πρέπει να προσευχόμαστε, ώστε οι Θεοί να δίνουν πνευματική και σωματική υγεία
Πολλοί από εμάς φοράνε υποδήματα και ρούχα της γιαπωνέζικης αθλητικής εταιρείας ASICS. Πόσοι όμως γνωρίζουμε τί σημαίνει η λέξη αυτή;
Η λέξη ASICS είναι το ακρωνύμιο της λατινικής φράσης «Anima Sana In Corpore Sano» του Λατίνου ποιητή Δέκιμου Ιούνιου Γιουβενάλη (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, 55 ή 60 μ.Χ. – μετά το 127), που σημαίνει «νους υγιής εν σώματι υγιεί».
O συγκεκριμένος στίχος βρίσκεται στο Satire, X, 356: «Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano».
Oι λατινομαθείς θα αναγνωρίσουν εύκολα το γερουνδιακό "orandum est" στην αρχή του στίχου (το οποίο σκόπιμα αποβλήθηκε) και θα καταλάβουν ότι η πρόθεση του Γιουβενάλη ήταν τελείως διαφορετική από τη σημασία που δίνουμε σήμερα στο γνωμικό.
Συγκεκριμένα ο Γιουβενάλης υποστηρίζει:
«πρέπει να προσευχόμαστε, ώστε οι Θεοί να δίνουν πνευματική και σωματική υγεία» που διαφέρει από τη σύγχρονη, αυθαίρετη, παγκοσμίως, ερμηνεία:
«o υγιής νους βρίσκεται μέσα στο υγιές σώμα».
Αυτό το γνωμικό διαδόθηκε, μετά μανίας, σε όλον τον κόσμο, όταν στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα έπρεπε να πεισθεί ο πλανήτης για τη σημασία του αθλητισμού. Γι' αυτό και υπήρχε η ανάγκη από ένα εύστοχο σύνθημα, έστω και παραποιημένο.
Πηγή: ClopYPastE.gr - ClopYandPastE.gr - ClopYandPastE.blogspot.com - 24grammata.com
Οι χρήσεις της μονωτικής ταινίας στην κωπηλασία.
contributed by John FX Flynn, row2k
In Rowing Hacks' quest to find the coolest stuff that folks use in our sport, we sometimes forget that some of the best ideas are already being used all over, so thanks to Byron Walthall of Charlotte Youth Rowing in North Carolina for reminding us to talk about a trick so good that "everybody is doing it" out there: marking riggers and other stuff with electrical tape.
Now, everyone like to sing the praises of duct tape--and rightly so!--but the real "tape workhorse" in most boathouses is electrical tape: it marks riggers from the same boat, the span on "tube" riggers, the center point on the coxswain's tiller rope, the best blade depth, and oars that belong in the same set--all in as many colors as 3M can turn out and stock in the local Home Depot. When it comes to a full boathouse of stuff that needs to travel and arrive together once it comes off the boat, the more colors of electrical tape on hand, the better.
Marking riggers from a single boat with the same color tape is probably the most common use for this trick, and for good reason: once you are done de-rigging your fleet, you'd hate to misplace just one rigger or not be able to quickly identify which boat a given bundle of riggers should follow during a big team rigging session at the race course. A great way to "user-proof" your color-coordinating system is to make sure there is a matching strip on the boat itself someplace, so that nothing winds up on the wrong shell.
When he suggested this hack, Byron pointed out that you can take this a step further: make sure there is a matching bit of tape on everything from the boat that is not physically attached--that way, any amount of part-swapping or seat borrowing can be quickly undone. At Byron's place, the matching strip on the shell, to which all that stuff is color-coordinated, is wrapped around the bowball. Neat.
That got us thinking about all the other ways electrical tape pulls it weight around here, and we came up with the list below. It is a pretty good collection of mini-hacks, and it doesn't even include the multi-purpose patch/tighten/adjust/just-plain-fix roll of BLACK electrical tape that lives in the bottom of probably every toolkit in the sport.
The Official Rowing Hacks Electrical Tape Use Hall of Fame
Identifying riggers by seat: sure, riggers are stamped with the seat number they were originally intended for, but once you starboard-stroke your port-stroked boat, start using mirror riggers, or just have to start using a replacement rigger not originally from that set, then actually writing the number of the seat on the electrical tape can really speed up re-rigging sessions. It also helps you swap the rig back-and-forth, if you are into that kind of thing: you can just tell the folks helping with the rigging to follow the number on the rigger or on the tape depending on which side your stroke is from this week.
Keeping your backstays straight: not literally straight, of course--still need good releases and a dearth of crabs to keep your backstays bend-free--but electrical tape can help you keep the backstays that go with each pair of wing riggers from getting mixed up. If you have wings, and change strokes, the wings can get moved back and forth a lot, and the length of the backstays can matter a great deal. One row2k Hacker gets around this by putting 1 piece of tape on the bow pair backstays, two pieces on three's/four's, three pieces on five's/six's, and four pieces on the stern pair. This trick can also save you some time finding the right length replacement when a backstay does--"somehow"--get bent.
Grouping oars by set: there might be some places that still number (or "letter" ) their sets of oars, but marking sets with electrical tape has got to be the #1 use of electrical tape besides riggers. Some places go with different colors, or color combos ("Who's using the yellow-whites today?"), but you can also be a bit less rainbow if you just stick with numbers of stripes, so that your "double magenta" set, let's say, is just marked with two stripes of purple tape. (Marking the whole set is especially good with spare oars, especially if folks need to find a spare quickly in a separate rack)
Telling Port Oars from Starboard: once upon a time--pre-"hatchet" blade--there were plenty of places where port and starboard didn't matter when it came to the oars. (Unless your oar design had a top and bottom, like say, a US national team blade, you just grabbed any one of the eight oars and off you went--and this was especially true at both UW's). Now that blades themselves are asymmetrical, the oar manufacturers helpfully mark them with red for port and green for starboard and everyone has to take one for the correct side--but that job used to be done just fine by electrical tape, and in some places it still is.
Assigning Oars to a Boat: matching colored tape also comes in handy when you have a set of sculls rigged specifically for a quad or maybe a smoothie set matched to a boat that is optimally pitched to work with the blade design. This tape trick also works great for other stuff "assigned" to a specific shell, like a dedicated cox-box or speed coach. (An advanced form of this mini-hack? Identifying oars from a given set that have been tweaked for a four or pair. This can save you from the time-suck of adjusting all 8 when you just need an "oar sub-set" of 2 or 4.)
Marking a specific coach's/squad's tools: electrical tape can be real tool-saver in big and/or shared boathouses: color-coding tools that belong to a specific team or coach makes it easy for folks to return borrowed tools to the right place--particularly when you might have forgotten to ask about the whole borrowing bit in the first place.
Setting the center point on the coxswain's tiller rope: gotta know where straight is, right? Plus, having the center marked with tape right on the tiller rope, in front of them, can save a coxswain (some) head turning in tight pieces.
Marking the span on "tube" riggers: on older style riggers, where you could adjust the spread by sliding the pin in/out of the main stay, electrical tape does the job of setting the span by limiting how far the pin can slip back into the tube--and, in quite handy fashion--bunches up or shows a gap if the pin has slipped and the span has changed. This hack doesn't last quite as well on Euro riggers, but it still works for quick rig changes: set the tape where the span needs to be changed to, and then do all your pin-moving sans tape measure.
