Meeting a new squad
I got into a private email discussion with a fellow coach who is concerned about meeting his new squad for the new season. They are already successful and, of course, this is a potentially daunting situation. Here are my views on the subject.
Meeting new teams:
This is very personal. BUT I’d suggest about twice as much listening as talking as a rule.
Also - get each athlete to send you his own rowing CV (so you know what they’ve done before) and include a section on where their ultimate rowing goal is (is it Olympic representation or just winning
a National title) and the timescale for them to achieve this. Knowing this will help you assess how hard to push them.
Secondly, set some clear boundaries for your relationship with them. e.g. keeping a training diary, being responsible about telling you about injuries, daily pulse check. Let them know what you won’t
tolerate and where discussion is allowed. As with small children, boundaries are an important part of relationship building. And so, for example, if you are not prepared to discuss your reasons for crew selection, tell them. And if your selections are only based on 2k scores or sculling speed or are a combination of factors [mine include those that turn up regularly beat ’so-called stars’ who don’t come out to play all year round] let them know.