How is German rowing so successful at the top end? Part of the answer is a strong club scene with good coaching, great recruitment and large participant numbers.
But looking after coaches wellbeing – psychologically – is a new aspect to the German coaching system. Dr Annelen Collatz has studied the psychology of the sport of rowing – starting with athletes [What Psychology makes a top Rower?} and is now looking at coaches.
What makes a successful rowing coach?
Dr Collatz isolates four principal groups of coaches and lists their psychological make-up. Starting from the list of tasks a coach has to do, moving into an Inventory of Personality to align with the individual coach. She then goes into a lot of detail about communication messages and the 3 levels of information contained in each before wrapping up with a summary of work : life balance for a rowing coach.
Read Dr Collatz other work on Psychology in Competitive Sports
