Having been involved with hundreds of rowers as a fellow athlete or coach, while also observing thousands of rowers and rowing programs over the past 40 years, it is clear that there are fundamental guiding principles to success in rowing.
It is a little bit cheeky to title this post as "Secrets to Rowing Success" because simply put, there are no secrets! It is actually quite simple.
The King's School in Sydney, led by Julian Huxley, won three National Titles at the 2024 Australians Rowing Championships - the Schoolboy Eight, the U17 Men's Eight, and the U19 Men's Single Scull (2nd in the U17 Men's Single Scull also). Success such as this is not just luck, there is a reason why the King's students have performed to this level. I would like explore possible reasons why.
Over the coming weeks we will post a series of articles exploring success in rowing and what actually counts to be successful. If you dare to go online and Google any topic around rowing there is a broad spectrum of opinions from "experts".
Heaven forbid you dare to post a video of yourself rowing, asking a question, to a Facebook group! You will be swamped with unsolicited advice, often contradictory in nature! Not many sports attract analysis and opinion the way rowing does - we are all very passionate.
The idea of this series of articles is to filter out the "noise" and bring you back to the fundamentals of success. You may not agree with everything that is written but my hope is that it will promote you to reflect on your rowing and/or coaching to help you achieve more success from the immense amount of time you dedicate to rowing.
While there are rowing programs and individuals that would define success as simply getting out on the water and having a row, for the purpose of this exercise success will be defined as "making the most of the opportunity to perform at the highest level possible". It is based on the assumption that regardless of the final result, if you, your crew, or your rowing program walk away from the season feeling that you were the best you could possibly be then that has been a successful season.
To add some structure to the way we tackle what is a broad topic, we will break the topics we explore into three core areas.
Technical
Here we will explore areas of opportunity around technique, boat set up, and the way we approach the equipment we choose to use.
Physiological
When it comes to physiology we will focus on core areas that directly correlate to getting your bow ball from the start line to the finish line as quickly as possible, as often as possible!
Psychological
The area of most importance! The foundation of our pyramid of success. Your mind set and the way you approach (or lead a team) racing and training.
Rather than treating the three core topics above as disparate elements of performance at all times, an attempt will be made to bring these topics together as ultimately success will come when we create the "complete package".
If you are interested in coming along for the journey please be sure to subscribe so that you receive notifications as articles are published. If you are lucky we might even have some guest authors to add their wisdom!