row2k Features
How Not to Host a Learn-To-Row Day
June 17, 2013
Amanda Milad, row2k

Safety First!

So, you've coerced some innocent passers-by to come through the doors of your boathouse and try their hand at rowing. How do you take the purest of novices and show them in a few short hours how to enjoy life's greatest pleasure? There are many ways to do it right, but here are five ways not to host a learn-to-row day:

Be very serious
Instead, remember you are not coaching an Olympian. Or an IRA Champion. Or even a frosh rower. This stranger who followed the signs into your boathouse was looking to mix-up his regular Saturday afternoon routine of mowing the lawn and painting the fence. He wants a little fun; to try something new. And now he is sitting in a skinny boat, feet tied in with two hands on a clunky oar wondering what the heck he was thinking.

The best thing you can do for him is to make sure he's safe and having the time of his life. Smile. Laugh. Crack a joke or two. Just make sure for that hour he is on the water, he can forget his worries on land the same way you can when you shove off the dock every morning. At the end of the day, we're all rowers because we love rowing; and the love of rowing starts with fun.

Do it all alone
Instead, recruit everyone in your boathouse! They'll get to know each other a little better and you will have a smoother event with more hands on deck. Everyone gets to show their strengths: erg instructor, cheery greeter, safety checker or extra rower. Get your teammates to wear their unis, show off their muscles and get in a boat. The best thing you can do for your learn-to-rowers is to give them training wheels - aka an experienced bow pair. This bow pair has the best job in the world: sit there, look pretty, and try to keep the boat set.

Early Learners
Early Learners
Lose your cool
Some people will hop into a shell and just get it. They'll have decent timing, will put their blade in the water when told, and they'll remember what seat they are for at least half the row. Others just won't get it. When everyone else is at the catch, they'll insist on sitting at the finish, when bow 4 is rowing, they'll be in 6-seat hauling-ass and they'll completely let go of the oar to wave to their friends on shore.

It will be okay. Really, it will. Instead of losing your cool, this is the time as a coach when it's interesting to start thinking of new ways to describe the stroke, to break it down for them. The catch can be the "curled-up position" and the squared blade can be the "high-five way." I promise, FISA won't come after you for manipulating a few terms. If you are patient, and relaxed around the newbies, you will avoid a frustrated learner. Someone was patient with you as a new rower, now, for a few hours, you get to practice the same virtue as you pass on a sliver of knowledge.

Coach a Technical Practice
Immediately reassess your decision if you start try to teach any drills to a boat that has been together for fewer minutes than it takes you to rig your single. Pat yourself on the back if you have considered racing two boats worth of rowers who have been such for the same amount of time. Though we sometimes believe it, we're not the only competitive people on the planet. Your learn-to-row class is made up of people who want to challenge themselves, who want to push the boundaries. Let them. Instead of technique, realize there's really nothing as epic as a ten-stroke learn-to-row race by 6's. It really surpasses the greatness of any major regatta. Try it sometime.

Do it just once
Instead, make it an annual event. Either with the USRowing National Learn-to-Row Day, or with in conjunction with a community event near your boathouse. Swing open the bay doors and invite the crowds in. One year it will be raining and you'll have five attendees who just want to learn-to-erg. The next year you will have the most perfect summer day and will have the privilege of educating your community about our wonderful sport. There's a mystery to the little boats that cruise up and down the rivers around the world in the dim sunlight of dusk and dawn. It's incredible what a single afternoon of education and excitement can do both internally to build friendships within the club and externally with your larger community. Reach out—not everyone will become a lifelong rower, but for that one person who falls in love with the sport, it will be a forever-memorable day.

Have any other recommendations on what to do – or not to do – on a learn to row day? Add them in the comments below; enjoy!

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