Setting optimal blade depth: here, you just wrap a piece of light-colored tape around the shaft to mark where the waterline should be when the blade is in at the optimal depth. The actual distance of the tape from the blade might vary a bit according to oar length and the weight of the crew, but it is easy to move, and provides a great reference point for the athletes, and for your video camera.
Measuring Rigging Magic: we won't give away any secrets here, but you can usually tell--strictly by the amount of electrical tape on the gunwales and tracks--when a shell belongs to a coach who really measures every angle in the rigging.
Emergency Pitch control: organizing stuff aside, just a few wraps of electrical tape on the face of the oarlock is a great fix for little pitch adjustments--one that lets your tools stay put in the tool box. In fact, this might be electrical tape's coolest use of all, apart from that serendipitous moment when you find a lost tool, and recognize it as yours thanks to…electrical tape.
So that is our Hall of Fame for the humble roll of electrical tape -- did we miss any great tape tricks that you know of? Let us know in the comments, fellow Rowing Hackers!
Have a great rowing hack for future inclusion here? Send it to us!
In Rowing Hacks' quest to find the coolest stuff that folks use in our sport, we sometimes forget that some of the best ideas are already being used all over, so thanks to Byron Walthall of Charlotte Youth Rowing in North Carolina for reminding us to talk about a trick so good that "everybody is doing it" out there: marking riggers and other stuff with electrical tape.
Now, everyone like to sing the praises of duct tape--and rightly so!--but the real "tape workhorse" in most boathouses is electrical tape: it marks riggers from the same boat, the span on "tube" riggers, the center point on the coxswain's tiller rope, the best blade depth, and oars that belong in the same set--all in as many colors as 3M can turn out and stock in the local Home Depot. When it comes to a full boathouse of stuff that needs to travel and arrive together once it comes off the boat, the more colors of electrical tape on hand, the better.
Marking riggers from a single boat with the same color tape is probably the most common use for this trick, and for good reason: once you are done de-rigging your fleet, you'd hate to misplace just one rigger or not be able to quickly identify which boat a given bundle of riggers should follow during a big team rigging session at the race course. A great way to "user-proof" your color-coordinating system is to make sure there is a matching strip on the boat itself someplace, so that nothing winds up on the wrong shell.
When he suggested this hack, Byron pointed out that you can take this a step further: make sure there is a matching bit of tape on everything from the boat that is not physically attached--that way, any amount of part-swapping or seat borrowing can be quickly undone. At Byron's place, the matching strip on the shell, to which all that stuff is color-coordinated, is wrapped around the bowball. Neat.
That got us thinking about all the other ways electrical tape pulls it weight around here, and we came up with the list below. It is a pretty good collection of mini-hacks, and it doesn't even include the multi-purpose patch/tighten/adjust/just-plain-fix roll of BLACK electrical tape that lives in the bottom of probably every toolkit in the sport.
The Official Rowing Hacks Electrical Tape Use Hall of Fame
Identifying riggers by seat: sure, riggers are stamped with the seat number they were originally intended for, but once you starboard-stroke your port-stroked boat, start using mirror riggers, or just have to start using a replacement rigger not originally from that set, then actually writing the number of the seat on the electrical tape can really speed up re-rigging sessions. It also helps you swap the rig back-and-forth, if you are into that kind of thing: you can just tell the folks helping with the rigging to follow the number on the rigger or on the tape depending on which side your stroke is from this week.
Keeping your backstays straight: not literally straight, of course--still need good releases and a dearth of crabs to keep your backstays bend-free--but electrical tape can help you keep the backstays that go with each pair of wing riggers from getting mixed up. If you have wings, and change strokes, the wings can get moved back and forth a lot, and the length of the backstays can matter a great deal. One row2k Hacker gets around this by putting 1 piece of tape on the bow pair backstays, two pieces on three's/four's, three pieces on five's/six's, and four pieces on the stern pair. This trick can also save you some time finding the right length replacement when a backstay does--"somehow"--get bent.
Grouping oars by set: there might be some places that still number (or "letter" ) their sets of oars, but marking sets with electrical tape has got to be the #1 use of electrical tape besides riggers. Some places go with different colors, or color combos ("Who's using the yellow-whites today?"), but you can also be a bit less rainbow if you just stick with numbers of stripes, so that your "double magenta" set, let's say, is just marked with two stripes of purple tape. (Marking the whole set is especially good with spare oars, especially if folks need to find a spare quickly in a separate rack)
Telling Port Oars from Starboard: once upon a time--pre-"hatchet" blade--there were plenty of places where port and starboard didn't matter when it came to the oars. (Unless your oar design had a top and bottom, like say, a US national team blade, you just grabbed any one of the eight oars and off you went--and this was especially true at both UW's). Now that blades themselves are asymmetrical, the oar manufacturers helpfully mark them with red for port and green for starboard and everyone has to take one for the correct side--but that job used to be done just fine by electrical tape, and in some places it still is.
Assigning Oars to a Boat: matching colored tape also comes in handy when you have a set of sculls rigged specifically for a quad or maybe a smoothie set matched to a boat that is optimally pitched to work with the blade design. This tape trick also works great for other stuff "assigned" to a specific shell, like a dedicated cox-box or speed coach. (An advanced form of this mini-hack? Identifying oars from a given set that have been tweaked for a four or pair. This can save you from the time-suck of adjusting all 8 when you just need an "oar sub-set" of 2 or 4.)
Marking a specific coach's/squad's tools: electrical tape can be real tool-saver in big and/or shared boathouses: color-coding tools that belong to a specific team or coach makes it easy for folks to return borrowed tools to the right place--particularly when you might have forgotten to ask about the whole borrowing bit in the first place.
Setting the center point on the coxswain's tiller rope: gotta know where straight is, right? Plus, having the center marked with tape right on the tiller rope, in front of them, can save a coxswain (some) head turning in tight pieces.
Marking the span on "tube" riggers: on older style riggers, where you could adjust the spread by sliding the pin in/out of the main stay, electrical tape does the job of setting the span by limiting how far the pin can slip back into the tube--and, in quite handy fashion--bunches up or shows a gap if the pin has slipped and the span has changed. This hack doesn't last quite as well on Euro riggers, but it still works for quick rig changes: set the tape where the span needs to be changed to, and then do all your pin-moving sans tape measure.
Setting optimal blade depth: here, you just wrap a piece of light-colored tape around the shaft to mark where the waterline should be when the blade is in at the optimal depth. The actual distance of the tape from the blade might vary a bit according to oar length and the weight of the crew, but it is easy to move, and provides a great reference point for the athletes, and for your video camera.
Measuring Rigging Magic: we won't give away any secrets here, but you can usually tell--strictly by the amount of electrical tape on the gunwales and tracks--when a shell belongs to a coach who really measures every angle in the rigging.
Emergency Pitch control: organizing stuff aside, just a few wraps of electrical tape on the face of the oarlock is a great fix for little pitch adjustments--one that lets your tools stay put in the tool box. In fact, this might be electrical tape's coolest use of all, apart from that serendipitous moment when you find a lost tool, and recognize it as yours thanks to…electrical tape.
So that is our Hall of Fame for the humble roll of electrical tape -- did we miss any great tape tricks that you know of? Let us know in the comments, fellow Rowing Hackers!
