Improve - Hand Position on the Sculling Recovery (+ Common Problems)
It is important when sculling that the hands are in the correct positions during the recovery otherwise, in a crew boat, balance issues result and in certain positions and conditions the oar contacts the water when it should not.
Please look at the examples below and review your own positions or that of your crew. Anthony Edwards, 5 times Olympic athlete, demonstrates common issues.
Better performance particularly in crew boats and a balanced boat will be the result. It is important that all the crew are doing this the same way.
Please look at the examples below and review your own positions or that of your crew. Anthony Edwards, 5 times Olympic athlete, demonstrates common issues.
Better performance particularly in crew boats and a balanced boat will be the result. It is important that all the crew are doing this the same way.
Correct Position:
In Australia and in many countries the left gate is set higher than the right one. Often this difference is built into the rigger. Therefore it is important that the hand on the side with the higher gate is on top of the other hand at the crossover point on the recovery, otherwise balance and hitting the water will be an issue.
Also the top hand (left) should lead a little. This enables the bottom hand (right) to tuck under the wrist of the top hand and therefore minimise the gap between the heights.
It is particularly important in a crew boat that all the crew do it the same way.
It is very important that the feathering of the oar is done correctly, otherwise the wrists will not be flat and poor balance will automatically result as the correct crossover hand position will be impossible to achieve.
For more info, please see:
Hand position during the recovery
How to handle a sculling oar
Sculling grip - Practice at home
Handle size for scullers
In Australia and in many countries the left gate is set higher than the right one. Often this difference is built into the rigger. Therefore it is important that the hand on the side with the higher gate is on top of the other hand at the crossover point on the recovery, otherwise balance and hitting the water will be an issue.
Also the top hand (left) should lead a little. This enables the bottom hand (right) to tuck under the wrist of the top hand and therefore minimise the gap between the heights.
It is particularly important in a crew boat that all the crew do it the same way.
It is very important that the feathering of the oar is done correctly, otherwise the wrists will not be flat and poor balance will automatically result as the correct crossover hand position will be impossible to achieve.
For more info, please see:
Hand position during the recovery
How to handle a sculling oar
Sculling grip - Practice at home
Handle size for scullers
Right hand leading problem:
It is important that all of the crew lead with the same hand and in Australia we lead with the left.
Easily fixed with a drill where the athletes exaggerate the leading with the left for a few strokes to emphasise the correct lead, then have them only lead enough to tuck the right hand under the left wrist as in the above photo. See the example photo below.
Right hand leading problem:
It is important that all of the crew lead with the same hand and in Australia we lead with the left.
Easily fixed with a drill where the athletes exaggerate the leading with the left for a few strokes to emphasise the correct lead, then have them only lead enough to tuck the right hand under the left wrist as in the above photo. See the example photo below.
Right over left problem:
This issue causes the most problems if the boat is rigged left over right as the balance of the boat will suffer. If different for different crew members the problem will be worse and an uncomfortable row the result.
Left leading by too much:
This causes issues in that the body and shoulders have to be on an angle to enable the hands to reach this position. Also the right hand has to be lower in relation to the left when compared to having it tucked up under the left wrist.
However, this can be used as a drill in order to emphasise leading with the left hand on the recovery as explained above.
Both hands at same point:
This is often seen with beginners and has the effect of unbalancing the boat because the offset between left and right is usually of the order of 1cm and the oars are further apart if the hands are directly over each other.
Additionally, athletes that row like this usually end up with more cuts on their right knuckles from fingernails on their left hand.