Rowing Revolution

Today we go deep inside the brain of one of the world’s greatest coaches.  Mike consistently created medal winning environments from 1984-2016 in Great Britain, Canada, USA and Russia.  He breaks down in colourful detail the steps from his arrival in a new environment to the final race preparation.  He shares how he showed up day after day with a relentless conviction that elevated the performance of so many of the athletes who chose to join his program.  We hope you share this with the next generation of coaches and athletes in your community.

Today we have the pleasure of welcoming a special figure in the sport of rowing. