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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.
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

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