THE SPORT OF ROWING 169. Segmented Kernschlag Anne Marden – Xeno Müller – Tiff Wood Die Bodensee Bullen – Sarah Garner Where Does Kernschlag Come From? If Schubschlag has been so overwhelm- ingly successful over history, why have so many techniques during the last two hundred years repeatedly mutated toward a dysfunc- tional segmented-force Kernschlag? Think back to English Orthodoxy, Fairbairnism, 1st Generation Conibear, Jim Rathschmidt at Yale, the followers of George Pocock and the followers of such seminal coaches as Frank Muller, Allen Rosenberg, Thor Nil- sen, Hartmut Buschbacher, Harald Jährling, Al Morrow, of athletes such as Derek Porter and Silken Laumann. This is Rowing History’s most repeated pattern, Rowing History’s Greatest Les- son.8792 The answer seems to be simple human nature. When one is pulling one’s hardest and is still a bit behind in a race, it is natural to want to do something aggressive and af- firmative to improve the situation. U.S. Women’s Coach Tom Terhaar: “The number one reason why everyone in America attacks the catch is not a technical thing. It’s a psychological thing! “You’re in an eight, you’re going, you want to win, and logically your body is tell- ing you that if you put more pressure on . . .”8793 8792 See Chapter 18. 8793 Terhaar, personal conversation, 2004 Seattle Coach Paul Smith: “In working with a coxed-four this year, one of the most difficult things was to get them to stop tear- ing the water. As they would describe it, ‘If we pull hard, we tear the water,’ but I con- tinued to implore them to ‘learn how to pull hard without tearing the water.’ “They are starting to get it through the use of what we refer to as ‘zero pressure rowing’ (getting a good hold on the water through the whole stroke but not tearing) at ever increasing rates. There is a lot less sense of ‘force’ being generated by each oarsman, but the speed of the boat belies the rowers’ perception of the effort they are ex- pending. “The real problem to overcome is the apparent primal need to feel as if we are ‘working hard.’”8794 Kernschlag feels empowering. You can pull with more authority. You can do some- thing immediate. You can take control. If you were in Joe Burk’s light boat,8795 at each catch you could pull four lights, however briefly, instead of just two or three. In boxing, a punch is so much more ef- fective in disabling an opponent than a shove, and it is so much more emotionally satisfying! Exploding at the catch is real and vis- ceral. You can see it and hear it and feel it. It is macho. It’s Semper Fi. In a sport 8794 P. Smith, personal correspondence, 2008 8795 See Chapter 91. 2474
