Making the jump
It's the most spur-of-the-moment decision I've ever made in my rowing career: deciding to get certified as a USRowing coach. It wasn't that bad really--some 10 hours before the first session, I managed to go fix my USRowing membership status (oops) online, email Willie Black at USRowing just in case (it didn't matter), and then print out directions to the clinic location, which happened to be a local tech company, taught by a level 3 certified coach who works at that tech company--whose name I knew by reputation at the company where I'm currently interning. Small world.
They say that you can be grandfathered into level 1 coaching status after five years of coaching experience. I think this applies to five years of collegiate rowing (or coxing, at least) as well. Out of all the attendees there (there were less than ten, though some had signed up and not shown), I was probably the only one who had ever read through the Rules of Rowing (albeit two years ago). I appreciated the refresher though--you never know what you don't remember.
A lot of what level 1 manual covers came naturally to mind from past experiences. The first aid and safety sections brought to mind various certifications and past viewings of the infamously old USRA safety video (haven't seen a coxed quad, ever). The official USRA emphasis on safety however, is monstrous. I don't think a typical aluminum john boat would fit all the required coaching safety equipment recommended--and coaching launches should be able to handle the coach's weight plus eight rowers' weight plus coxswain's weight...makes me wonder about the coaches I see out on the water with small launches.
Some of the material covered was new to me, or had never really been brought to conscious attention. Manipulating or using team dynamics to achieve a certain goal, or to improve a certain aspect of rowing, for one, was not something I'd ever considered, since I'd never been in a position to do so. Working with parents (there were some stories told by instructor and participants!) of juniors was another fun topic to cover, especially in the context of developing a growing athlete when your goals for the athletes may not mesh with the parents' goals.
The clinic also reminded me that there are many rowers in the USRA who are not rowing competitively--over ten separate reasons to row were listed that did not have to do with boatspeed and competition. This wasn't and hasn't been something I've gotten used to, but I'm working on it as a coxswain. Hopefully as a potential coach, I'd understand that from talking with rowers about their goals and what they want to get out of rowing.
It was funny to me that the majority of clinic attendees were most interested in hearing about drills and how to make a rower do such-and-such. I feel like I could write down ten or twenty core drills that I think would serve to refine the basics of the rowing stroke at any given moment, but here were these other future coaches, some accomplished rowers, looking for ideas. Perhaps I'm just being overconfident, or perhaps my years in the college ranks have really pushed me up and over the majority of the learning curve. It could be interesting if/when I ever actually have to coach people--battle plans never survive first contact with the enemy. Also, having dealt with younger kids for a lot of my life, I feel that portion of coaching could come easily to me...but that's contingent on their respect for me, which I suppose I ought to assume needs to be earned, just to be safe.
What am I going to do with a basic coaching certification? Upgrade it when I can, is the immediate answer. The three-year continuing education requirement is also something to think about. But to juggle coaching with school is going to be difficult if I try--there are plenty of volunteer opportunities and even partially compensated opportunities around here. We'll see. For now, the level 1 certification serves to remind me that rowing and I are not done with each other.