Have a great rowing hack for future inclusion here? Send it to us!
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Κωπηλάτες στην ομίχλη
Καστοριά: Κωπηλάτες στην ομίχλη (φωτογραφίες)
Αθλητικά, Καστοριά, τελευταίες ειδήσεις, φωτορεπορτάζ — By user65 on 25 Οκτωβρίου 2012 11:12
Φωτογραφίες από το μπλογκ του Ναυτικού Ομίλου Καστοριάς
Ανοιχτά θέματα από τη συνάντηση με τα Τουριστικά Ακίνητα
| 25/10/2012 |
| Ανοιχτά θέματα από τη συνάντηση με τα Τουριστικά Ακίνητα |
 Με
αρκετά θέματα να μένουν ανοιχτά αποχώρησε η αντιπροσωπεία της
Κωπηλατικής Ομοσπονδίας από την συνάντηση με τα στελέχη των Τουριστικών
Ακινήτων για την λειτουργία του Ολυμπιακού Κωπηλατοδρομίου του
Μαραθώνα.Η πτώση της στάθμης των υδάτων , η άναρχη υδροβλάστηση στον στίβο αλλά και η λειτουργία των ξενώνων ήταν τα κύρια θέματα που απασχόλησαν τους εκπροσώπους των δυο πλευρών οι οποίες συμφώνησαν μέσα στο αμέσως επόμενο διάστημα να γίνει συνάντηση με τα μέλη του Φορέα Διαχείρισης του Πάρκου Σχοινιά που είναι υπεύθυνος για την παρακολούθηση των υδάτων. Τα συμπεράσματά του για τις συζητήσεις με τα Τουριστικά Ακίνητα κατέθεσε ο πρόεδρος της Κωπηλατικής Ομοσπονδίας Γιάννης Καρράς: «Ολοκληρώσαμε την συνάντηση αρκετά προβληματισμένοι για την μελλοντική χρήση του Κωπηλατοδρομίου καθώς πρέπει να γίνουν πολλές ενέργειες και πολύ γρήγορα τόσο από τα ΕΤΑ όσο και απο τον Φορέα Διαχείρισης. Στους ξενώνες έγιναν κάποιες βελτιώσεις που καλυτερεύουν την κατάσταση ωστόσο δεν λύνουν το πρόβλημα. Στα θετικά και η απόφαση των Τουριστικών Ακινήτων να επισκευάσουν τμήματα της εξέδρας που έχουν ζημιές ». Υπενθυμίζεται ότι για τις 11 Νοεμβρίου έχει προγραμματιστεί στο Ολυμπιακό Κωπηλατοδρόμιο το πρώτο προπονητικό κοινόβιο για τη νέα αγωνιστική σεζόν ωστόσο η παραμονή ή όχι της ομάδας στους ξενώνες θα εξαρτηθεί από το κόστος που θα ζητηθεί από τα Τουριστικά Ακίνητα. Εκτός του προέδρου της ΕΚΟΦΝΣ στη συνάντηση παραβρέθηκαν ο αντιπρόεδρος της Ομοσπονδίας Γιάννης Μωϋσίδης και ο Γενικός Γραμματέας Αντώνης Αργυρίου. |
Συνάντηση με στελέχη των ΕΤΑ (Ελληνικά Τουριστικά Ακίνητα)για την λειτουργία και χρήση του Ολυμπιακού Κωπηλατοδρομίου
| 22/10/2012 |
| Συνάντηση με τα ΕΤΑ για το Κωπηλατοδρόμιο |
 Συνάντηση
με στελέχη των ΕΤΑ (Ελληνικά Τουριστικά Ακίνητα)για την λειτουργία και
χρήση του Ολυμπιακού Κωπηλατοδρομίου του Μαραθώνα θα έχουν τα μέλη της
Κωπηλατικής Ομοσπονδίας το πρωί της Τρίτης 23 Οκτωβρίου.Στην συνάντηση που θα γίνει στην έδρα των ΕΤΑ στο κέντρο της Αθήνας την Κωπηλατική Ομοσπονδίας θα εκπροσωπήσουν ο πρόεδρος Γιάννης Καρράς , ο αντιπρόεδρος Γιάννης Μωυσίδης και ο Γενικός Γραμματέας Αντώνης Αργυρίου. Απο τα Τουριστικά Ακίνητα θα δώσει το παρών ο διευθύνων σύμβουλος Κος Δούνης Γρηγόρης και στελέχη του οικονομικού επιτελείου της Εταιρίας. Στην ατζέντα της συνάντησης περιλαμβάνεται η ενημέρωση για τον σχεδιασμό των δραστηριοτήτων των Εθνικών ομάδων ενώ τα μέλη της ΕΚΟΦΝΣ θα παρουσιάσουν τα προβλήματα που προκύπτουν το τελευταίο διάστημα στο Κωπηλατοδρόμιο τα οποία και τείνουν να καταστήσουν ακατάλληλη την εγκατάσταση για προπονητικό κέντρο Εθνικών ομάδων. |
Esc photos "Nikolaidou - Louloudis:
Για περισσότερες κάντε κλικ στον σύνδεσμο
| https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.291355160965046.52092.100002716931479&type=1 |
Top 20 Hottest Male Rowing Athletes of 2012
20. Kjetil Borch- Norway M2X
Impressive breakout performances this year from a relatively young crew with a win at World Cup 3 and a solid performance which secured a win in the B Final for a 7th place finish at the Olympic Games. Plus an unmistakable (“signature”) rowing style and that standout classic Norse look. Gotta love it.19. Matthijs Vellenga – Netherlands M8+
A favorite of the US Women’s Quad, easily recognized walking around the boat yard and rowing village in his black-rimmed glasses or dancing at beach volleyball games. Also the only tall dark and handsome member of his crew of blondes, rowing in the four seat. Strong performances in the 2012 World Cup season, narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s eight at the Olympic Games, placing 5th.18. John Storey – New Zealand M4X
A first time Olympian, rowed bow seat in the Kiwi quad that placed 7th at the Olympic Games. For some reason Kiwi boatmate Matthew Trott was reluctant to introduce us in Eton.17. Rolandas Mascinskas – Lithuania M2X
Young rising talent in a very competitive event, performed strongly for his Olympic debut to place fourth in the men’s double at the Olympic Games. Looked amazing in the bright yellow and green uniforms for Team Lithuania. There’s also something exciting about not having a clue how to pronounce someone’s name.16. Mark Hunter – Great Britain LM2X
A class gentleman and outstanding athlete. With a rocky 2012 World Cup season, the 2008 Olympic Champion rebounded with a silver medal performance at the Olympic Games. Is a 49er’s fan, and pulls off the 5 o’clock shadow better than anyone else on the lake.15. Iztok Cop – Slovenia M2X
Absolute legend. 6-time Olympian. Competed in the men’s double at the 2012 Olympic Games at the age of 40, but doesn’t look a day over 25. Strong, gutsy racing with outrageous partner, Luka Spik, during the 2012 Olympic Regatta to win bronze. Retiring this year as the #6 male rower in the world–but will always have a place on any List I ever write if he decides to come out of retirement.14. Sizwe (Lawrence) Ndlovu – South Africa LM4-
A new addition to the light four that placed 11th at the 2011 World Championships. Won what was hands-down my favorite race of the 2012 Olympic Regatta. Amazing come-from-behind victory over the favored Danish boat in the closing meters of the race to win first ever rowing Gold for South Africa. Beyond epic. Could not find a sweeter, friendlier crew at the Games.13. Francis Hegerty – Australia M8+
Stunning. Two-time Olympian. Placed 6th at the Olympic Games for Australia in the men’s eight.12. Scott Gault – United States of America M4-
