As a coach are there any good exercises that can get a crew (rowing) ratio?

Question

I am coaching a womens rowing 8, they are struggling at keeping there knees down long enough. It is not flexablity.

Answer 1

leap frog....seriously. When they hop up after being jumped over, though, make it a jump in which they straighten their legs out and reach as high as possible. Also when jumping over the other players straighten out the knees.

Answer 2

Well, if I understand your question correctly, it sounds as though they are pulling into the finish then coming back up the slide before their hands are out over their knees.....correct?

My first observation is that if your entire crew is doing this then someone taught them all how to row incorrectly. If it was one girl, then it would just be a problem with her, but with all of them....? That's a coaching error by someone at some point on proper technique. Teach them the mantra "arms, back, legs...legs, back, arms" (meaning the parts of the stroke in order starting from the finish back through to the finish).

Nevertheless, what you need to do is have them do drills where you break the parts of the stroke up. Row arms only, back only, legs only, arms and back only, legs and back only, etc. They'll learn to differentiate the parts of the stroke.

You can also do pause drills at hands away - take the stroke, at the finish come to hands away and pause for the count of three - knees should all be down, still sitting back. Do this for a while. Then take the pause to backs over - take the stroke, finish, hands away, back over, then pause for 3 secs. etc.

It could also be an inability to set the boat - I'm guessing these are relatively novice rowers. As you know when the blade is out of the water the boat wants to roll to one side or the other. The knees up too fast may just be an involuntary reaction to trying to get back up the slide to get the blade back in the water to make the boat stable. To find out if this is the problem, have the 8+ row by 4's or 6's while the other 4 or pair hold the boat on keel. If they are still having the knee problem then it's not a balance issue.

good luck!