After Paris, Rowing Canada is bound for some rough waters ahead.
If I had a nickel for every time a parent from a high school where I was coaching asked me if I had ever considered coaching on the national team, I’d have at least two-bucks in my pocket! ;)
Joking aside, have I thought about it? Yes. Was it tempting? You bet. Is it going to happen? Nope, not ever—and that’s okay. It’s a tough gig that requires dedication and sacrifice on a level most relationships can’t imagine or handle. It’s why professional sports coaches have the highest divorce rate—for that reason alone, I’m not interested.
Coaching at the national team level can be a brutal and thankless existence. Therefore, it’s with great respect that I offer what I hate offering … advice. Here are the strategies we embraced and why they worked when we built a high-performing, national championship rowing program at two independent schools in Canada. Oh, it’s just high school, you say. Maybe—but my guess is you’d be hard-pressed to find a progressive sports psych who wouldn’t agree that the following advice works for any endeavour—sports, business, or whatever else you can think of.
Why? Because athletes live the same human experience we do—they feel all the same feels; they have doubts, fears, dreams, insecurities, you name it. When coaches make it about that experience—their experience—you invite them along on a journey where they determine the rules of engagement. It’s called empowerment, and it’s foundationally essential when building a sustainable, high-performing culture. Having athletes show up to practice because they love how they feel about themselves when training with their coach and teammates is a powerful—the most powerful—fuel to drive the journey. So, begin with that.
First, however, let’s go back to the rough waters ahead—what exactly happened? Well, aside from the women’s eight, who won a silver medal, the Canadian rowing team didn’t have a great Olympics in Paris. Mind you, the report card assessment began long before the lighting of the Olympic Caldron flame—or whatever that thing is!
You see, Canada sent or qualified a mere two boats for this year’s Olympic regatta—a far cry from previous Olympic Games. Now, one could argue that the qualification standards are tougher, but then countries like New Zealand, the Netherlands, or other smaller nations should have struggled, too. But they didn’t. In fact, this was the first Canadian Olympic Team not to send any men’s crews. For a nation that used to refer to the men’s eight as its flagship boat, Rowing Canada fell short, big time!
The good news is that after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where Canada only put one crew in the finals, our men’s eight—which I was a part of, and where we finished DFL, Canada returned four years later to Barcelona and experienced its best Olympic showing ever!
In the weeks following Seoul, every coach and administrator lost their job. Some were rehired shortly after, but the point was made—this is a clean start, and you have to earn the right to come along. In this instance, I would do the same. Own The Podium (OTP) provided rowing the third highest level of funding behind track and field and swimming. If this was a business and I was an investor, I’d be asking the same honest question, “What’s my ROI?” Hmmm, not much. Therefore, look at every job on your roster and ask yourself, “Does this position play a key role in supporting the well-being of the athletes?” If the answer isn’t a resounding “Yes,” it’s time to part ways permanently and redirect that money.
With regards to the ethos of the team, here’s the most critical shift: Stop trying to win races. Yup, you read it correctly; there are no typos or missing words in that statement. I don’t care what OTP tells you; your role in the lives of your athletes is far more significant than just trying to help them win shit. Besides, OTP was stupid enough to choose a name and marketing ploy that flies in the face of not only the athlete’s well-being but the entire premise of the Olympic Games movement. Therefore, they’ve rendered themselves useless when providing healthy and holistic direction regarding serving Canadian athletes.
And furthermore, rowing involves racing that awards medals for placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd; it’s implied you’re trying to win—don’t overstate it. It doesn’t help; in fact, it’s actually an emotional interference. And, no, this doesn’t dial down ambition or accountability—if anything, it ramps it up. Instead, put the focus on the athletes. Here’s your new mission: Utilizing the sport of rowing, we transform the lives of our athletes for the better. As for the winning part, be patient; it’s the byproduct. I have yet to meet a person whose life was positively transformed through rowing who didn’t become an exceptional athlete and win a crap-ton of medals.
What’s wrong? No bravado in that? Too soft? Here, I’ll tell you what: call up any athlete from the programs we built and ask them if anything about the training or racing strategies was soft—I’ll wait.
It’s called athlete-centric coaching, where every decision made going forward is about serving the athlete’s interests first. When athletes feel valued, they show up differently—free of fear and full of vitality, ready to perform in a safe culture that welcomes mistakes and failures as vehicles for learning and getting better—getting faster!
As for building relationships with the athletes, we adopted an inquiry-based approach to coaching. For example, during onwater training sessions, one could ask, “What was good about that piece? What wasn’t good, or what was tricky? And what do you want to do differently next time to get better?” Leading with questions invites autonomy, which encourages athletes to take ownership of their role in improving. When your athletes begin following through on next steps because they said they would as opposed to because you told them, you’re on to something. Ultimately, the goal here is to have athletes who can coach peer-to-peer or self-coach—now that’s empowerment!
And, finally, don’t allow anyone who encourages their athletes to “rip out the throats of their competitors” near any of your future rowers. It’s archaic and childish, not to mention limiting. Sports needs to and is trying to move beyond that sort of egoic-based, macho BS. Instead, encourage a synergistic relationship where your athletes race with their competitors, not against them. It’s in the word itself, for goodness sake—competitor. The Latin root word is competere, which means to strive together.
A beautiful and shining example would be the male pole vaulters the other night in Paris. The Swede, Mondo Duplantis, talked and even joked with his competitors in between jumps on his way to winning the gold medal and setting a new world record. Leave trash-talking for Hollywood—it’s completely unnecessary.
In the end, it’s love that’s your target—the valuing, connecting, and trusting kind. You want to ignite within your athletes a deep and robust love for themselves, for rowing, for their team members, and their competitors. When you achieve that, it’s where the magic happens—it’s like rocket fuel. When I first started using the notion of building a culture of love to produce world-class high school rowers, you better believe I was the butt of many jokes. However, when those crews began winning consistently, the jokes stopped.
I know past Rowing Canada coaches and leaders believed this entire approach to producing high-performing athletes is bunk—they told me as much. However, that doesn’t mean the next generation can’t or won’t consider something new and different. I mean, what have they got to lose?
The key is to remember your purpose: coach world-class crews—okay, fair enough. But beyond that and far more importantly, to help young people develop the belief, work ethic, and emotional intelligence to contribute to society in a meaningful and positive way when their rowing careers end. If you can remember that, Los Angeles should be a breeze.
For information regarding our workshops, keynotes, and coaching, please check out our website @ yourmindset.ca. Perform and Live Better.
Based on your article it sounds like that aggressive ‘slaughter your opponents’ mentality approach was still being applied in Canadian rowing? Is that so? Of it is, that is extremely disappointing since we have known (from a sport psychology perspective) so much better for so long now. I’m removed from the rowing scene now but I’d love to know how the Canadian men feel about not qualifying and what their perspectives are? Is it the coaching approach? Is it bad luck or is there something systemic going on? I remember the ‘culture’ not being all that healthy back in the mid ‘90’s but beyond that I’m a bit out of touch. As a proud Canadian former rower o was really sad to see our lack of representation. I remember way back when it wasn’t a lack of effort of behalf of athletes to perform- the athletes would charge through walls to earn their seats. The way athletes were treated (some not all) was questionable and not healthy at times.
Good work Jason!
Moore