Inside the 2015 World Rowing youth coaches conference

Representatives from 20 nations with a strong showing from Asian countries attended the conference. The overall theme was Developing Youth Rowing, with standout discussions also held about universality, gender balance and the future regatta structure. All presentations were simultaneously translated, due to the high attendance of Chinese coaches.

As many coaches of beginner rowers were also present, a Go-Row presentation outlining the basics of rowing, technique and training was included in the programme. See it here. 

FISA President Jean-Christophe Rolland made a presentation on FISA and the Olympic Movement, highlighting Olympic Agenda 2020 and its 40 recommendations, which were adopted by the International Olympic Committee in December 2014. Rolland outlined which recommendations would likely impact the future of the sport of rowing within the Olympic movement in terms of big impact, mid impact or low to no impact and how FISA is taking them into consideration. Here.

Coach Jining Wu has coached elite crews in both China and Canada, leading the Chinese lightweight men’s four to World Championship gold in 2006 and the Canadian lightweight women’s double sculls to World Championship gold and silver in 2010 and 2011. Wu’s presentation compared the national structures in place for junior athletes in Canada and in China, in terms of competition and training. He also outlined the factors he believes play a role in helping to build the best possible junior teams and presented the nine stages of athlete development. Here.

Axel Mueller, from FISA’s Youth Rowing Commission, gave a technical presentation entitled Monitoring Rowing Training which covered such aspects as how to best monitor performance, training load and technique. Here. 

Steffen Becker, from the Shanghai Water Sports Center, gave a detailed presentation outlining factors that improve performance in junior rowing, drawing from his experience coaching junior crews that medalled at the Chinese National Rowing Youth Championships. Here. 

Trent Lawton from High Performance Sport New Zealand gave a presentation on Strength Training for Younger Rowers. The presentation was divided into four parts: Benefits for (elite) rowers, Assessing Benefits, Strength Training Methods and Success Indicators. Here.

All presentations are available for download here.