row2k talked to US men's eight coach Mike Teti on the eve of the crews departure for the final Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne; as most folks know, the US men's eight did not qualify for a spot in the Olympics at last year's World Championships, and subsequently USRowing hired Teti to select and coach the men's eight to the final qualifier, and to the Olympics if successful. On Tuesday, the crew will face France and New Zealand in a winner-takes-all final for the sole remaining spot in the men's eight in the 2012 Olympics.
How was selection different from those you have gone through in the past given the circumstances?
I think it's different in that normally, when I was thinking back and looking at all the training logs I have, of the 12 years I was coaching the national team eight, I would say there were only maybe three of them where there was a real selection. By that I mean, in the course of your normal training during the year, the boat pretty much selected itself. Where this time, there were some of the guys I knew, some I didn't know, and just to sort through everybody we just had to do a lot of race pieces. So we're trying to manage it so that some of it we did normal training, but some of the guys were moving the boat really well at 28, and not so well at 36. I'm not really used to getting up to this race pace so soon. You know, like in April (laughs). So that was different.
How do you manage a really early peak, and then possibly looking at two peaks?
I would feel more comfortable if they get through this, because I do think we have time. The first one, really, they have to be able to come down the course at race cadence, and it's early in the season, and they have to get it right the first time. So we did do a lot more higher rate, higher intensity stuff than we would have done in the past. For example, if it was any other year, I would say, okay at 28 we're rowing over 2k at these times, okay we're on target. Or at 32, and we're okay. Well now, we have to do this at 36 with a full racing start and a full lift. I'm just not used to getting up to speed that quickly.
So as far as managing it, by doing a lot of race pieces it is fatiguing, so we try to do it where we go a little bit more for quality than quantity. So maybe we just do two pieces, or one piece, or just change the lineup around and do one piece, with a couple days break in between.
Have you seen any big surprises with this group of athletes?
Oh yeah. Steve Kasprzyk, who I didn't really know, from the very beginning he was winning a lot of the pieces. He made a big difference. When I moved David Banks into the stern that seemed to make a difference, and I don't ever remember David being in the stern; he was always either bow or two.
On that point, how hard was it to finalize this lineup and how did it come together?
What was really hard was to decide who was going to stroke. That was the hard part. Because I thought we had guys who rowed well, we had guys who had good power, but not a whole lot of experience at stroke seat. So initially, I went through and tried to get the most powerful guys in stroke seat, and that wasn't really working. And then as we were going down the line, we came up with a lineup and had Ross James stroking. And that seemed to be where we kind of turned the corner, because it made a difference in that all the bigger guys just had way more time, and that's where we got the big drop in times, when we moved him to stroke seat.
And then we switched Grant into the boat at seven seat, so we had the James twins in the stern pair. The boat was going well, but still I had all this power in the bow five. I had Will Miller in bow, I had Juice in two, all this power in the bow, so I thought, okay, if we row a starboard stroked boat, then I can slide everyone up. So I figured let's row a starboard-stroked boat, and I moved David up to seven. And that seemed to go a little better, the times were maybe a little bit faster. And then we went from there. And I do think that this lineup we have now, I think it is good for this regatta, but if they get through it, I suspect that it will change.
The selection was hard because we had a lot of guys that were interchangeable. To give some examples, Mike Gennaro was doing really well, Mike Blomquist was doing really well. Tom Peszek was doing really well. All those guys could be in the boat. It seemed like we had a lot of interchangeable parts, mostly in the bow four, but we weren't really getting anything in the stern. Nothing was really working. Then we switched the James twins up there, and David into six, it went way better, and then we slid David to seven and switched to starboard stroke, and it went a little better. So I felt comfortable that at least Grant has stroked before – he stroked the Wisconsin boat, he stroked under-23, so he does have experience, so it's not like I'm sending someone out there who has never stroked before. Then I think David has been to the Olympics, so I feel like we have a pretty solid guy at seven, and that's what we went with.
There are number of veterans did not make it, including guys you have boated before. Did the younger guys just take it away? Was that tough for you, and for them?
Yeah, it's hard. You think back and you look at guys like Josh Inman and Dan (Walsh) and Steve (Copolla) who have won medals for us, and worked really hard, and it wasn't like they were doing badly. You know, I think that this eight is not the best eight guys, but it was the best combination that we could come up with in a short period of time. I can't say that this one guy is better than this other, I can't say that. I just think this combination fit better.
How do you see the crew's chances at this point, given the information you have?
I think if they row the times that they have been rowing out here, I think they are going to be in good shape. What I'm nervous about is that you travel over there, you get in a little bit different boat, different blades, different environment, and there is just no room for having a flat race; you can't have a flat piece. There's no repechage. When we went to the Beijing Olympics, okay, it wasn't a great piece in the heats, but we had the rep, and we had the whole week to kind of correct it. So we were a little bit better, and we were ascending into the final. Whereas here, you can't do that. It's gotta be right on the first time, nothing can go wrong. That's what keeps me on edge.
Thinking back to months ago, what motivated you to take on this challenge in addition to the other things you are doing?
It's a couple of things. First, I'm good friends with Tim, and I think Tim is a really good coach, and if he felt like I could be helpful, then I wanted to help him. That is primary. The second thing I would say is that I rowed on the US team, I coached the US team, and I want to see the team do well. So again if they felt like I could be helpful, then I wanted to see if I could help, I felt like I couldn't say no.
How has it gone juggling the coaching logistics of three championships this month, two teams?
I think as far as practice goes it has been fine, that hasn't been an issue. It's more all the other stuff (laughs). You know this, when you're coaching in college, coaching is probably about eight percent of what you do. The other 92 percent is all kinds of issues – you have academic issues, disciplinary issues, all that stuff, and you have to be available. Plus, it is a state university, and there are meetings, and other benchmarks we have to have, there's fundraising, and that's what makes it time consuming.
If it was just coaching two boats, that's not a big deal. You have your varsity and JV – like generally in the fall at Cal, I go out with the bottom three eights of guys, so I figure I am out there with three eights anyway, so it's not that big a deal. What made it hard and time-consuming was all the other stuff. And I think that there's a stress level, you want to perform well, you want the team to do well, you have responsibility for that, and you want to make sure that you are giving your best for the athletes who deserve it. I think all these athletes deserve for me to be at my best. You know, I'm sure I wasn't every day, but we try to do the best we can.
Any final thoughts before you leave for the racing?
I'm grateful for the opportunity. I'm grateful to Tim, to Glenn, to Matt, those three guys in particular. And obviously when you're taking up two endeavors like this, your family has to pick up the load, so I'm grateful that I have a loving wife and child that understand the importance of it, and they have been really supportive.
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