Creative Agency Secrets

Ha ha a rowing t shirt moment.

But I prefer the Howies ones.  www.howies.co.uk
this one needs re-writing to "Scull fast…" Ride fast

and this is a corker… for your lazy teenager Underachiever

So, its preparation time for the new rowing season.  Here are 10 things each coach should think of doing while planning the first few months and the kick-off.

1.  Have a squad meeting and find out what they felt went well and not so well last season.  Honesty and open-ness.  LISTEN.

2.  Organise a boat house clean up and tidy.  Sweep out the old leaves.  Clean and wash with hot water all the club boats.  Replace missing bolts, nuts, washers, rudder wires etc.  Buy in a load of spares for the purpose.

3.  Check the rigging on all club boats.  At least start the season with the spans, heights and pitches perfect.

4.  Hold a rigging master class to teach everyone how to set up a boat to a standard rig.  Check this out for a superbly full summary of the subject in 11 easy slides FISA rigging presentation

5.  Set a ‘get fit again’ programme for the first 2-3 weeks.  Consider adding more rest days for athletes who haven’t trained through the summer.

6.  Think about testing for fitness as well as strength gains in the run up to Christmas.  I have a sub-maximal test that can be done weekly / fortnightly without having to cut any other training sessions (takes about 10-15 minutes to do).

7.  Get each individual’s personal aims for the season written down for you.

8.  Ask one squad member to do the phone list / ARA card numbers / group email setup.  Don’t do the admin yourself(!)

9.  Plan one bit of fund raising for your squad for the season.  This can be for something specific you need or for general club funds.  I think it’s good practice for each club member to participate in ‘putting something back’ into the club.  They benefit from work done by others in this way.  It’s a good discipline.

10.  Go and drink beer together / eat curry / have some fun after the hard work cleaning up.  Bond.

Story told to me today in a business development meeting. 

My prospective client was working for a large City PR firm - middle manager level, clearly a ’safe’ pair of hands.  ends up working on 18 clients [yes you have read correctly] and over-stressed, working long hours and getting sick.  Asks for assistance.  Nothing.  Gets told small bonus, cost of living pay rise, no promotion. 

Curious what happens next.  And two years later they are headed for £1m in business for his new operation.  Keeping and retaining talent is something we don’t practice what we preach in this industry.

nuff said.

TS BUNDY
Totally stuffed but not dead yet

Just looking for a fine opportunity to use it.  Suggestions…?

I think I was wrong about people reading ads. Well, rowing people reading ads.

I overhead conversations at the World Rowing Champs of people saysing "I read about this…" or "Oh these are those new wotsits…."

So I take it all back.  We clearly all read adverts but we dont’ act on them.

So next question….. WHY DON’T WE ACT ON ADVERT MESSAGES?

Cracking email from Justus Janssen (who wrote the Rowperfect for Windows Software).  He has uploaded photos from the World Rowing Championships including a bit of video recorded for the BBC Grandstand sports programme.

Their reporter, Rob, is seen doing a 500m piece (set at 71kgs and 1x, right cog) coached and encouraged by Dan Topolski the veteran athlete, coach and commentator.

See it here Video [page down to 2006 select World Rowing championships and it is on page 11].
Interestingly, Rob is a runner and had never rowed before on land or water.  See that he manages to keep the RP seat still until the last 20 strokes or so. 
Just goes to prove that the RP is fine for novices and beginners.