Stroked the men’s four to a bronze medal at the Olympic Games. Adonis on earth–sometimes, as is also a licensed pilot. Two-time Olympian, Washington Husky, American hero.11. Angel Fournier Rodriguez – Cuba M1X
The strong, silent type; ever-improving and was a serious contender for an A final position at this year’s Olympic Games with bronze medals at World Cups 1 & 2 in 2012. Dominant in the B Final, finishing 7th overall. End the embargo!10. Mohamed Sbihi – Great Britain M8+
I first met Moe on a glacier in New Zealand in 2010 and have never forgotten the impression made by his incredible baritone speaking voice. The largest member of the heralded British men’s eight, easily spotted in the five seat with trademark shaved head and dazzling smile. The team’s only practicing Muslim, balances elite training with his faith. Won bronze at the 2012 Olympic Games.9. Anthony Jacob – Canada M4-
Described by coaches as “the Formula-One car of racers”, rowed in the young Canadaian four that placed ninth at the Olympic Games. French and Canadian in background, defines the word heartbreaker and could easily transition into a boy band lead following retirement from rowing. After he graduates from college, of course.8. André Vonarburg – Switzerland M4X
Longtime fixture of Swiss men’s rowing, four-time Olympian. Lists “modelling” as a hobby on his World Rowing profile, and rightly-so. Consummate gentleman and wonderful human being, retiring from competitive rowing this year after finishing 12th at the Olympic Games. One of only two male rowers to have appeared on every List since 2008.7. Mario Paonessa – Italy M4-
Someone who consistently every time he walked by I asked out loud: “who is that?” And it was always the same person. First-time Olympian rowed two seat in the Italian men’s four that placed eighth at the Olympic Games.6. Patrick Loliger Salas – Mexico M1X
¡Hola! Two-time Olympian for Mexico, placed 14th in the single at the 2012 Olympic Games. Made another top 20 list earlier this year which also included Antonio Banderas… not too shabby.5. David Banks – United States of America M8+
Adored without exception by every single member of the USA Women’s Team for his quiet demeanor, genuine kindness, sideways smile, unintelligible mumbling and his being unafraid of 20 women chanting “shirt off!” when he walks in to a room. Owner of the world’s best set of hamstrings, rowed bow seat in the United States men’s eight that qualified at the Final Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne and only just missed out on medaling at the Olympic Games, placing fourth.4. Ondrej Synek – Czech Republic M1X
Double Olympic silver medalist in the men’s single, has enjoyed great success over the past four years with numerous World Cup and World Championship medals including golds at 2012 World Cups 1 & 2. Rows an orange boat with orange oars, and wins races rowing 3/4 slide. What else do you need to know?3. Rob Gibson – Canada M8+
Tough, strong, handsome and as sweet as they come. An alternate for the 2008 Canadian Olympic Team, used his experience and talent to claim the number three seat in the men’s eight for Canada, which set a new world record at the second World Cup, and won silver at the Olympic Games.2. Lassi Karonen – Sweden M1X
2011 #1 – had a career performance at the 2012 Olympic Games with a brave race for medals in the final of the men’s single, only just missing bronze in the closing meters of the race. It is an absolute pleasure to know him; one of the rowing community’s kindest souls. It’s hard not to love a big Swede with dimples! One of only two men to have appeared on every List since 2008, and the only one to have always appeared in the top 5.1. Alex Gregory – Great Britain M4-
A talented and modest oarsman with a beautiful stroke, Alex embodies all that is best about our sport. What I found most compelling about Alex this year was in speaking to his teammates, how highly they all regard him and how much respect they have for him. Polite, thoughtful, and completely genuine – after serving as an Olympic alternate in 2008, rowed in the bow seat of the British flagship four that set a new world record at World Cup 2 and won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games.Βασίλης Πολύμερος: "Βαρύτητα στην ανάπτυξη"
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Πέτυχε τα πάντα ως αθλητής κατακτώντας δυο Ολυμπιακά μετάλλια και πολλές
παγκόσμιες νίκες, αξιώνει πλέον αντίστοιχη καριέρα κι ως διοικητικό στέλεχος. Ο
Βασίλης Πολύμερος κοσμεί με την παρουσία του από το Σάββατο 13 Οκτωβρίου το νέο
Διοικητικό Συμβούλιο της Κωπηλατικής ομοσπονδίας που θα καθίσει στο πηδάλιο της
ελληνικής κωπηλασίας ως το 2016. Ο «χάλκινος» Ολυμπιονίκης το 2004 και «ασημένιος» το 2008 ανέλαβε έφορος Ανάπτυξης της ΕΚΟΦΝΣ που αποτελεί την δεξαμενή άντλησης των αυριανών πρωταθλητών. «Μετά το τέλος της αθλητικής μου καριέρας ήθελα να μείνω στο χώρο. Το κλίμα είναι πολύ καλό και η στιγμή ιδανική για να κάνω ένα διαφορετικό ξεκίνημα στη ζωή μου» ήταν τα πρώτα του λόγια αναλαμβάνοντας τα νέα του καθήκοντα και συμπλήρωσε. «Θέλω πολύ να βοηθήσω με την εμπειρία μου σε ότι μου ζητηθεί . Ιδιαίτερα στον τομέα της ανάπτυξης όπου μετά την κατάργηση των κινήτρων τα πράγματα έχουν δυσκολέψει πρέπει να δώσουμε ιδιαίτερη βαρύτητα. Είμαι έτοιμος για πολύ δουλειά. Η ελληνική κωπηλασία «πλέει» σε πολύ υψηλό επίπεδο τα τελευταία χρόνια κι εκεί πρέπει να παραμείνει» κατέληξε. Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι ο Βασίλης Πολύμερος είναι ο πρώτος Ολυμπιονίκης που εκλέγεται στο Διοικητικό συμβούλιο της Ελληνικής κωπηλατικής Ομοσπονδίας από την ίδρυση της το 1927. | |
ΌΛΗ Η ΚΩΠΗΛΑΣΊΑ ΤΩΝ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΛΟΝΔΙΝΟΥ
ΌΛΗ Η ΚΩΠΗΛΑΣΊΑ ΤΩΝ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΛΟΝΔΙΝΟΥ ΑΠΌ Official Olympic Channel by the IOC
Το νέο Διοικητικό της Ομοσπονδίας.
