Wow! What a storm we had last night! No sooner did we get in the boats, for what would have been a technique based practice, than we heard the first crack of thunder and the beginning of a “whopper” of a storm system about to dump on London!
Safety rules (and common sense) state that at the first sign of thunder and/or lightning we are to get off the water, out of the boats and head to safety. We are nothing if not safe so out we got and headed up to the club house to stay dry and wait out the storm.
Now, just because the weather is bad doesn’t mean that we’re off the hook and get to go home! Practice then becomes all about mental exercise and visualization.
Our training isn’t all physical paddling around the lake, there is also a mental side, as any athlete will tell you. “Visualization” means to sit with eyes closed and picture in your mind each part of the stroke…rotate the hips, reach out, stack your shoulders, catch, 90/90, de-rotate, press down with your top hand, power in the water, keep your top hand over the water, head on straight, sit up (but not too far back), out at the hip, pull up with your top hand, quick return (but don’t rush)….and repeat! There’s so much to think about while paddling it’s impossible to concentrate on each piece. This is where visualization helps. It helps us to break down each individual part of the stroke and concentrate on making the corrections where they are needed. It also helps that we’ve all reviewed video tape of our paddling and received “notes” from our coaches on where corrections are needed.
Pairing our video review with visualization of the necessary corrections is just one of the powerful tools we use to become the force that is Rowbust!
Safety rules (and common sense) state that at the first sign of thunder and/or lightning we are to get off the water, out of the boats and head to safety. We are nothing if not safe so out we got and headed up to the club house to stay dry and wait out the storm.
Now, just because the weather is bad doesn’t mean that we’re off the hook and get to go home! Practice then becomes all about mental exercise and visualization.
Our training isn’t all physical paddling around the lake, there is also a mental side, as any athlete will tell you. “Visualization” means to sit with eyes closed and picture in your mind each part of the stroke…rotate the hips, reach out, stack your shoulders, catch, 90/90, de-rotate, press down with your top hand, power in the water, keep your top hand over the water, head on straight, sit up (but not too far back), out at the hip, pull up with your top hand, quick return (but don’t rush)….and repeat! There’s so much to think about while paddling it’s impossible to concentrate on each piece. This is where visualization helps. It helps us to break down each individual part of the stroke and concentrate on making the corrections where they are needed. It also helps that we’ve all reviewed video tape of our paddling and received “notes” from our coaches on where corrections are needed.
Pairing our video review with visualization of the necessary corrections is just one of the powerful tools we use to become the force that is Rowbust!