way to expand membership, fund raise for new equipment and improve access to the sport with a shrinking membership. Even within an elite group there will be people with more and less experience and fitness - so there is always a need to row with people who are “less good” than yourself.
This is one of the key truisms that underly masters rowing. How does it apply in your situation?
Why are you here?
This is a great question to ask your membership. And the answers will tell you a lot about what the current members value about your club and what it provides its members.
Consider doing a membership survey regularly.... and look for the gaps between what you want to do and what the members appreciate and enjoy. Then you can focus your membership offer to close those gaps.
The rowing world is good at keeping boats and oars in serviceable use for many years - but eventually something happens and equipment gets "retired" or handed on to another owner. I learned from John Leekley that Vesper RC hired a "decluttering" expert to assist in their boathouse clearout recently. Many clubs could use that skill.
We are fortunate that kevlar and carbon lasts a long time and can be repaired. My double suffered a crushed bow when I steered it up a pontoon - the repair guy gave me the long strip of carbon he'd taken out of the hull. And we made it into a new trophy for our club - the "Impact Award" presented for the first time last weekend.
I feel sad when reading appeals for equipment from startup clubs in Africa because it's just too hard to ship boats there (plus import duties are ruinous). Although Eliza Camp managed to get eights donated from UK clubs out to Italy last year to the delight of all involved.
So when I saw an announcement about FindOar I had to investigate.
Johnny Cantwell has started an "oar matching" service. When you break one blade - which often happens - he will endeavour to help you to find a match so you can economically get the oars back to use.
It's not selling anything, just enabling folks to pair up and get in touch.
Currently working only in the UK - but if anyone wants to start a similar service in their country, get in touch with Johnny.
Diary alignment is the hardest thing for masters to figure out. Three tips for you to try
Timestamps
01:00 Regular practice in the same lineups helps you to get better faster.
Avoid agreeing crew lineups on the day in the boathouse - fix crews ahead of time so when they arrive they know who they are rowing with, the equipment to use - boat and oars. Prevent people from only rowing with their friends in the interest of community within the club.
02:30 A masters club that has a goal to grow, to add newcomers - it's more useful to mix up crews. When you're a newcomer it can be daunting seeing a large number of strangers. In a crew you can chat to people in your crew and get to know them.
You can make an easy member division into learn to row group, intermediate, advanced, racing and fitness groups. If you have a group each needs a co-ordinator/captain.
Use 2 types of software to help you.
SMS is immediate and people notice it (email can be lost or ignored). Rowing club software options - listed on rowing.chat/retailers the Directory of rowing businesses.
05:45 Ideally book a long way ahead of time - masters are busy people. It can be hard to organise a week ahead, two weeks ahead is better. With software, each person can check/tick the days they are available. The Club can offer different times of day for workouts. The group organiser can easily see in the software calendar who is available and make crew lineups.
Try to find a day when you always do the same crew - important for large boats. This helps the co-ordinator. The software sends out crew lineups ahead of time (which also serve as a reminder). Acceptable behaviours - ideally if you cannot come, find your own replacement. The responsibility is on you.
You need more than 4 or 9 people to run a crew of a four or eight. It takes 12 people to run an eights group. Running a four/quad can be done with 5 or 6 people. The port/starboard preferences mean you need more people for an eight (unless everyone can row on both sides).
Work with a coalition of the willing - set up the behaviours with those who are prepared to get involved. People who are keen to get better and get into another crew for racing are often the most willing. How do you enable people to move between groups? How can people find substitutes or alternates at the last minute? Can you go to another group to find a final person to make up a crew? Some athletes advance their skills rapidly by being the person available to take the empty seat.
Work out what you can do if you need.... mixing men and women, finding people to fill seats etc.
One person in charge of scheduling (allocating equipment and lineups). They don't need to be a coach, but must know each person's skill level in order to be effective. Try to avoid people hogging equipment - do you allow equipment requests? By having a person doing the scheduling they can be fair and ensure the boats get shared around.
When you sign up can you request crew / boat / tie of day? How can you get consistency for your training group to get more skilful and it's fun to row with a regular group.
Coaching mixed gender rowing groups article
Digitize your rowing club management webinar
Rowing time management podcast & checklist
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The athlete pathway for masters is different from other groups. What can clubs and Federations do to enable masters to succeed by changing the structure of our sport.
Timestamps
00:40 What is our goal for masters in rowing?
