In collegiate sports, team chemistry can be discovered in various ways. Grand Valley State's John Bancheri, who is in his 7th year as the Head Coach/Director of Rowing for the men's and women's team, has the keen ability to gain his rowers trust in two philosophies – the bow ball philosophy and the Kaizen Philosophy of perpetual improvement.
"Either you are getting better or your opponent is," Bancheri said referring to the Kaizen Philosophy. "The alternative would be stagnation and we believe everyone has three core areas they have to improve upon (Technical, Physiological, Psychological). We call this the Total Athletic Capacity and as we develop our athletes everyone strives to improve their limiting factor."
"In regard to the bow ball philosophy the men's and women's team work together. This is something we take a lot of pride in. We call this the "Happy Boathouse" program. The men and women work hard to support one another and make each other faster. That inner team and boat mantra we call the bow ball philosophy. In the end it is all about the bow ball, not the individual."
Grand Valley State senior Marco Benedetti added, "If you bring an ego into the boat you might as well bring an anchor. If you can't accept that you're part of something bigger than yourself then you won't succeed. Any time you put your own interest in front of the team's you are sacrificing boat speed."
Located in Allendale, Michigan, the Lakers were able to take advantage of the mild winter and get onto the river one week ahead of schedule. So far in 2012 the Lakers are off to their best start since the 2009 season when the Women's Varsity Heavyweight Eight captured their first Dad Vail Regatta gold medal.
"We are off to a great start this spring," said Bancheri. "I think we may even surpass the level of success we achieved in 2009. The great thing about this year is that all of our boats have done well and those at the bottom level are continuing to improve."
When Bancheri holds his first session in the fall, he usually sees 120 students that come out wanting to row. Throughout the fall, Bancheri gets everyone involved and uses the pushing from the bottom tactic to make his crews faster and more competitive.
When his crews return for the spring season, Bancheri starts pulling from the top to develop what will become his Men's and Women's Heavyweight Varsity Eight crews.
"I believe this philosophy has been the key for our continued success," Bancheri said. "Athletes who do not make the top crew work harder to try and earn a spot while the athletes in the top boat continue to work hard to keep their spot."
Following a tough 2011 season for a young Men's Varsity Heavyweight crew, team president and captain Marco Benedetti wanted to assure improvement prior to the start of this season. Benedetti said, "The guys are incredibly focused on getting faster. Placing 10th at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta last year left a bad taste in our mouth and most of our crew has been training since early June. There are hardly any egos in our boat, we do our work and we do not take criticism personally. We know that each one of our seats is on the line and we never feel secure. Our other varsity boat has contributed a great deal to our success as well."
After tasting victory at the Dad Vail Regatta in 2009, the Women's Varsity Heavyweight Eight would love to once again claim another gold medal.
Bancheri said, "To me personally, winning the 2009 Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta is one of the three rowing highlights of my career. My Assistant coach Mark McIlduff said we have the speed to win at the D1 (Division 1) level and our 2V (second varsity or junior varsity) had the ability to medal. Well, he was right. That was a great year and to have a mentor, the University of Buffalo Coach Rudy Wieler, come and congratulate us on our win, just added to the highlight."
With the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta less than three weeks away, Bancheri will hold his annual 'Dad Vail Training Camp' on Lake Lenape (NJ) from Sunday May 6 through Thursday May 10. Bancheri, a former high school rower at Atlantic City High School in the early 1970's, will have his former high school coach Robert Garbutt spend some sessions discussing race tactics with his guys team. Normally he would have his guest work with his men's and women's team, but Mr. Garbutt' s son Danny coaches at Old Dominion who will be racing against his women's team.
When the Aberdeen Dad Vail launches on May 11 and 12 in Philadelphia, Bancheri hopes his philosophies and the strong showing of his crews during the spring will lead to a Dad Vail medal at the awards dock.
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