Video Of The Week: The World's Best Coach?



This week's video comes to us courtesy of FISA commentator and GB Olympian Martin Cross, who had a fantastic week in South Korea, posting daily blogs and video interviews throughout the world championships. This interview, however, may be one of the most important, checking in with Team GB head coach Jürgen Grobler—possibly the best rowing coach in the world right now. In typical fashion, Grobler's crews had a slight performance dip at Lucerne, but were extremely well-prepared for the main event. Team GB were one of four federations to take home a total of eight medals from the championships, and tied for the most gold medals (three) with Italy and Australia. Among those gold medals was (rather unbelievably) British Rowing's first-ever world championship title in the men's eight—a first for Grobler in that event as well.

More to come on this year's World Rowing Championships in our recap and review later this week.

In the meantime, however, and speaking of Jürgen Grobler... A Twitter account, with the handle @JurgenGrowler, is well worth a follow. Included below are just a couple examples of the gems thus far:



While exactly who is behind it remains a mystery, we can only imagine that even Grobler himself might get a chuckle or two out of it in his office in "Großbritannien."

You can read World Rowing's recap of the final day of this year's championships here, and watch the racing again here.

Also coming soon: The 2013 RoRys—who will take home the most prestigious awards in rowing at the junior, collegiate, and elite levels this year?

-RR

Trending posts this month

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

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Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b...
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The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

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The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States. ...
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So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

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Warwick rowers are all in again this year (Photo courtesy of Warwick Boat Club)  The phenomenon started four years ago with the Warwick Rowing men's squad. Then, the following year, the Warwick women's team joined the fray. Now, Newcastle University's men and women are back on the naked calendar train. So, the question is, have rowing and naked calendars become a thing? The above video features the 2014-2015 Warwick women's squad—the third edition of the calendar , and, from the looks of it, the raciest. However, perhaps not so racy as that of the 2014-2015 Warwick men (see below). But raciness aside, all four of these teams have chosen worthy charities and have gone "the full monty" to make sure that those causes have received considerable contributions. The Warwick women contribute to Macmillan Cancer Support —a cause for which Warwick reports it has donated some £5,000. The Warwick men? Sport Allies —a charity that combats homophobia in spor...
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Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? At Marin Rowing Association, Culture is Key

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Hands in after training  My alarm goes off—it’s 4:22am.  It’s been a while since I did this. Immediately, I think back to a college dorm room, rolling out of bed and running down the steps to carpool caravan to Marina Del Rey.  Not this time, though. It’s a Tuesday in late September, and I’m heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Greenbrae, California, where I’ll meet with the Marin Rowing Men’s Masters squad. Fortunately, it’s an unusually warm morning—and when I roll in, the boathouse is already buzzing with activity.  Launch time: 5:10. Heading out into the Bay before dawn The Marin Rowing Association program has both men’s and women’s masters boats competing to win at every event they attend. In the fall, that can only mean one thing: The Head Of The Charles .  The boat that Coach Rodrigo Rodrigues and I spend most of our time with is the Grand Masters eight—average age 60+. But that’s just one of five crews that launched with us that morning. Everyone’s ...
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Winter Workouts: Why Do Rowers Fear the Erg?

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