| 13/10/2012 |
| Ψήφο εμπιστοσύνης στον Γιάννη Καρρά ως το 2016 |
 Το νέο προεδρείο που θα οδηγήσει την ελληνική κωπηλασία στην επόμενη τετραετία εξελέγη σήμερα Σάββατο (13/10) κατά τις αρχαιρεσίες που πραγματοποιήθηκαν σε ξενοδοχείο του Πειραιά. Το παρών έδωσαν τα 29 απο τα 30 σωματεία μέλη της ΕΚΟΦΝΣ που είχαν δικαίωμα ψήφου και 3 χωρίς δικαίωμα. Eξελέγησαν οι:Καρρας (27 ψηφοι) Λιτσακης (26),Μωυσίδης (26),Νταλαμανγκας (26) Παπαγιαννης (26) Αργυρίου (25) Μητρουσης (25) Μουτσατσος (25) Λουλης (22) Μαρκαντωνατος (21) Πολυμερος (21). Δεν εκλέχθηκε ο Δούκας Πέτρος Αναπληρωματικά μέλη : Βλάχος Χαράλαμπος (26), Θψμαϊδης Νικόλαος (24),Ζαχείλας Βασίλειος (23) . Δεν εξελέγη ο Βαρδαλης Εμμανουήλ (5). Για την εξελεγκτική επιτροπή εκλέχθηκαν οι :Γκιζλής Άγγελος, Κουρτικάκης Ιωάννης, Λορέντζος Σταμάτης Τα 11 μέλη του νέου ΔΣ αμέσως μετά την εκλογή τους συγκροτήθηκαν σε σώμα και έλαβαν τις παρακάτω θέσεις: Πρόεδρος: Καρράς Ιωάννης Αντιπρόεδροι: Λούλης Λεωνίδας-Μωυσίδης Ιωάννης (και έφορος Δημοσίων Σχέσεων) Γενικός Γραμματέας: Αργυρίου Αντώνης Ταμίας: Μουτσάτσος Γιώργος Έφορος Εθνικών ομάδων Ανδρών- Γυναικών:Παπαγιάννης Κώστας Έφορος Εθνικών ομάδων Εφήβων-Νεανίδων: Νταλαμάνγκας Κωνσταντίνος Έφορος Αγώνων: Λιτσάκης Ιωάννης Έφορος Υλικού: Μητρούσης Αθανάσιος Έφορος Εγκαταστάσεων: Μαρκαντωνάτος Σίμος Έφορος Ανάπτυξης: Πολύμερος Βασίλης Ο πρόεδρος της Κωπηλατικής Ομοσπονδίας Γιάννης Καρράς δήλωσε μετά την επανεκλογή του : «Τα αποτελέσματα των σημερινών εκλογών δικαιώνουν τις προσπάθειές μας για την ανάπτυξη της ελληνικής κωπηλασίας. Με την αναδιάρθρωση των θέσεων στο Διοικητικό συμβούλιο και την παρουσία του Ολυμπιονίκη μας Βασίλη Πολύμερου θα συνεχίσουμε στο δρόμο της προόδου και των επιτυχιών για το άθλημα μας». |
No middle ground with rowing coach Mike Spracklen
No middle ground with rowing coach Mike Spracklen
By Teddy Katz
Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2012 | 08:28 AM
Categories: Olympics2012
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Canadian rowing coach Mike Spracklen after his men's eight won a silver medal at the London Olympics. (Kevin Light/CBCSports.ca)
Beginning of Story Content
Canada's rowing team had some success wining two silver medals, but didn't see as many strong performances as the team had hoped.In the lead up to the Games, it was anything but smooth sailing.
A CBC investigation uncovered some athletes and top officials connected to the sport who are publicly sharing grievances - some longstanding - and speaking out about the tactics of one of the Canadian team's legendary coaches, Mike Spracklen.
They include rowing pair Scott Frandsen and David Calder who finished sixth in London after winning a silver medal at the Games in Beijing.
"I think there's a healthier approach to sport. I don't think that sport at an elite level at a high performance level has to be abusive," Calder says.
Biggest names in rowing
Spracklen has made a name for himself partially by pushing his athletes to extremes both physically and mentally to toughen them up for Olympic battle, a battle that he has often won.
He's led rowing crews from all over the world to about a dozen Olympic medals. That includes a gold for the Canadian men's eight squad in Barcelona in 1992 and again in Beijing in 2008, with silver here in London.
To be this successful he admits to "getting on" an athlete to motivate them.
He tells them "If I don't push you, I think I'm not helping you. If I don't push somebody that could get onto the Olympic podium then I'm not doing my job ... "
But some wonder at what cost.
Brian Richardson was Rowing Canada's head coach at the 1996 Olympics where the team won six medals and he coached alongside Spracklen for the 2004 games in Athens.
"As a coach he is second to none if you want to win the gold medal ... [in the men's eight] there is probably no one better in the world to do that for you," Richardson says.
But he adds: "You have to be aware there will be a lot of destruction and fallout because of it."
He says Spracklen's tactics have had the Canadian team close to self-destructing over the years.
"He will do everything in his power to make that crew win which in many cases leaves him setting the crew us versus the rest. You know that sort [of] mentality - that sort of motivation. That the rest of Canada don't support us and we have to do this alone."
Athletes divided
Spracklen supporters, like Andrew Byrnes, who is a member of this year's men's eight team defends the tactics. Byrnes says most who've rowed under Spracklen since the early '90s in Canada believe he's done great things for rowing in this country.
Canada's
Brain Price, Will Crothers, Jeremiah Brown, Andrew Byrnes, Malcolm
Howard, Conlin McCabe, Rob Gibson, Douglas Csima, and Gabriel Bergen
pose with the silver medal they won for the men's rowing eight. (AP
Photo/Armando Franca)And some credit him with pulling the team together to win the silver after a disastrous start in London.
In a blog posted after the silver medal, rowing legend Silken Laumann wrote that this was another example of why Spracklen is the best rowing coach in the world.
"Mike knows how to take the rawness of talent and give it form to reveal greatness," Laumann wrote.
But some current and former rowers and officials who spoke to CBC have a different point of view.
They allege that Spracklen grinds down athletes, plays favourites, trains in dangerous conditions, and verbally picks on rowers.
An unusual move
Tracy Cameron quit rowing and walked away from her Olympic spot just two months before these Games.
It was an unusual move by an athlete who had worked hard to come back from injury to earn her Olympic spot on the lightweight women's double team
At the time, Cameron blamed it on a lack of chemistry with her partner Lindsay Jennerich.
But she now tells CBC she was also disappointed and emotionally hurt by her coach, Mike Spracklen.
"I was shocked ... I felt like I was thrown under the bus," she says
After Cameron and her partner struggled at a pre-Olympic regatta this spring in Switzerland, the coach had Patricia Obee, the athlete Cameron had already beat out for the Olympic spot, back training with them.
And he pitted them against one another in training.
Cameron says she couldn't believe she was being asked to race for her Olympic seat again.
"I had already proven myself and by a substantial amount. It wasn't a close race."
Spracklen denies he was re-selecting for the Olympic spot - but then pauses.
"She may well have seen that yes - I can see that she would have thought that because if you're training with me and I can't keep up with you but the other person is - who would you want to partner. If there are three of you and one of them is being left behind you wouldn't want to row with that person would you so it becomes self selecting."
She felt in the time she needed the support the most she didn't get it. Spracklen says he was only trying to do what was best for the team.
In the end, the double with Jennerich and Obee didn't get past the Olympic semifinals.
More transparency
Pairs rower Scott Frandsen would like people to reconsider Spracklen as a model coach.
He and his partner David Calder say they have been fighting for more transparency in who is picked for Olympic spots especially in the men's eight, one of the sport's marquee events.
"What we've wanted and all we've been fighting for the past couple of years is a level playing field. All we want is for speed on water to dictate who's in what boat".
Brian Richardson says one of the examples that haunts him happened just before the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Rower Darren Barber was trying to make a comeback after taking time off from training to become a doctor.
He helped Canada win a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics.
