Tim Male – Monmouth RC coach
Tim is the club coach for Monmouth Rowing Club who won the Victor Ludorum Prize at the 2023 British Masters Rowing Championships.
We discuss his methods, what the club is like and how to replicate success.
Interview Tim Male Rowing Coach
04:00 Monmouth Rowing Club – the town rowing club draws people from around 20 miles away to join.
05:30 The club had talented individuals but rowed in small groups. Focus on private projects. Fragmented. Big projects require co-ordination.
06:30 Changes Tim made to the Club culture to bring people together.
– Rowing together
– Mixed crews
– 60 active masters rowers. Some were very inexperienced LTR graduates.
– The “club group.”
– The” performance group” men;’ women.
Everyone rows together for regional and local events.
09:15 Private Projects abandoned.
Getting value from coaching was the main draw. Subscriptions increased to pay for the coach. Improved performance from a universal structure with coaching and training structure.
11:00 Coaching has broad goals regatta dates, training in 4–5 week blocks. Each gets 2 coached sessions per week. Rest are self-guided.Tuesday + Wednesday evenings are long rows with priority given to one group each day. Sunday coached sessions at fixed times of day.
13:45 Pathway to Victor Ludorum
Season One, they raced one day at British Masters and finished top 5 in sweep events. Under- represented in sculling.
Season Two, decided to race both days and incorporate the dub group to step up to race the non- championship events. Anyone who has not won a championship event can race non-championship events.
17:00 Progression pathway for new athletes so they race similar skilled people
18:15 Crew selection using subjective and objective factors:
1) Technical capability
2) Team building commitment, reliability
3) Coach ability and capability to change.
Allowances for frequency of training.1k Weight-adjusted ergo tests for men for choice boats. Target was top 3 in Victor Ludorum.
Training fitness to be able to do up to 6 events over a weekend. Up to 12 races. Points mean prizes. We operated on the picket fence mentality as long as they got points towards the main challenge.
23:00 Future plans
Take the club to International events like the European Masters Championships, Head of the Charles, Local regattas with unified club events, and Autumn head race targets.
25:00 Advice for another club who wants to build a competitive pathway.
Generate the culture first.
With Masters Rowing there is a range of people, capability and experience. This makes crew selection tricky. Uniform rowing style so swapping crews is easier. You need a broad scope for success and developing from “underneath” (less skilled people).
https://www.monmouthrc.org.uk/post/british-masters-victor-ludorum
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