Racice 2022 brings us to the first Worlds since USRowing announced the overhaul of its Selection Procedures and undertook its search for a new High Performance Director after the Tokyo Games, the search that brought Josy Verdonkschot from the Dutch team to the United States.
The biggest changes to the US system so far, as row2k discussed in this October 2021 feature, included a "shift to an emphasis on small boats" in a "cascading trials and camp process" as the USRowing release put it, the use of "Selectors"--that is, coaches from outside the day-to-day training and coaching process--who ran and the big boat camps, and the ability for athletes who won spots in those boats to then name their own coach.
Underpinning all of that was a pronounced shift away from the Training Center model and an emphasis on using rowing clubs across the US to lay the ground work, this quadrennial, for Paris 2024 and LA2028 beyond that.
This group of existing (and some new) sites, now designated as "High Performance Clubs," is now the main engine for year-round training, preparing athletes for NSR's, Trials, and the camps run by the selectors--all overseen by Verdonkschot in his role as High Performance Director.
A full list of the current High Performance Clubs can be found here, and there are US athletes on the 2022 team from more than ten of these clubs, plus of course a group of National Team veterans who continued to train in Princeton, long the home of the National Team Training Center, where they had jobs and the support of the facilities at Mercer Lake.
row2k caught up in Racice with the coaches of three of these clubs--California Rowing Club, Craftbury's Green Racing Project, and the Penn Athletic Club--to learn more about their clubs worked together to help create this year's National Team under this new framework.
In those discussions, Steven Whelpley, the Craftsbury GRP coach and chair of USRowing's High Performance Committee, summed up the way the clubs have worked, under Verdonkschot's guidance, towards the common goal of a fast US team in the run up to Paris 2024:
"Starting this summer, Verdonkschot started to share base training programs with myself and some of the athletes. I found it a very fruitful process to follow his expectations and tweak to our situation as need be. Instead of an entirely blank canvas, it feels more like, 'Here. These are your colors. Now, paint a National Team rower in the image of this individual.'"
Here is the rest of what we asked, and found out:
What was different about how things worked this year, and what did you have to do to adapt as a coach or as a club?
Bill Manning - Penn AC - M2x Coach
The biggest difference for me was understanding what an athlete had to do to earn an invitation to a USRowing Camp and thus being able to guide the athletes and "peak" for the selection opportunities. Rather than guessing how selections would be made, we could attack training with the purpose of meeting the published standard. This clarity empowered the athletes.
The second big difference was holding selection events earlier in the year.
Skip Kielt - California RC - M1x, M2- Coach
In many ways we have continued to develop athletes and run the California Rowing Club similar to how the site operated when it was the Oakland Training Center. For instance, we have retained our coaching staff--Mike Teti as head coach, myself, and Tim McLaren as a consultant--and our PT--Deirdre McLoughlin--to stay on with CRC.
The club started organically at first this past year. A few athletes that lived in Oakland decided they wanted to continue training after the Tokyo Olympics. Guys just came down and started to row. That's essentially how it began, so a number athletes that were part of the training center last year are now members of the club. There is continuity in coaching, athletes, and environment. To us, the most important thing to provide is an environment where the athletes can row for multiple Olympic cycles--and our roster is all 25 or younger. For those that have the ability and drive, we would hope that LA2028 continues to be an option for many of them. Success takes time, consistency, and good effort...all traits we want to foster.
In other ways, our make-up as a club is much different than when we were the "Men's Training Center." First, the athletes choose to be at CRC. For better or worse, there is no obligation for the rowers to train at one centralized location. They have choice. With USRowing's new HP model, there are many ways to make the National Team from any club. Second, we are not involved in selecting the crews. Our job as a club is to train and prepare the athletes for either a trials event or a selection camp for the World Championships and Olympics. We are excited to support USRowing in that regard.
Stephen Whelpley - Craftsbury Green Racing Project - M4x Coach
We definitely needed to give a longer leash to independent training this year. Athletes needed time and space in order to sort their days as necessary. This mostly manifested in our secondary or afternoon workouts. It seemed to work fine, but it also left the results even more in the hands of the athletes.
