Having a goal for yourself is important if you want to achieve in life. Having a rowing goal (whether you are athlete, coach, coxswain) is doubly important because of the competitive nature of our sport.
In this quiet period after Christmas and before the New Year, take some time out to reflect on what goals you want for yourself next year, next season, next Olympiad.
6 recommendations to help you plan your rowing goal
Buy Jimmy Joy’s book on Rowing Psychology – The Mind’s Eye. A world class sculler and coach, Jimmy is the person who explains exactly how to teach yourself or your athletes how to focus, how to drill for perfection in the rowing stroke and how to leverage this for racing success.
Watch double Olympic single scull medalist Xeno Muller talk about his motivations and what drove him to Olympic Gold in 1996. Watch for the twist in his tale right at the 9.40 point… [don’t skip right there or you’ll not understand the impact]
- Never look down on people who look up to you because it may turn round to bite you on the butt
- Be nice to people who look up to you, you don’t want to fuel their motivation
http://youtu.be/x1nv1ecOg1g
Understand the four personality traits that make up top rowers – based on slides presented about the German Mens 8 who won Olympic Gold.
- the Unstable type
- the Team player
- the Individualist
- the Leader type
Ben Rodford’s series on our news blog “Be Your Own Support Team” includes one article on Sports Psychology – written for club athletes and club coaches his advice is ready for you to read immediately.
Drew Ginn published a video with his insights on how to approach rowing training – could it be better, could it be easier? What could you do to adapt and improve your own training methods now?
Try a Rowperfect if you want to hone your technique and improve your mental focus every stroke you take. Learn from your force curve, improve your consistency using Joules per stroke measure and learn to deliver perfect power every time on the land – then take the same technique onto the water and go faster there as well.
