Uncontrolled rushing into the rowing catch, 11 concepts, 1 exercise
In this video, Ken Davey tackles the classic beginner problem of rushing into the catch. He runs through 11 key concepts and 1 exercise, which will help you remove this problem from your boat.
There are very few things that slow a boat down as much as an uncontrolled rush into the catch. |
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Video Transcript
Often we find with crews particularly
beginner crews is that they tend to rush
down the slide so they come off the back
chocks sometimes they get their body
into the right position sometimes not
and they come whoosh down a slide uncontrolled
really important to get that fixed because
an uncontrolled rower with the body not
controlled is almost guaranteed to be
slow so first step really is to get it
right off the finish so sit at the finish hands away
rock over sitting tall soft knees ready
to come down the slide and when they
come down the slide I'd teach them to
come down the slide slow first in a
sculling boat it's fairly handy if you
teach them to push out against the gate
and so what I suggest to do is get them
to come into the catch pushing out with
a little bit of outward pressure against
the gate so they feel a little bit up
here in their muscles but not a hard
push just a little bit of a push and
push out against the gate and ask them
to push themselves into the catch by
pushing against the footplate pushing
against the gate
push harder with against the gate and
less with the legs and they'll come into the catch
ask them to then push out with their legs
keeping pressure against the gates and
they'll come back out
so which one them to do is to do
that coming into the catch for a while
what it does a couple of things firstly
they then are controlled coming in to
the front so once they get to the point
where the gates are behind them they can
start pushing out against the gates
and push themselves into the front and
you'll find it does two things firstly
it controls them coming in and keeps the
all the forces contained in the boat the
force on the footplate is about equal to
the force against the gates depending
which way they're moving and the second
thing it does which is really handy for
beginner crews is that instead of
sitting on a seat and balancing they're
actually supporting themselves against
the gate so if you think about it from a
forces perspective they've got triangles
essentially everywhere holding their
shoulders in the right position so I
think teaching them coming into the
front like that by putting outward
pressure against the gate it also makes
the boat appear wider because they're
actually pushing against the gates which
are out here rather than just in this
narrow boat so a handy way to encourage
them to not rush into the front
once they've got that under control so they
can come off the back get their body
into the right position and come into
the front controled with their body not
moving then you'll find that that being
able to then manipulate the stroke get a
good catch et cetera is a lot easier
because they're well controlled so the
other thing that comes out of this is
that if they get their body into that
catch position and then come down the
slide in that holding that catch
position then it's very easy for them to
be well supported and and connected with
the boat if their bodies taut and turned
on if instead they're coming down the
slide where they're continuing to reach
for more length as they get come down
the slide then it's not really
controlled and you'll find when they get
to the catch they tend to fall into the
front and so if you have them control it
better than you find it they'll be able
to do that in a very controlled
efficient fashion and when they get to
the catch the simple matter is they're
just pushing out against the gate a
little bit pushing go to footplate
lift their hands and push a little
harder against the footplate like quite
hard and you'll find it their blade is in
they're connected they push with their
legs and they're away and rowing well
once they've got that under control I
suggest get them to start to pull the
boat towards them as they come into the
catch but it's very important that
they've actually got the blade in the
water when they take the connection
before they push with the legs so they
can pull the boat towards them but then
they have to be very precise about
getting a blade in before they push with
their legs and so that's a skill that I
suggested it's best left until after
they've mastered the art of coming into the
catch in a really controlled fashion so
control down the slide particularly in
school children is is very important what
it does allow is it allows the boat to
run so if I get the power on through the
drive phase off the back into the catch
position and come down the slide nice
and controlled then the boat will just
keep going it won't slow down until they
get to the front and start to put some
pressure on the footplate and when they
do pressure on the footplate we want to
make sure the blades in the water so
important set of skills there so make
sure that they don't rush down the slide
when they are beginning and you'll find
you get better outcomes almost
immediately
and much better boat run
beginner crews is that they tend to rush
down the slide so they come off the back
chocks sometimes they get their body
into the right position sometimes not
and they come whoosh down a slide uncontrolled
really important to get that fixed because
an uncontrolled rower with the body not
controlled is almost guaranteed to be
slow so first step really is to get it
right off the finish so sit at the finish hands away
rock over sitting tall soft knees ready
to come down the slide and when they
come down the slide I'd teach them to
come down the slide slow first in a
sculling boat it's fairly handy if you
teach them to push out against the gate
and so what I suggest to do is get them
to come into the catch pushing out with
a little bit of outward pressure against
the gate so they feel a little bit up
here in their muscles but not a hard
push just a little bit of a push and
push out against the gate and ask them
to push themselves into the catch by
pushing against the footplate pushing
against the gate
push harder with against the gate and
less with the legs and they'll come into the catch
ask them to then push out with their legs
keeping pressure against the gates and
they'll come back out
so which one them to do is to do
that coming into the catch for a while
what it does a couple of things firstly
they then are controlled coming in to
the front so once they get to the point
where the gates are behind them they can
start pushing out against the gates
and push themselves into the front and
you'll find it does two things firstly
it controls them coming in and keeps the
all the forces contained in the boat the
force on the footplate is about equal to
the force against the gates depending
which way they're moving and the second
thing it does which is really handy for
beginner crews is that instead of
sitting on a seat and balancing they're
actually supporting themselves against
the gate so if you think about it from a
forces perspective they've got triangles
essentially everywhere holding their
shoulders in the right position so I
think teaching them coming into the
front like that by putting outward
pressure against the gate it also makes
the boat appear wider because they're
actually pushing against the gates which
are out here rather than just in this
narrow boat so a handy way to encourage
them to not rush into the front
once they've got that under control so they
can come off the back get their body
into the right position and come into
the front controled with their body not
moving then you'll find that that being
able to then manipulate the stroke get a
good catch et cetera is a lot easier
because they're well controlled so the
other thing that comes out of this is
that if they get their body into that
catch position and then come down the
slide in that holding that catch
position then it's very easy for them to
be well supported and and connected with
the boat if their bodies taut and turned
on if instead they're coming down the
slide where they're continuing to reach
for more length as they get come down
the slide then it's not really
controlled and you'll find when they get
to the catch they tend to fall into the
front and so if you have them control it
better than you find it they'll be able
to do that in a very controlled
efficient fashion and when they get to
the catch the simple matter is they're
just pushing out against the gate a
little bit pushing go to footplate
lift their hands and push a little
harder against the footplate like quite
hard and you'll find it their blade is in
they're connected they push with their
legs and they're away and rowing well
once they've got that under control I
suggest get them to start to pull the
boat towards them as they come into the
catch but it's very important that
they've actually got the blade in the
water when they take the connection
before they push with the legs so they
can pull the boat towards them but then
they have to be very precise about
getting a blade in before they push with
their legs and so that's a skill that I
suggested it's best left until after
they've mastered the art of coming into the
catch in a really controlled fashion so
control down the slide particularly in
school children is is very important what
it does allow is it allows the boat to
run so if I get the power on through the
drive phase off the back into the catch
position and come down the slide nice
and controlled then the boat will just
keep going it won't slow down until they
get to the front and start to put some
pressure on the footplate and when they
do pressure on the footplate we want to
make sure the blades in the water so
important set of skills there so make
sure that they don't rush down the slide
when they are beginning and you'll find
you get better outcomes almost
immediately
and much better boat run