I used training levels for each athlete in relation to World's Best for the first time. Not heart rate or power zones, but a personal percentage of World's Best. I would then take them, adjust it for the weather and the type of workout, and provide them with a steady percentage of how they were doing against themselves. It's a tool that is always relevant, but was perhaps pandemic inspired.
How are you scheduling training: are you writing your own plans, or are you talking to other clubs and the national director and creating a plan from there?
Skip Kielt - California RC - M1x, M2- Coach
Scheduling the training plan depends on the time of year. Generally, for the majority of the season while the athletes are at the club, they will follow the schedule we put out for them. We tailor it to suit the demands of what's required for each month. If they need to submit an erg test, we will prepare them for that. If they need to attend a trials event, we will prepare them for that. If they are in a crew we will coach for the World Championship, we will prepare them for that.
This summer, Josy has sent out a general training plan for everyone to use, should they choose to. Of course, the M2- and M1x that we train might need something different from the M8+ from time to time, and we have the discretion to provide a plan and train the athletes according to their needs. The workouts and milage are similar enough.
Stephen Whelpley - Craftsbury Green Racing Project - M4x Coach
Up until very recently, I would always create our own training plan. I pull from various training plans and methodologies I've done in the past or studied, and then adapt that to each individual's physiology. During 2021, we regularly did a variation of the Jansen protocol, where we did 60', 1', :10, 6k or 2k, and a lactate step test. We'd use that to inform a few individual workouts a week.
Starting this summer, HPCO Josy Verdonkschot started to share base training programs with myself and some of the athletes. I found it a very fruitful process to follow his expectations and tweak those to our situation as needed.
Bill Manning - Penn AC - M2x Coach
Before Trials II, we wrote our own plan that fit our athletes' work schedules and our training environment. Most Penn AC athletes stayed on this plan except for Mike Clougher who began following the training program devised by Josy, Tom Terhaar, and Steve Gladstone once the May Camp began.
After Trials II, Sorin Koszyk & Tom Phifer [the US M2x] largely followed Josy's plan. With some modification, they continue following this plan here at Worlds. Having most of the crews training together and largely following Josy's plan at Mercer before Worlds was great fun and highly productive.
Additionally, Penn AC athlete Finn Putnam trained in New York City this summer due to work commitments. The NYAC--Rob Milam and Coach Michael Martinov--looked after him before he and his partner Greg Davis came back to Philly to prepare for Trials II.
The current system requires clubs to interact to some extent, which has sometimes worked in the past and sometimes not; what are your impressions on how this could work well?
Stephen Whelpley - Craftsbury Green Racing Project - M4x Coach
There's really only the usual club interaction going on so far. If you're in need of making a team boat and not sure you have the right combination, then you team up with the other locations. That has always been the case.
I think there's some budding collaboration going on just for the sake of trying new things and mixing things up. However, the beauty of the new system under Josy is that there are many more comings and goings as a National Team. Meaning, it doesn't matter so much what club you row for because you will see each other more often in purposeful camps where you unite very directly in training, technique, and literally in boats.
I think this has a lot of potential, if we all work towards known standards and provide enough avenues for development. There's less of an effort to lobby for a boat class that one club or another "holds on" to, and more of an effort to develop athletes to the international standard.
Bill Manning - Penn AC - M2x Coach
Clubs working together is essential for international success under the current system. It worked well for Mike Clougher to train with California RC following his selection as a sweep athlete to the Senior Team. Mike Teti and Skip Kielt contributed greatly to his continued development this year. It worked well for Sorin Koszyk to come to Penn AC from CRC before the July Selection Camp and spend time with our group. Additionally, Finn Putnam benefited from the opportunities that the NYAC gave him this summer.
