Reflections of 2007 – Junior Rowing

	When the World Rowing Junior Championships opened in Beijing, China in August 2007 they were the first test event for the 2008 Olympic Games. The championships also became the talk of China with the Chinese juniors demonstrating a display of strength never before seen by the nation’s junior rowing fraternity.
Chaoqun Ni and Yuanyuan Hao, Chinese juniors

The Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park passed Olympic standards with flying colours and visitors especially noted the hospitality of the 800 specially selected and trained volunteers. China finished up with six gold medals from the 13 events. This was a stunning result considering the country had only ever won gold once before at the junior level.

Later in the year junior coaches came together in Gibraltar for their annual conference and keynote speaker Germany’s (just retired) junior national team coach, Dr. Dieter Altenburg noted that the German junior national team experienced weight loss during the trip to Beijing. Altenburg also commented that they were unable to regain during the course of the championships.

“The suggestion was that it was a result of dehydration from the flights and may have impacted the results and athlete ability,” said FISA youth commission member Debby De Angelis who attended the conference.

The conference followed the theme “let’s be practical” and Altenburg was joined by über-coach Thor Nilsen in leading the discussions. Nilsen promoted the use of play and variety in training juniors while Altenburg gave specific technical advice.

De Angelis commented that Nilsen and Altenburg both talked about how they handle juniors differently from senior rowers. “When you are dealing with juniors they are still developing, particularly with the boys and that requires care that the training program allows for development of skill and strength. With seniors, it is more maintaining and improvement from year to year. Juniors can be more receptive to coaching and open to learning and trying new things.”

The conference discussed the possibility of holding a European Junior Championships. De Angelis noted that generally the participants were in favour of the idea.

Junior rowing is supported by the Masters Fund with 1 Euro going to the fund from every seat entry at the World Rowing Masters Regatta. In 2007 the masters regatta in Croatia raised nearly 9,000 Euro for the Masters Fund. This is a new record amount. Youth rowing commission member Axel Mueller said the money would be used to develop junior rowing in a selected country. The most recent recipient is Kerrie Mackie of Zimbabwe.

In 2008 the World Rowing Junior Championships will be incorporated in with the senior championships. Linz/Ottensheim, Austria will be hosting the event in July.

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