At several pre Olympic events right before Athens, Barber was part of a men's eight crew that seemed unbeatable.
But Spracklen held a seat selection race to decide who was in the men's eight at the Olympics.
Frandsen says it left many of them shaking their heads.
"He wasn't the guy that Mike wanted in the eight. So Mike kept doing the seat race over and over again and Darren kept winning but Mike was going to continue to do that seat race until his guy won."
Coach surprised
Brian Richardson, the head coach at the time, was dumfounded too.
"I feel like I let Darren down a bit because I got a surprise, I didn't think it was an issue whether Darren was going to be in the boat or not, and suddenly he's out of the boat."
He says even worse, Spracklen didn't give the news to Barber in person.
"The tragic side of that I thought, was that he never even spoke to Darren. This was a guy that won a Gold Medal for him [in 1992] and rowed his heart out, a terrific competitor, incredibly tough, a guy I have enormous respect for and he just cut him out."
Rowing Canada says picking a team isn't an exact science. Speed on the water is a major factor, but not the only one, for example there's also how the athlete fits into the team to help create a certain chemistry so the coach has to have some leeway to make his or her selections.
Frandsen, who used to be part of Spracklen's inner circle when he was in the men's eight at the 2004 Olympics, says Spracklen has a saying he likes to use: Ffriends come and go but Olympic medals last forever.
"There's a quote that I think really captures what's wrong with this philosophy and it's something like you can be a victor without having victims. You can stand tall without standing on top of people."
A culture of fearFrandsen's partner, Calder, won the world championship in the men's eight with Spracklen in 2003.
But Calder says when he had a family, the coach thought he had lost his focus and let everybody know.
"We were at a camp in BC. The camp was coming to an end and some of the veterans on the team wanted to go back to Victoria," Calder recalls.
"And I stuck my neck out and said, 'listen guys we've been here for the week let's finish this off on a high note, let's push ourselves as hard as we can'. Mike didn't hear what I said and he just took that opportunity to say of course you would want to go home. You would want to go home to your family - In fact you should just go home ... you don't belong here,you belong at home with your family."
Calder says it was a tirade that lasted a full five minutes in front of the whole team.
"Nobody on that team said anything, everybody stuck their head down because there's that environment of fear - the culture of fear that if you stick your neck out then you're the next person on the chopping block."
Dan Casaca at one point thought he might be rowing at the Games in London.
But in November the rower, who at one time was considered one of team's bright young prospects, retired and walked away from his Olympic dream.
He says he couldn't take any more of what he says had become a barrage of negative comments directed his way from Spracklen.
"I was the whipping boy," he says and adds if this was Spracklen's way to motivate him it had the opposite effect.
No matter what he did, he says he was told he wasn't good enough, he was lazy. This happened in front of the whole team.
"Telling them I was no good...I didn't care about anything, that's verbal abuse. That's the definition of verbal abuse. Did I take it like that at time? No. Do I see that it is now? - Yes."
Casaca says he felt humiliated and even started to believe he wasn't any good after he heard it so often.
He felt unfairly singled out.
Canada's Scott Frandsen at the 2012 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)"Once you've been around for couple of years, you see it over and over again at some point you say enough is enough," Frandsen says.
The pair demanded a shakeup from the sport's governing body.
Rowing Canada conducted an internal investigation and interviewed the members of the men's national team and some others connected to the sport. The results were never made public.
Brian Richardson the former head coach says Rowing Canada faced a dilemma.
Record of success
"Because he has a record, a success record. ... it does sound like the athletes are just complaining because they did not get selected. But I think there's enough examples now over the last 10 years."
Richardson adds, "Once they win the gold medal you just feel like [you] can't say anything because the end justifies [the] means and of course he won in '92...he's gone ahead done it again in 2008. It's [a] tough one for Rowing Canada to step up. How do you sack a dual gold medal coach?"
After its investigation, Rowing Canada did split the men's heavyweight team among several coaches with Spracklen continuing to coach his men's eight and a few other squads.
Spracklen openly criticized that move in London and said it wasn't a good strategy to win medals.
He calls the past couple of years difficult.
Rejects criticism
And feels as if his boss, Rowing Canada, has lost confidence in him despite all his achievements.
And he says the criticisms aren't justified.
"If I coach an eight, or whatever boat I'm coaching, of the 20 or 30 people I have there's only eight that can get into those seats and so you've immediately got 22 enemies and those people are the people that complain. They will attack me with you're unfair, you cheat- your training program is too hard, we can't train that hard and that's where a lot of that dissension comes from. Most of dissension comes from athletes that have not made the standard and complain and it's unfortunate that certain people take notice of those complaints."
Rowing Canada's high performance Peter Cookson denies they've lost confidence in Spracklen.
He says he's heard the complaints but doesn't believe Spracklen has crossed the line into being abusive.
"Mike always operates professionally and tries to get the best out of people."
The divisions amongst team members became quite apparent in the lead up to London.
Some don't speak to one another.
On three different occasions in the last year, Frandsen and his partner Calder say they discovered small holes punctured into the sides of their boat - they worried it might have been sabotage.
"We don't know who did it. It's absurd it's ridiculous," Calder says.
Extra security
Last December the association wrote an email to the athletes at the Victoria Training Centre,
In the email, obtained by CBC, Rowing Canada officials say they're not sure if the holes were accidental or intentional, but go on to say they're installing security cameras in the boathouse to make sure it doesn't happen again.
And there were cameras and patrols for the team in London.
The 74-year-old Spracklen has become a lightning rod for both his critics and his supporters.
He's led Canada to some of its most memorable Olympic moments in rowing.
But some, like Brian Richardson, think this will be his last.
"Rowing Canada has erred on the side of failing to act, but I think they will now after these Olympics are over."
Rowing Canada has confirmed it is conducting a review of its entire rowing program from operations to coaching.
Peter Cookson says the goal is to go from having a good team to a great team.
As Spracklen looked out over his training site before the games on Elk Lake in Victoria, he told CBC he isn't planning on walking away from the sport he's so passionate about anytime soon.
"Rowing is my life and I will continue until I keel over and fall into the lake. And it may not be this lake. The way things are going it could well be a lake somewhere else"
End
H απάντηση του Spracklen
Fired Canadian national team rowing coach
Spracklen fights back
A day after having been criticized for his “destructive ways” and for
creating a “culture of fear,” former Canadian national team rowing
coach Mike Spracklen had a few words of his own.
From his home in Victoria, B.C., the 75-year-old British coach of the men’s eight said he was the subject of a vendetta launched by rower Scott Frandsen, whose blog on CBC.ca supported Rowing Canada’s decision not to renew Spracklen’s contract and detailed why. According to Frandsen, Spracklen wore out athletes with his relentless training program and demanding attitude then played favourites, allowing certain rowers to be “protected from the impact of his wrath.”
Spracklen, who has one of the most successful records in the history of the sport, winning Olympic medals while coaching different countries, dismissed the complaints against him as Frandsen’s way to strike back for not being part of the men’s eight that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“He wanted to be on the eight and had a race-off with Kevin Light to determine who got in,” Spracklen said. “Kevin won and Scott went with David Calder in the pairs. They won a silver and the eight won gold. It’s a vendetta. It’s all about Frandsen not being in the eight and not getting a gold.”
