row2k Features
Interview
USRowing's Curtis Jordan
September 18, 2013
Erik Dresser, row2k.com

Jordan (top left) with coaches in Lucerne

row2k had a quick chat with USRowing High Performance Director Curtis Jordan following the 2013 World Rowing Championships on the team's performance in Chungju and their plans for the future.

row2k - How do you assess the team's performance in Chungju and what were some of the highlights for you?
Curtis Jordan - It was a good performance. If in January you said we were going to take a bronze in the men's eight and men's four, and make the final in the lightweight four we would have taken it and been happy with that. After our performance in Lucerne it raised our expectations a little bit, so there was a little bit of disappointment in not being able to go a little bit faster, especially in the two heavyweight men's boats. I think the competition improved a little bit and we didn't quite nail it like we wanted to in the finals. In the men's eight we lost Glenn Ochal and replaced him with a good young guy, Ambrose Puttmann. However, not having the experience of a guy like Glenn in there makes a difference, so for the eight to go from just nipping a gold medal in Lucerne to being just a little bit behind is still a very good performance.

In the four, we had had two really good races going into the final so we were really looking for a top final race out of them. I think they did a really good job making sure they got on the medal stand with that headwind that picked up. The lightweight men's four was my highlight of the whole regatta. It has been 13 years since we had been in the top six in that event, so I was really excited for those guys. I think it gives them a nice base and level of confidence that they can move forward in the next three years and keep putting themselves in the final.

I think on the women's side, the idea that Tom was able to put essentially eight new athletes into the eight, break a world record in Lucerne, and dominate the competition in Chungju says a lot for our talent pool out there, what our collegiate programs are doing, as well as how well our coaches are adapting our athletes into the national team. The real challenge for us is to take some of our more experienced athletes and put them into smaller boats and get them into medal winning situations. The pair, quad, and double are going to be working pretty hard the next three years to get those boats on the podium and winning medals. It's not easy for those athletes, so I salute them for taking on the small boat challenge.

It's exciting to see that our lightweight women are back on the podium. We recognized very quickly after the first NSR both Kate and Kristin had very high time prognostics in the single. Then to have them come back a month later in the double and have a really high prognostic there, we knew we had a good lightweight double, our goal was to keep them really healthy over the next four months. The USOC is now partnering with us to provide as much support to those two athletes as possible in an effort to get them from a silver medal to a gold.

The women's single was also exciting this season, Elle Logan is clearly a great athlete to have in the single. She has the physiology and psychology for it and proved herself through our NSRs and World Cup series. She was our very first yellow-shirt wearer going into Lucerne World Cup. She felt, as we did, that it was a disappointing World Championships and that's kind of what happens in the world of single sculling. You have to be peaked correctly and everything has to be in full gear to make the podium there. She's eager to stay with it and get better. USRowing is going to do everything we can to support her, but she still has to win the NSR and qualify herself in 2014. If she shows the speed again we're definitely going to get behind her and make sure she has the assets to become a medalist.

One of things I liked about this world championship was how well they incorporated the para-rowing into the event. The last couple world championships there was the able-bodied event, then there was this little side event for the adaptive rowers. I thought Chungju and FISA did a great job of making it one event. I want to acknowledge our LTAMix2x, Paul and Natalie, which won a bronze medal. I thought it was a great effort and it was awesome to see them make the medal stand. It was disappointing for the LTAMix4+ and the TAMix2x not to make the medal stand but I think it will inspire them to greater heights as there was a significant amount of disappointment for all of them. I think we will rapid see the para-rowing event grow in numbers and quality so by the time the 2016 Paralympic Games come around, rowing is going to be a highly competitive event.

We ended up funding nine boats with an original plan of eight. When Elle qualified we put a little bit of extra money into her effort and we had all of them in the final except the women's double which ended up winning the B Final by five seconds which shows they had the strength to be in that final as well. If you look at the whole team, we clearly have a huge team that we're supporting at the world championships with 27 boats including the adaptive boats. It was a lot of effort but I thought the whole squad worked well together. The coaching, administrative, and managerial staff put together a good team and I was really proud to be a part of it.

