17 sessions to go

Paddy the Performance Coach says…

You are going to NJIRC to do your best, you are performing against yourself so we need to ensure we are improving fitness as well as technique.

So firstly set the drag factor to 120 for younger boys and girls. Up to girls at 130 and boys 135. Yes it is light but it works on resistance. If it feels heavy say at 10 the fan will slow down quicker and therefore not travel as far between strokes. Ever world record has been set between 120 and 140 drag.

Today’s session will be 20 x 1’ at a rate of 18 to 20. Why so low? Give yourself the time on the recovery to work on being in a powerful position before performing the drive. The focus of each minute is to get as much reach as possible before the legs stretch (the stretch you feel in your hamstrings is good), hold that body angle as you slide forward to the catch. Keep your heels as close to the footplate as you can until you get to a position where your shins are at 90 degrees to the ground.

Between each piece you should do the following exercises?

20 sit ups, 30 seconds on the ‘plank’ and stretching the hamstrings, gluts and hip flexors. What are these? Ask now or even look it up on the Internet. I would suggest that you need to stretch your hamstrings with a flat back so laying on your back and stretching your hamstrings is better than doing it sitting up as you will probably only stretch your lower back.

Have you got an LYR technique poster to help you improve yours? Ask your Community Coach, Teacher or club coach for a copy.

Record everything I your training diary. How something felt? What you want to work on for next session. Anything you can think of. Especially the average per 500m score.

A very welcome return to ‘Paddy the Performance Coach says…’. The first in a series of training sessions for you from him! There will more all the time so keep coming back to take a look and get the advice you need to race your best at NJIRC2012.

“NJIRC is March 23^rd, have you got it in your Diary? Download your entry form and permission letter at www.londonyouthrowing.com/njirc/how-to-enter/ Have you got permission from your teacher/school to attend?

Time to set those goals. What distance/time are you doing? Check the rules www.londonyouthrowing.com/njirc/rules-regulations/

It’s a big day so lets go for that Personal Best. 18 sessions to go

First of all lets establish a baseline for our performance. Double-check the rules to ensure you are doing the correct distance.

Record your score in a little diary. Ask yourselves the following questions

• What was the profile of your race?
  • Did you start fast and hold on, did you keep the same split from start to finish or did you start a little to softly and work hard at the end. All strategies are valid but which is the strategy that is going to suit you best on race day.
  • What was your rate?
    • A good rate for a race depends a little on the distance. The shorter it is the more strokes you should take. Year 7’s and 8’s should be thinking about a rate of 32+ (rate = strokes per minute). Year 12 and 13’s doing the 2000m should aim for 28+. It comes down to the individual but it must be higher than you think or you will not take advantage of everything your body can do.”

Hi

In case you haven’t seen what NJIRC looks like, check out the film from last years event as filmed by the BBC!

A massive well done and thank you to both Stratford school and St Angela’s school  for taking part in what will hopefully become an annual event.

Elaine – LYR Coach

MarkLawson interview V6 email

We have launched our newly designed NJIRC landing page which will be updated all the time as we move towards NJIRC2012. The event, as you should know by now is on the 23rd March and LYR Towers is frantic with preparations for what we hope will be our biggest and best yet!

See you there

London Youth Rowing were lucky enough to get ringside seats for what turned out to be two great races over the Boat Race Course yesterday.

The annual Trial Eights is an event were both clubs put out matched competitive boats and race them over the Championship Course between Putney and Mortlake

They are also given interesting names every year – this year was no exception: Cambridge came up with Cloak v Dagger and Oxford cam up with Hell v High Water.

For full details go to http://theboatrace.org/news-article/results-from-the-trial-eights

On Wednesday 30^th November 2011 at Fairlop Waters Sailing Centre, Connaught School for Girls successfully completed their training and preliminary assessments in Rowing for their Year 11 GCSE PE group.

This group was made up of 13 girls of varying ability levels of whom none had ever rowed on the water before but who were all keen to try a new sport and learn additional skills which would stay with them for life. They endured various types of weather and water conditions both favourable and unfavourable but remained committed and eventually received preliminary grades ranging from Level 1 to 3, under the OCR examination Board criteria.

The girls had to show skills and abilities, ranging from being able to identify and name different types of boats, the parts of the boats and blades, they had to display knowledge of risk assessments, hazards, assessing weather conditions, circulation patterns and emergency flotation devices. From a rowing perspective, they were able to row continuously keeping the boat balanced and they were able to manoeuvre competently.

The girls and their teacher were very proud of their achievements and felt that it was worth the time and effort that was put in

Rangi Tairi, Head of PE at Connaught Girls said “Rowing was great for the girls and I’m really glad we decided to do it for their GCSE PE practical.  The best thing about it is that you don’t have to be an athlete or the type of person who plays a lot of sport to excel in it.  Although we did some doubles rowing, the focus was on them as an individual which was a nice move away from the usual team sports we do.  Although their results range from level 1 to 4, all of the girls can at least say they can row which is fantastic.  It is a skill they will have forever and one that they can build on in later life.  Overall it was a worthwhile experience for myself and the students and because of this success and great coaching I will be returning with my next GCSE class starting in April 2012!”

Jubilee River running through the Slough Weir is an ideal location and full of hustle and bustle with the planes of Heathrow flying by & the M4 Motorway whizzing over head.

As the day was rather windy, 3 2x double sculls from the LYR mobile trailer took to the water with 3 London Youth Rowing coaches and a British Rowing coach in the bow seats to keep the boats steady. Everyone got a try and really enjoyed it & are very keen to carry on!

“It’s been a really fun challenge, but last week I had a trial and put my blindfold on to early, I had to try to make my way over to the rowing machines without seeing where I was going. This week I did the sensible thing of putting my blindfold on once I’d sat on the seat and set my monitor first!”

The club is run on a Tuesday after school by Mr Maher & Mr Baston in the gym. Mr Maher, with a slight mischievous grin on his face said:

“You are very kind to be them giving some encouragement, I let them row and ‘forgot’ to tell them when they had finished, so they probably ended up doing 1500m instead!”

If you are interested to see if your school has a rowing club or if you want to complete the Virtual Challenge, email- info@londonyouthrowing.com

Steph Ware Coach for Bexley/ Greenwich & Lewisham