Finding a clear path of water for a full pressure piece on the Charles River in the early fall when high schools and colleges crews are in session can sometimes mean threading a needle through crews, bridges, and turns in several ways.
And that was making US men's coach Bryan Volpenhein a little nervous as he prepared to lineup the US men's four for a last training piece against the US lightweight men's quad in the "Powerhouse Stretch," the approximately 1200-meter patch of water that goes under River and Western Ave bridges. It is the only real direct line of rowing on the Charles below the Basin race course – and which by 8 AM Friday morning already looked like the commuter traffic buildup on the adjacent Storrow Drive on the Boston side of the river.
Lightweight quad coach Judith Vogel, who spends most of her time on the Charles with the crews she trains out of the Riverside Boat Club, was more confident in the Stretch, as well as when doing full pressure work on the incredibly busy river with multiple bridges that are often also in the same spots as the turns on the river.
Volpenhein wasn't so sure. As he eyed multiple crews rowing on both sides of him, he looked to Alex Richards, a Harvard University undergraduate who was taking time away from his collegiate team to represent the U.S at the 2017 World Championships that begin in Sarasota, FL, next Sunday.
"Is this where we're supposed to be?" Volpenhein asked Richards, who had a sort of 'yes, that's the way it's done' look and tried to reassure his coach. "Maybe just a little bit more to that side, but we should be OK," Richards said.
And off the two crews went, the light quad just taking it all in stride, as Volpenhein drove his launch behind the men's four, making sure they were steering clear of any issues. The piece went without a problem, the light quad turned to go back to Riverside, and Volpenhein pulled up to talk to his crew about how the morning workout had gone.
But before the coaching feedback to his crew after a series of what was probably the last time they will do simulated race work ahead of Sarasota, he had one thing to say about the last piece.
"We won't do that again!"
It's not that the crews ever came close to a problem. They didn't. But other than rowing in the Head of Charles, where he really never had to worrying about steering as a rower, Volpenhein was out of his comfort zone on the Charles, a few hundred miles from the buoyed course of the men's US training center on Lake Carnegie.
Welcome to life in the new training center model designed to attract collegiate athletes onto the national team, especially in a year when the world championships take place later than normal.
Without the flexible approach of Volpenhein and Mike Teti, who oversee the US men's national team that will race in Sarasota and start the 2020 Olympic cycle together, Richards could not have been selected to race in the men's four.
"I'm taking a full course load right now and it wouldn't have worked out for me to miss the first month of school," Richards said after the workout and back at the Newell Boathouse where he usually is when Harvard University is in full session.
"This is the only way it would have worked for me," he said. "It's something Mike Teti talked to me and a couple of other guys about this spring. He really wants undergrads to build into the next cycle, and I'm just really thankful that it all sort of clicked that we were able to train out of Newell and on the Charles. There's a lot of history here and it keeps things exciting. I'm really lucky to have had everything work out and the guys being able to come up to train."
After the workout, Volpenhein explained the idea of the moveable training center model. "It's definitely new, but we are trying to be a little bit more flexible with the guys. If they're in school or have jobs, or they need to be someplace else, we can work with them. We want the best athletes we can get, and that's what we're trying to do.
"I think the more we show the college coaches that we are willing to work with them, do what is best for them, and their athletes, it goes a long way. The coaches just want to make sure they are doing right by their athletes, and we want the same thing," he said.
"We want the guys long term, and if it makes a difference to come up here to help one of our guys stay in school, we have to do it. It's easy for me to move around a little bit, and some of the other guys are really flexible. And the Boston community is super supportive. They've housed and fed these guys, so it's been great."
And for the rest of the crew, all of whom are rowing on their first senior national team, Boston is an easy place to be, especially if it means having the best crew possible for the World Championships.
"It's nice," said Ben Ruble. "We have a good setup. We're staying with a host, and Harvard coach Charlie Butt has been working with us. We pretty much had to come up because Alex is still in school, but we've made it work really well.
"It's been a good experience for us and it changes things up. It's sort of like, the summer is over and now it's just prep rowing on some different water, so we can just focus on getting as fast as we can be," he said.
"It's been good," agreed Bobby Moffit." I've been part of the training center since last fall and it's been an exciting year, rebuilding and starting off with a lot of young guys and then having a lot of other guys come in over the summer to try and really create a fast team for the World Championships and the start of a new Olympic cycle."
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