Spracklen added Frandsen “is not a big guy [physically] and he felt I didn’t like little guys, which is not true. What better way to go about it than to take it to you [in the media]? It’s been said that I’m abusive and it’s totally untrue. But people believe it. People love spice.”
Sometimes caustic, always calculating, Spracklen has forged a reputation for doing things his way. He’s as old-fashioned as a handshake and isn’t big on all the new technology. Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek described Spracklen as an introvert, “a gentle man” who likes to read and write poetry who can also “be brutally honest as a coach.”
After the men’s eight was relegated to repechages at the London Olympics, Spracklen lit up his crew like never before for not following instructions. The next day, he apologized by saying he didn’t know how else to get his point across. The men’s eight went on to win the silver medal.
“He does not yell very often,” Olympic coxswain Brian Price said of Spracklen. “You could say he can be blunt and sarcastic. He once called out Malcolm Howard in front of the guys. Malcolm is always a slow starter and Mike would say to him, ‘How does Will Crothers [who is smaller] beat you off the line, beat you to 1,000 metres in the single [boat]? Why do you continue to do that?’ The feeling was if Mike would do that to the captain, he’d do it to the rest of us. We understood what that meant.”
Frandsen, currently coaching in California, acknowledged he’s been taking heat over his blog and for campaigning to have Spracklen ousted, as members of the 2012 men’s eight team have stated. The three-time Olympian said he understood why he’s the focus of the Spracklen story but insisted there is more to it than that.
“The common thread, all the way back to 1992 [when Spracklen first coached for Canada], is that there are guys who still can’t talk about rowing because it’s still too raw for them,” Frandsen said of Spracklen’s tactics. “You don’t get that kind of reaction if you don’t just make the team. Mike can shrug it off but the training environment in Victoria was toxic …
“This is not just for me,” Frandsen continued. “It’s for some of the young guys coming up who have already experienced being second-class citizens under Mike.”
Spracklen, who has been receiving countless phone calls and e-mails from his supporters, isn’t sure where he’ll coach next. While many wonder how Rowing Canada is going to win more Olympic medals in 2016 without Spracklen’s wealth of knowledge, the man himself has a different question – how did his tenure as head coach of the men’s eight and national heavyweight program end with an Olympic silver medal and him losing his job?
“You’ve got one person [Frandsen] and he gets as much publicity as 50 people. It’s beyond me how one person can make so much noise and get listened to,” Spracklen said.
ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΝΑΔΩΝ ΣΕ ΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΑΡΘΡΟ
From his home in Victoria, B.C., the 75-year-old British coach of the men’s eight said he was the subject of a vendetta launched by rower Scott Frandsen, whose blog on CBC.ca supported Rowing Canada’s decision not to renew Spracklen’s contract and detailed why. According to Frandsen, Spracklen wore out athletes with his relentless training program and demanding attitude then played favourites, allowing certain rowers to be “protected from the impact of his wrath.”
Spracklen, who has one of the most successful records in the history of the sport, winning Olympic medals while coaching different countries, dismissed the complaints against him as Frandsen’s way to strike back for not being part of the men’s eight that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“He wanted to be on the eight and had a race-off with Kevin Light to determine who got in,” Spracklen said. “Kevin won and Scott went with David Calder in the pairs. They won a silver and the eight won gold. It’s a vendetta. It’s all about Frandsen not being in the eight and not getting a gold.”
Spracklen added Frandsen “is not a big guy [physically] and he felt I didn’t like little guys, which is not true. What better way to go about it than to take it to you [in the media]? It’s been said that I’m abusive and it’s totally untrue. But people believe it. People love spice.”
Sometimes caustic, always calculating, Spracklen has forged a reputation for doing things his way. He’s as old-fashioned as a handshake and isn’t big on all the new technology. Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek described Spracklen as an introvert, “a gentle man” who likes to read and write poetry who can also “be brutally honest as a coach.”
After the men’s eight was relegated to repechages at the London Olympics, Spracklen lit up his crew like never before for not following instructions. The next day, he apologized by saying he didn’t know how else to get his point across. The men’s eight went on to win the silver medal.
“He does not yell very often,” Olympic coxswain Brian Price said of Spracklen. “You could say he can be blunt and sarcastic. He once called out Malcolm Howard in front of the guys. Malcolm is always a slow starter and Mike would say to him, ‘How does Will Crothers [who is smaller] beat you off the line, beat you to 1,000 metres in the single [boat]? Why do you continue to do that?’ The feeling was if Mike would do that to the captain, he’d do it to the rest of us. We understood what that meant.”
Frandsen, currently coaching in California, acknowledged he’s been taking heat over his blog and for campaigning to have Spracklen ousted, as members of the 2012 men’s eight team have stated. The three-time Olympian said he understood why he’s the focus of the Spracklen story but insisted there is more to it than that.
“The common thread, all the way back to 1992 [when Spracklen first coached for Canada], is that there are guys who still can’t talk about rowing because it’s still too raw for them,” Frandsen said of Spracklen’s tactics. “You don’t get that kind of reaction if you don’t just make the team. Mike can shrug it off but the training environment in Victoria was toxic …
“This is not just for me,” Frandsen continued. “It’s for some of the young guys coming up who have already experienced being second-class citizens under Mike.”
Spracklen, who has been receiving countless phone calls and e-mails from his supporters, isn’t sure where he’ll coach next. While many wonder how Rowing Canada is going to win more Olympic medals in 2016 without Spracklen’s wealth of knowledge, the man himself has a different question – how did his tenure as head coach of the men’s eight and national heavyweight program end with an Olympic silver medal and him losing his job?
“You’ve got one person [Frandsen] and he gets as much publicity as 50 people. It’s beyond me how one person can make so much noise and get listened to,” Spracklen said.
ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΝΑΔΩΝ ΣΕ ΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΑΡΘΡΟ
sparkles5
LOL.
Its great that you people actually think this is about a different of
opinion between 2 people. Do you seriously think that RCA would make
this big of a coaching change based on one athlete's disagreement with a
coach? Get real! Discord and angst have followed Spracklen wherever he
has gone and RCA is tired of dealing with it. Sure, Scott is speaking
up against him and telling the about why a good number (probably the
majority!) of the athletes that have come into contact with Spracklen
have a big problem with him, but lets not jump to the conclusion that he
is dictating what RCA does. Its actually funny that people will
believe that!
Score: 2
PAULICAN
The
British rowing programme improved and won more medals after Spracklin
left. Losing him is not the end of the world, he still has a bridge or
two he hasn't burned yet but not many.
Score: 2
Perspective2016
What
is being lost in all this is that the damage done for one medal is
substantial. A truly successful program yields multiple medals from
multiple boat classes not just one. If Canada wants to guarantee one
medal in 2016 then this would be the way to do it. However, if more
medals are the objective then a hard loss may be needed for a
substantial gain. Scott is simply speaking up for those who are still
too afraid of the consequences of doing so for fear that if they do they
will suffer if the decision is reversed. Is that right for people to
feel that way? but its the truth, and the brunt he is taking is why they
continue not to speak.
Score: 1
hammers
Life goes on. Did anyone die.....no. Time will heal all wounds and rowing will survive.
Score: 1
Hab's fan
Most times perception can become reality .
It is up to the modern coaches to allow the team to become exactly, that a team.
Lets be honest the athletes have changed and the coaches have to revaluate there coaching methods to gain the maximum results.
