What is The Princeton Hot Seat?
The Princeton Hot Seat is a new recurring photo blog to highlight the transient nature of the rowing community in the Princeton, New Jersey area. It's open to anyone directly involved with the sport of rowing that comes to Princeton on rowing "business". Could be rowers, coxswains, coaches, boatmen, officials, etc.
How does the Hot Seat Work?
Each subject gets four questions to answer, the first of which is simply, why are you here (in Princeton)? Then the subject randomly draws the remaining three from a pool of pre-determined questions, of which half are rowing related, half are not...and can be pretty random. They get one pass.
On the Hot Seat today is Sara Lombardi of the 2012 USA Olympic W2-.
Princeton Hot Seat - Why are you in Princeton?
Sara Lombardi - I am in Princeton to compete in the women's pair for the National Selection Regatta I.
PHS - If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?
SL - That's easy, a french bulldog puppy. It's already on the list of things we are definitely getting!
PHS - If you were coaching novices, how would you teach the catch?
SL - That's an interesting question because of the type of training I have been doing for the past 2 years. It's slightly different than the typical way you would train for rowing as we've been doing different movements and exercises in the gym to teach us body awareness, positioning, and how to take the rowing stroke. I would teach novices the catch in two parts. The first being the way you place the blade, which is a finesse thing. That's where the skill in rowing comes into play so you need to teach agility for that. Drilling the drop of the blade over and over helps to master this movement. I've also found that incorporating varied movements into your training develops athletic ability and feel. Our gym training has evolved us into well-rounded athletes with a lot more touch.
Then the second part is how you connect with the water. Weightlifting is a great tool because the connection you feel to the barbell is very similar to your connection to the oar in rowing. The key is using your bodyweight and not your muscle mass. You have to be patient and feel the bend of the weight come off the ground the same way that you have to wait to feel the bend of the oar in the water before you push.
PHS - What coach has had the most impact on your rowing and why?
SL - Lori Dauphiny, as she grew my love and passion for the sport and she taught me an insane level of toughness. She's very good at teaching you how to have grit and get through any type of situation.
Coming to Princeton and want to give the hot seat a go? Contact row2k here.
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