It’s time to reflect on rowing and sculling technique as the UK junior national championships hove into view and the end of the (serious) racing season heralds the start of the pot-hunting season,

Rowing well with good technique mostly equates to rowing fast.

Rowing badly with poor technique mostly equates to rowing slowly.

Have you watched a regatta and noticed the quality of the top three or four crews and then bemoaned the lack of skill in the rest of the field.  It’s not the fault of the rowers –

this is caused by the coach.

Johnny Bad-Coach

Most clubs are filled with enthusiastic athletes whose abilities are limited by the quality of coaching.

Yes that was a bold statement.

Poor quality tuition limits learning.  In rowing and in life.

Could your rowing club coaches skills be improved?

If you are in a position to make suggestions to the committee make this one now….. We will invest in training and up-skilling our coaches before next season.  

A great way to start learning more is by organising group learning sessions – optional to attend – for your entire club.

Start by educating the coaching team about what good rowing looks like.  How successful coaches teach the art of moving a boat to athletes.

Watching the two Harry Mahon’s Rowing Technique DVDs will give you a head-start.   Show them to everyone in a group and then start a discussion after each 20 minutes of video.  So you can learn together by questioning.

Harry Mahon’s Rowing Technique

Who is Harry Mahon?

He coached the GBR crew that won Olympic Gold in Sydney, the under-dogs who were the least powerful men in the British squad and who had been rejected by Jurgen Grobler for the four and pair.  They won with superior technique over horse-power.

Harry co-coached that crew with Martin McIlroy (now a national coach in Canada), and Martin took on Harry’s technique and developed it.

The DVDs are filmed at public seminars each gave to showcase their approach to teaching the skill of moving a rowing boat.

Rowperfect’s offer to you

We are privileged to know two New Zealanders who have intimate knowledge of Harry’s technique.  [Harry Mahon died in 2001].  If you have a question, if you want clarification on anything said in these videos – we will get you answers from the inheritors of  Harry’s unique legacy.  These guys know.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Watch Harry Mahon coaching a pair oar

He is working on improving their compression at the catch and also the amount of acceleration during the power phase each man can bring to the boat.