THE WORLD COMES FULL CIRCLE little bit of the stroke, no problem, but actu- ally getting them to do that with the legs and to accelerate is what takes a lot of time. “The biggest problem for American coaches today is that they don’t get to coach small boats. If they did, then they would see the inefficiency of attacking the catch. “It’s the culture. If you could get the culture of everyone just rowing in eights to change, then there wouldn’t be that issue. “As it has been with the men, rowing pairs has been the biggest educator for the women athletes on the National Team, so basically it’s been my job to get them com- fortable in the small boats first and foremost. I feel that if you let everyone row the pairs, you don’t have to coach nearly as intensive- ly because they’re getting a tremendous amount of feedback themselves.”8268 Anna Mickelson, 2004 5-seat, told me she did just dreadfully early on in a pair: “The stronger you are, the more likely it is that you will be terrible in a small boat as you get started. For a while, my teammates did not want to be paired with me, and my coaches wondered if I would ever get it. “My best pair rows were always with amazing women who could row a pair with anyone and win. It was Lianne Nelson, Megan Cooke and Portia McGee8269 who led me to win races in small boats. “Each member of the squad worked tire- lessly in pairs and singles. [By 2008,] we could field three pairs competitive at the World Cup stops, and the other combina- tions were not far behind.”8270 Big Blades Terhaar: “If you think about it, there’s been another innovation in rowing that has 8268 Terhaar, op. cit. 8269 For Nelson, see Chapter 153. The latter two would make the U.S. Women’s Eight in 2006. 8270 Qtd. by Liz Bernal, Summer Downsizing, Rowing News, August 2010, p. 36 dramatically changed the way that people row, and that’s the big blade. There is a lot less skill involved. You can get away with a lot more. “I’m not an expert, but I would say that before the big blades when there was less surface area with a less efficient blade, if you got on it quicker and harder, perhaps you were going to get a little bit more bounce out of the boat, maybe a little bit more speed. “Maybe it made sense. It was ineffi- cient, but you could definitely get away with hitting it without as many repercussions, whereas today when you’ve got a lot of sur- face area and you hit it, there’s a lot more resistance initially, and then in the second half of the stroke there’s nothing. More Sprack Back8271 Terhaar: “The Canadian men have made a definite impression on me. “There are some things which make boats win consistently. Obviously, first and foremost, you have to have the athletes. You have to have the right bodies and the right heads. That’s always a constant, but watching the Canadians row, it’s fantastic because it’s something new and different and makes you think. It makes you evalu- ate, and watching them row, I saw some- thing very specific, and a lot of it had to do with training. “There wasn’t a lot of technical coach- ing of the layback with the Canadian men. It was something that the athletes came up with themselves. This is second hand, of course, but I’ve heard they were just rowing in small boats and trying to move the boat as far as they could at a controlled stroke rate, and they found that if they just really hauled off on it, they got a little bit more out of it. “I have a lot of respect for Mike Spracklen because the guy has been win- 8271 See Chapter 151. 2317