Should masters be allowed to leave and rejoin the club? One of the differences compared to youth rowers is that we remain in the sport for a long time. Youth, school, Seniors all have a long term athlete plan for the pathway of their progress. Masters are not the same. Our goal may be to race and achieve high results - but it is not always. The long term development plan is very different. Some join for participation and to learn how to row; others are there all the time, training and racing. Others like the weekend rows and train for fitness, pleasure and friendship - they may also race but on a shorter term horizon leading up to an event.
04:30 Looping in and out of rowing
Many masters remain in the sport for a long time. What is possible for you right now? Life stage is important. In your 30s you may have a high pressure job. Or a flexible worker who can train during the working day hours. Some masters retire to row - actively. If you have children, under 14s are different from over 14s and can look after themselves for a time. Care responsibilities for aging parents are also another different group of masters. Our goal is continued participation - can you manage to stay involved on a level suitable for where you are right now?
07:00 Club membership structures don't align If you are required to buy an annual membership and are injured, this makes people decide not to rejoin their rowing club.
07:30 Create enabling structures
These allow members to loop in and out of masters rowing participation over time. How can you stay involved while injured? Join social events with the club group. Can memberships be by quarter, term or semester?
Groups in rowing clubs - often LTR, fitness, racing groups are common. As a club how to you enable members to move between groups in a way that reflects their life circumstance? How frequently do you re-assess group members? Can people see a pathway so they can see what the next step is for them in their rowing journey? What does it take to move from intermediate to elite racing?
10:00 Long term athlete development for masters
How can you make it possible for members to stay involved over the long term in your club? These structures might make masters rowing long-term participant so we can remain engaged with the sport over the ultra-long term. Athlete development needs to be aligned with an individual's goals, skills improvement, not necessarily always-upward movement towards high racing achievement. Masters pathways are not necessarily linear - people can loop into rowing and then step away and loop out for a while. Making this happen is structural, requires a strategy for leaders who are involved in masters rowing. What can you do in your club to help?
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Getting the correct range of boat types and boat weights to suit your club group is important. What to look for, how to assess your fleet and plan for the future.
Resource: Rowing Club Management Strategy - how to write one
3 Value Bombs
Review the stock of boats and equipment in your club and how they align with the needs of your athletes. We realised we needed to workout if our boat fleet matched the masters group needs. Assess the weight class of boat to the athlete weights in your group.
03:00 What weight class was your boat designed for?
Look for the manufacturer's plate - often in the bow or the front of the stroke's foot well. It shows the design hull type, year of manufacture and the average weight of athlete it's designed for. Club asset registers list all the boats in the club ownership. We added the information about the boat design weight.
04:30 List all the boats in each boat class that you own (8, 4s, 2s and 1x) and classify them to the athlete weight they are designed for. Broadly we chose 3 categories - light weight boats (under 70kg), mid-weight boats (70-85kg) and heavy weight boats ( over 85kg).
Our list included boat name, age of boat, weight class of boat and whether lightweight, mid-weight or heavyweight. We added in how old the boat was and whether it was due for retirement.
It was then clear where to skew of boats matched our athlete weights.
Have we got one boat in each weight class? Which are the most popular boats which athletes like to row? This shows you where you are short of boats by boat class and boat weight to align with what your group needs, frequency of boat use per week/month, and which boats your masters want to row. This is not static, it changes each year as membership and priorities change. This information was then put into the prioritisation for refurbishing boats, fund raising for new boats and spare parts / minor repairs list (consumables e.g. shoes, slides, gates).
08:00 Set out a 3-4 year programme to get your boat fleet more aligned with your group needs.
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What's masters rowing like in Ireland? Gerry Murphy is Chair of the Masters Representative Committee for Rowing Ireland.
A big increase in member registration has happened and masters are now 18% of total rowing registrations. Clubs see the benefit of having masters groups. There are many other regattas offering masters events - they will put in events entries secretaries are generally willing. Many heads of the river - Galway and Enniskillen - which include masters. Overseas guests are welcome in Ireland.
Most clubs have some form of masters rowing group - including Skibbereen who started a group recently. Gerry's club, Neptune, started an adult learn to row class and most of the graduates are in the rowing leisure group - there are 70 members now. They do tours and exchanges with clubs in France and Portugal. Innovations in masters rowing.
There is a coach education programme.
Most clubs want masters because they see the benefits as they volunteer and grow the club. The 1k Classic (Carrick on Shannon) is a new event which Gerry hopes will become the official Masters Rowing Championships in future.
Future plans - a proper structure for masters programmes development, coaching development, a co-ordinator for masters in every club who can give guidance. It would be nice to get better equipment as well, possibly dedicated masters boats. External guidance to Rowing Ireland may be possible for masters. We love it and we have a smile on our faces - folks are jealous of us. Gerry encourages people to find their level in the sport and enjoying that.
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