As long as clubs like Penn AC, CRC, and the NYAC, as well as their coaches, continue prioritizing what's best for the athletes and do not worry too much about who gets credit for an athlete's success, then the system can work. Of course, most clubs still need more resources to serve the athletes as well as they deserve. If the clubs are going to do more, as they want to, then they need more support.
Skip Kielt - California RC - M1x, M2- Coach
I think there has been good collaboration between the clubs! In the winter, a couple Craftsbury and OKC-HPC athletes joined us in Oakland to train for a week or two, and that was beneficial for everyone. Sorin Koszyk is also rowing with Tom Phifer from Penn AC in the M2x, which has been a good partnership for both athletes, and Penn AC's Bill Manning is coaching them. There have been multiple coaches selecting and coaching our athletes this summer and I coached the M4x (all non CRC athletes) for a week while we trained in Italy and raced at Henley.
There is some give and take, but it goes both ways, and in the end everyone agrees that whatever benefits the athletes is most important. It comes down to having an open line of communication between the different groups. That will dictate if it is a positive experience or not.
How did the athletes at your club specifically do this year, in terms of training and progressing towards earning a spot on the team?
Bill Manning - Penn AC - M2x Coach
Two Penn AC athletes made the Senior National Team this year and are racing at the World Championships. The first, Tom Phifer, made huge strides in his sculling, developed as a racer, and also got more fit. Doing this helped him win Summer Nationals and earn an invitation to the July Selection Camp. At Camp he was paired with former Penn AC/current California RC athlete Sorin Koszyk in the Double. Together they won Trials.
The second, Mike Clougher, came to Penn AC after a disappointing performance at Trials 1. He then made the A Final at Trials II and earned an invitation to the May Camp, where he made the Team and is now racing in the Men's Eight. There were other Penn AC athletes who failed to make the Senior Team this year, but they still benefited from racing in more than one selection regatta.
Skip Kielt - California RC - M1x, M2- Coach
This year the athletes took a lot of personal ownership over their training and results. They understood that training was training, and that the only pressure on them was to improve.
All told, 15 athletes from the club were selected for the US Senior National Team.
This spring, at the Trials, Ben Davison won the M1x and Justin Best and Mike Grady won the M2-. The rest of the team had positive results as well, and in the end we qualified the entire roster for selection camp through either an NSR, Trial, or erg result--an achievement that Mike and I are most proud of for the club.
In June at World Cup II, the M4-, M2-, and M1x were all comprised of California Rowing Club athletes, and each of those boats came home with a Bronze medal. The 1x and 2- also qualified themselves for the World Championships with that result. We had a composite Men's 8+, Men's 1x, and Women's 2- race at Henley. The Women's 2- won the Hambleden Cup, which was our first women's crew to win Henley Royal Regatta!
During the summer, we hosted 14 post graduate or college-aged athletes at the club. Mike took them on a training trip to Croatia in July to row with the Sinkovic brothers for 10 days. Five athletes from that group got invited to the Selection Camp directly after returning home, while the remaining athletes stayed on to race at Canadian Henley at the end of August, where they won the Champ 2-, Senior 4-, Sr 2-, U23 2x, and U23 1x.
Stephen Whelpley - Craftsbury Green Racing Project - M4x Coach
In the end, we wound up with 5 direct residents on the team, and a few more in the way of alums and training partners.
To me, training this year still felt like a tough third 500. It still feels as if we're emerging from the irregularities of the pandemic. This is in a practical sense in terms of planning, but also an emotional and psychological sense in terms of tolerances, adaptability, and resilience.
The team did great pushing through our first regular year, but like many college athletes, there were people foreign to the cadence and requirements. I've heard about college programs having athletes going into their last year of college without knowing what a spring training trip was or what championship races were like. Similarly, although we had traveled and trained during 2021, this was the first "regular" year for athletes in terms of duration, expectation, and occurrences.
Additionally, we're all still in some process of recovery from the pandemic. Athletes did a good job showing up for each training, but I'd be kidding if I said it was business as usual for any of us. It took some additional fortitude and steadiness to keep at things.
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