Robin Dowell – Jeannine Gmelin’s Coach
Robin Dowell is mainly known as the coach of Swiss World Gold medal winning sculler, Jeannine Gmelin. He talks his journey as a coach from being a nearly-national team athlete from the British World Class Start programme through school, junior and international team coaching.
Timestamps
02:00 My personal journey as a swimmer into rowing as a talent identified athlete. It’s the coach’s job to make you enjoy it and keep you coming back. I joined World Class Start thanks to Peter Shakespear.
0800 Understanding what it’s like being around world class people. They U23s needed a stroke side substitute for their seat racing and I got to go. That was my big break to step up which lead to the 8 for the European Championships.
12:00 Pulling together great coaching role models and experiences. Henley Royal Regatta is another higher level of performance.
17:00 I tried to win Henley another season in the 4+ including having an infected blister on my hand You may feel like a wet lettuce…. You’ve always got to bring your best to the race.
22:00 I decided to join Leander Club
25:00 When you find a pairs partner and it goes well it’s good You never want to stop.
28:00 Execute to a high level of proficiency – the fundamentals. We got our performances by repeating a pattern every outing. Look for www.row.tv for archive footage of Henley Royal.
32:00 Playing “What Ifs” when watching YouTube rowing videos of races.
35:00 Switzerland Head Coach job was advertised after Rio in 2017. I had 4 athletes show up on the first day. Centralised training was from Wednesday to Sunday at Sarnen Lake.
43:00 Junior team in GB is more of a manager and education role In Switzerland it was different – I coached every day. My core focus was on the athletes.
44:00 Jeannine Gmelin – she asked me what she could to to prepare for my arrival. Everything builds on the layer before
50:00 Transferable skills from life and other sports. Ask, use them at the World Championships in Sarasota, FL. Jeannine won a gold
Contact Robin at www.dowellperformance.com
Instagram @dowellperformance
Twitter @dowellperformance or @robin_dowell
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