Saratoga Rowing Association, Chris Chase
Chris Chase runs the Saratoga Rowing Association – most famous for its Head of the Fish Regatta.
He started the club from scratch having no personal rowing or coaching experience. He shares how to fund raise, how to organise coaching and ways to build community in a rowing club.
Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction and background in rowing 05:00 Matt Hopkins uses plastic boats to teach 4-6 year olds 09:00 Upskilling yourself as a coach includes running a conference for junior rowing coaches 12:00 The Volunteer coach model doesn’t work for big clubs. 16:00 Money and Fund raising – a sponsored rowathon which feeds the equipment budget and 2 regattas which feed the coaching budget 21:00 Training the Coaches. Rowing is a lifelong sport if you can scull a single. 29:00 US Rowing surveyed their members and coaching is #1 concern 30:00 Seniors coach the learn to rows in the summer. Pre-elites teach with passion. 32:00 Make rowing more relevant as a sport with added excitement. 42:00 Regatta organisation – start with a time trial. Don’t race in a chevron – use numbered lanes 47:00 Making money drives decisions 51:00 Making regatta trophies – Tim Frost started in 1986 with embalmed fish heads, hand painted.
Links
http://www.row2k.com/features/352/Fish-Story/
