Catch Placement and Fixing Technical Errors

I had the privilege of working with a couple of TYRA assistant coaches this morning. Both of these coaches are in their first year of coaching. I love teaching fundamentals. My priority with this blog and accompanying YouTube Channel is to contribute in some small way to those coaches that are in their first few years of coaching. It’s one thing to be able to row well, it is another to be able to communicate that knowledge and teach someone else how to row better.

We talked about technique a great deal. Specifically, the common technical errors that we see in novices, what causes the errors and how to fix. We broke the stroke down into four components 1) Catch 2) Drive 3) Release and 4) Recovery. We talked about using the right drill at the right time and that a number of different drills could be used to fix a particular technical error.

In the video below, I demonstrate how to help the athlete “feel” what to do with their hands in order to place the blade in the water. Once the rower discovers how to perform a particular motion they can start building the motor skills to reinforce and maintain the change.

We also discussed planning practices that provide learning environments for physiology, psychology, technique, and fun. More about that in later posts. Finally, we discussed basic rigging and how to set your oars up at the beginning of the season and educate athletes on switching out clams for quick adjustments to the rig. I had a great deal of fun and thank both of the coaches for the chance to add value to their coaching.