The days of driving athletes with the whip are gone.
It is up to the modern coaches to allow the team to become exactly, that a team.
Lets be honest the athletes have changed and the coaches have to revaluate there coaching methods to gain the maximum results.
The days of driving athletes with the whip are gone.
Score: 1
Cathsco1
If
you watched the Olympics this past summer, Marnie McBean was quite
critical of Spracklen's coaching style. She said the rowers were strong
but that their technique was poor which is why they struggled when the
wind came up and the water was rough. She mentioned several times that
the Canadian team did not focus on proper technique.
Score: 1
Whatchusay
Frandsen
and Jennerich who are on opposite sides of the fence as it relates to
Spraklem BOTH didn't live up to expectations in London. Whose fault is
that?
Score: 0
moosep
The men's 8 is still the premier rowing event in the world.
Name another coach who has a better record in Olympics and World Championships in the 8.
There are only 8 seats in the boat. It's brutal. It's rowing.
Over Mike's term, Canada's rowing team has the best record of any summer olympic program.
Name another coach who has a better record in Olympics and World Championships in the 8.
There are only 8 seats in the boat. It's brutal. It's rowing.
Over Mike's term, Canada's rowing team has the best record of any summer olympic program.
Score: 0
Dave Brutus Brown
Mike
Spracklen has been a controversial figure almost since the day he
arrived in Canada. It was clear then that things were going to change.
Rowing Canada's results in Seoul had been a disappointment, and it was
obvious that the program needed transformation.
From square one a couple of things were made clear by Mike Spracklen:
1) if you wanted to race at the Olympics (on the men's team), you were going to have to move to Victoria and train side by side with everyone else in a very competitive environment
2) the training volume was going to exceed Canadian convention
I remember very well how excited everyone was back then. Any room for doubt was dismissed by the results produced at the World Championships in Tasmania in 1990 (1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze). Further inspired by those results, I was one of the many that packed up my life in Ontario and headed out to the coast in late 1990. Over the next two years, I was challenged like I never had been before, and indeed witnessed a soaring standard as EVERYONE there pushed each other to the limit. It was tough, even brutal at times, but the spectacular results in Barcelona showed that the system worked (4 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze).
It seems that the competitive culture that Spracklen built in '90/'91/'92 has remained largely unchanged since then. What seems to have changed is the sense of gratitude in and around that Training Centre for the work of its chief architect.
I'm very disappointed to hear that Mike Spracklen was handed his hat. And while I'm sure there are critical complexities behind this decision, I can't overcome the uneasy feeling that it has as more to do with interpersonal politics than keeping Canada at the front on the international competitive rowing scene.
From square one a couple of things were made clear by Mike Spracklen:
1) if you wanted to race at the Olympics (on the men's team), you were going to have to move to Victoria and train side by side with everyone else in a very competitive environment
2) the training volume was going to exceed Canadian convention
I remember very well how excited everyone was back then. Any room for doubt was dismissed by the results produced at the World Championships in Tasmania in 1990 (1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze). Further inspired by those results, I was one of the many that packed up my life in Ontario and headed out to the coast in late 1990. Over the next two years, I was challenged like I never had been before, and indeed witnessed a soaring standard as EVERYONE there pushed each other to the limit. It was tough, even brutal at times, but the spectacular results in Barcelona showed that the system worked (4 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze).
It seems that the competitive culture that Spracklen built in '90/'91/'92 has remained largely unchanged since then. What seems to have changed is the sense of gratitude in and around that Training Centre for the work of its chief architect.
I'm very disappointed to hear that Mike Spracklen was handed his hat. And while I'm sure there are critical complexities behind this decision, I can't overcome the uneasy feeling that it has as more to do with interpersonal politics than keeping Canada at the front on the international competitive rowing scene.
Score: -1
Rickardo b
I'm
am speaking as an outsider of Mike's training regiment, so although
maybe I lack a little knowledge of his true presence, I also lack the
bias and one sided words of people inside his realm.
Clearly Mikes training program is a constant issue of questioning with certain people and I very much agree that if you are concerned about the ultimate outcome of your training or what the benefits of certain workouts are you should ask questions, but within reason rowing is one of the most physically demanding sports out there and pain is at sometimes a constant throughout practices no matter the coach.
I have only met Mike a few times, but am always amazed of his attention to detail and how he can break a stroke down into the tiniest of incraments. its his attention to detail and ability to push people to that point of no return that has made him probably one of the most well decorated coaches out there and controvery asside in the bigger picture he has had a very succseful career. Great athelets come and go and to be able to produce such high caliber boats every time is not a fluke.
I was told once in rowing as a junior the only alternetive to success is death! this is a very bold statement and not many would understand, but when you see the time, effort, strain and sheer drive it takes to be succeful at any level of the sport then and only then will you understand. Yes Mike is a tough coach everyone has heard it, but you have to be able to push yourself to the limit to succeed and he knows this.
In my own opinion Mike has been dealt a bad card and its dissapointing to see him go.
Clearly Mikes training program is a constant issue of questioning with certain people and I very much agree that if you are concerned about the ultimate outcome of your training or what the benefits of certain workouts are you should ask questions, but within reason rowing is one of the most physically demanding sports out there and pain is at sometimes a constant throughout practices no matter the coach.
I have only met Mike a few times, but am always amazed of his attention to detail and how he can break a stroke down into the tiniest of incraments. its his attention to detail and ability to push people to that point of no return that has made him probably one of the most well decorated coaches out there and controvery asside in the bigger picture he has had a very succseful career. Great athelets come and go and to be able to produce such high caliber boats every time is not a fluke.
I was told once in rowing as a junior the only alternetive to success is death! this is a very bold statement and not many would understand, but when you see the time, effort, strain and sheer drive it takes to be succeful at any level of the sport then and only then will you understand. Yes Mike is a tough coach everyone has heard it, but you have to be able to push yourself to the limit to succeed and he knows this.
In my own opinion Mike has been dealt a bad card and its dissapointing to see him go.
Score: -1
GHodg
The
RCA decision to let Mike go is a very clear message that they are more
interested in playing politics than in winning medals. Mike worked
tirelessly for his team, demanding that they be giving the resources
necessary to win, and this rubbed the old boys at RCA the wrong way. He
was just as demanding of his athletes, and would always let anyone know
where they stood, sometimes in private and sometimes in front of the
rest of the team.
sparkless5, you are right that this is more than a disagreement between 2 people, but you are completely wrong if you think most athletes have problems with him. He built winning crews out of pools of athletes many times smaller than the German, American or British teams, and most of those athletes have a deep respect for him. The few who don't mainly did not like that the final selection of the crew was a subjective decision by Mike, and there was no recourse.
Mike was dedicated to winning, and would not waste time playing politics London, Ont, nor waste effort playing favorites. If someone didn't make the 8, it would be because there was a faster boat that could be assembled.
sparkless5, you are right that this is more than a disagreement between 2 people, but you are completely wrong if you think most athletes have problems with him. He built winning crews out of pools of athletes many times smaller than the German, American or British teams, and most of those athletes have a deep respect for him. The few who don't mainly did not like that the final selection of the crew was a subjective decision by Mike, and there was no recourse.
Mike was dedicated to winning, and would not waste time playing politics London, Ont, nor waste effort playing favorites. If someone didn't make the 8, it would be because there was a faster boat that could be assembled.
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