Blogs
From Pocock High Performance Team and Junior Women’s Coach Steve Dani and 2010 US LW 2x member Abby Broughton
Steve - I find video analysis programs very helpful in organizing video and making nuanced and subtle technical points very clear on the screen - like blade angles, body angles, and drive time. Without such programs, I play back video on a TV and have to use a lot more verbal explanation to cover what the program demonstrates onscreen for me.
When reviewing video with athletes, I make sure that it is just one tool that I am using with them. It has to be combined with other forms of feedback and should not be viewed in a vacuum. I try to make a link between what they are seeing on the screen to what they are feeling in the boat. I go on to provide drills that can help them make the change and understand what it might feel and look like from their perspective. Videoing can be very useful in bridging the gap between their perspective of what they are doing in the boat and actuality. However, video is two dimensional and it can be difficult to analyze the three dimensional movement of the rower and the boat; video is a great tool, though, to add to your repertoire of technical coaching techniques.
Abby - I've been using video analysis as a training tool since I took my first rowing strokes. In collegiate sweep rowing, video was largely used to help us notice our big technical weaknesses, and to help us match more precisely. When I moved to sculling after college and started training on the elite level, video analysis was essential to my development. It was video sessions that gave me the concepts and mental images I needed to know what to be focusing on as I put in kilometer after kilometer on my own. Most of the video I used was of myself analyzed through Dartfish, where the coach could break the stroke down in many different ways to the tiniest degree and show me, over and over again, exactly what I needed to change, visually turning bad habits into changeable concepts.
As my rowing has developed, I've spent much more time watching videos of other people row. As my technique has improved and there are fewer drastic changes to be made, I find it is more useful to see as much "perfect" rowing as possible, to be able to visualize myself rowing as do Olympic gold medalists and other speedy rowers. For example, I may spend an entire training session visualizing myself rowing as Olympic gold medalist Adrien Hardy of France. Although I cannot row the same way as a heavyweight man, imagining myself rowing his powerful rhythm or being that relaxed and confident with every stroke, allows me to push beyond my own habits and expectations without getting stuck in a technical rut.
Another way I've found video helpful is through watching recordings of international races and the many different ways in which they can unfold. This has helped me think about strategy, confidence, and how I want to approach my own races. This past summer we watched races of crews winning from the first ten strokes, crews winning from behind, crazy all-out sprints, crews using a big lead in the first thousand to maintain the win and cruise to the finish line, and races in all different kinds of conditions. I've found video analysis to be essential to my rowing career, and it is always fun to see how many different ways it can be used to help athletic development, technically, mentally, and strategically.
