I was talking to a coach from another masters rowing club who bemoaned the lack of “returning rowers” in his club group. He said they had three athletes who rowed in their youth and thought that most other clubs had far more.
My club certainly has more, but our “return rate” is low, around 2 or 3 people per year. And many don’t stick around. We certainly didn’t build up our club membership and racing success based on returning rowers.
I checked the 36 people who attended a recent regatta, sixteen had learned to row as adults at our club. Which speaks to a core truth – can you guess what it is?
Build a strong masters group
Many coaches and masters groups seem to “wish” for a stronger training group and think returning rowers are the easy solution. But these folks are thin on the ground. I don’t know the full reasons.
A more sustainable strategy to build a strong masters group is to “grow your own”.
By running regular recruitment drives and learn to row programs, you are far more likely in five years to have a core of masters willing and able to compete for the club.
Is this a core truth for your club as well?
Group talk September
On the Coach Mastermind zoom call this month we will be discussing Italy’s paralympic debacle when Giacomo Perini was stripped of his bronze medal along with other topics detailed below.
The zoom is Tuesday 10th September 2024; 2 pm EDT New York, 7 pm BST London. All subscribers will get a separate email with join link.
Testimonial to our sport
An email dialog with a faster masters coach who shared this insight about the differences when coaching masters compared to youth.
I started sculling at 40 (twenty years ago) and have been interested in many of its aspects since. Coming to the sport through the recreational path is a blessing in many ways. Maturity helps one realize how it contributes to a healthy lifestyle: as exercise and meditation, bringing you closer to nature, and helping build community.
Taught as a competitive activity to the young it demands mostly sacrifice: waking up at dawn, putting up with bullies, and impossible erg scores. My daughter was “done with sculling” in her late teens after she medalled at the Swiss championships and she associates it with sweat and tears to this day.
Not so for the dozens of Masters I’ve met over the years at regattas and sculling camps… That is what some collegiate coaches who take on Masters fail to perceive. We are not in this just for the results. The motto of the French ski school (the entity that oversees ski lessons in every ski resort in France) comes to mind: le plaisir ça s’apprend -something like learn to enjoy.
Most Masters expect coaches to show them how to enjoy.
Can you build learning how to enjoy into your coaching this month?
Find out how your athletes perceive their rowing practice.
Rebecca
$1 to join us in September
We’d love for you to join us and see what the benefits of the masters coaching mastermind group are. So let us make it easy for you.
Reader would you join us? Here’s a no risk offer. Buy a membership today for $1 for your first month – cancel any time if it’s not right for you. Use coupon code SEPT24TASTER.
We meet monthly, all sessions are recorded so you can watch later if the timing isn’t right for you.
Topics :
Shared shoe options
Italy’s Paralympics phone-in-the-boat use controversy
Transitioning to long distance 5k racing
Would you join us? The Coach Mastermind is your professional development goldmine. Collaborative learning, sharing tips and deepening knowledge. Join us in September – 100% refund guarantee if it’s not what you need.
The zoom is Tuesday 10th September 2024; 2 pm EDT New York, 7 pm BST London. All subscribers will get a separate email with join link.
One of the major standouts about rowing and sculling is that it’s a sport for life.
You can learn to row at any age, leave and not row for years and then come back to the sport.
Clubs love it when rowers return – it’s like having a prodigal son.
When someone shows up, do find out when they were last in a boat – for some they may never have used carbon fiber oars or used a non-wooden boat.
What to do for returning rowers
The first thing to do is to welcome them back. They likely remember the feeling of community, shared endeavor and achievement. But the folks they rowed with back in the day aren’t with them now – the club has new and different members.
Friendship is a critical part of the successful masters rowing experience. Invite them to coffee after the row, message them to have them join an outing later in the week or next weekend. Let them feel welcomed and valued.
Returning rower all smiles after first workout.
The second thing to do is to hold them back physically.
When you come back to a sport after a break (even a few short weeks) your mind and body assume, wrongly, that you can return at the same standard as when you last were in a boat. We all know that’s not going to be true. Your muscles will have weakened, your fitness declined but your mind thinks “Hey, I know this…. Let’s go!”
Nobody wants an injury in the very first outing – avoiding blisters too if you possibly can.
Take your time, get them to recall the stroke sequence – do some drills like pauses, like rowing square blades (half the crew only), early square – all designed to remind them of the stroke, the order things happen and what it feels like. Pauses are particularly good because it offers a physical rest and keeps the stroke rate low.
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