How are you approaching 2014 based off what you learned in 2013?
Curtis Jordan - Some things are working. Our ability to take the limited amount of funds that we do have and focus them in on the top athletes and boats that have a history of being able to produce medals has an impact and does work. We will always leave avenues for other boats to prove themselves so USRowing will continue to narrow our focus on a more limited number of athletes and boats that we are going to try and do well in. We're not trying to exceed our ability to manage things, and right now we feel like we can manage and fund about eight boats. We can manage that number of athletes with the coaching staff we have, and we are always looking for ways to better fund them.

The other thing we learned was that given the opportunity, our club system can really step up. Giving them the athletes and the opportunity by not hoarding athletes on the camp side, we can push other good athletes into our partner clubs around country. Those partner clubs that step up by hiring good coaches and provide the essentials for the athletes are doing quite well. We saw that there were a number clubs that produced good boats and this was their first year on that track. We think that in the next two or three years our clubs will really develop into a high performing system which will hopefully produce one or two additional crews that make the finals and maybe we'll get one more medal out of our club system which would be awesome.

What were some of the unexpected challenges of the first year?
Curtis Jordan - The first year was hard work because we changed the system. We had to hire coaches on the men's staff, as well as a new director of para-rowing, so that took up a lot of energy. I feel really good about our men's staff right now and I'm excited for Tom and his future with the women. Tom Darling is now our para-director and I think he's going to add a lot of direction on that side. Getting that hiring process behind us is good and now we can focus on fine tuning what we're doing.

Another challenge was figuring how to manage the large group for the World Championships. We went to Lucerne with a team of around forty-five athletes and the managerial group could handle that number efficiently. Then you take the same sized staff and try to structure a group of almost 125 total it was a real beast to manage in the weeks prior to getting over to Korea. Once we got over there the coaches and staff worked really well together, but it was a lot of work to keep it so the athletes felt like they could just focus on going fast. It was hard work, but I thought it was successful.

What are your thoughts on Sarasota officially hosting the 2017 World Championships and the 2020 Olympics being awarded to Tokyo?
Curtis Jordan - Sarasota excites me, in fact I just got back from a site visit there this weekend and it was awesome. I went down in November and even in that eight month period the amount of change and energy that's gone into it has been incredible. It's exciting to think about what it's going to look like when we get around to 2017. As much as Chungju raised the bar for a world championship, I think you're going to see Sarasota do the same thing and raise that experience even higher. The rowing world is really going to want to come for multiple reasons. That part of Florida is quite an exciting area with the access to the beaches, Disneyworld, Miami, whatever you want to do. It's going to be fun. To have a community like Sarasota that's so behind a civic project like that for rowing will give a great experience for everyone involved in it.

Looking at the plans for Tokyo, what I love about it, and what I like about Rio is that rowing is in the middle of everything. We're not a hour or entire venue away, rowing is right in the heart of the event which is very important for the experience and the feel for the athletes.

How much do you missing the coaching side of things?
Curtis Jordan - Maybe I'm just getting old but when I left Princeton I thought that'll be the last time I coach mainly because I thought I had the best job on the planet, why would I coach someplace else? Then when Australia called me up, I thought I have to go do that and I had an awesome time in Australia. My last year of coaching there was incredibly enjoyable and very satisfying. Now I'm back here and I'm perfectly happy not to be coaching. I really like what I'm doing right now.

SUPPORT ROW2K
If you enjoy and rely on row2k, we need your help to be able to keep doing all this. Though row2k sometimes looks like a big, outside-funded operation, it mainly runs on enthusiasm and grit. Help us keep it coming, thank you! Learn more.


Comments

Log in to comment
There are no Comments yet

Rowing Features
Rowing Headlines
ADVERTISEMENT
row2k media is not responsible for external ad content
Get our Newsletter!

Support row2k!

Tremendous thanks to our
row2k supporters!

Get Social with row2k!
Like row2k on Facebook Follow row2k on Twitter Follow row2k on Instagram Follow row2k on Youtube Connect with row2k on LinkedIn

Get the row2k app!

row2k rowing store!

Get our Newsletter!
Enter your email address to receive our weekly newsletter.

Support row2k!


Advertiser Index
Advertise on row2k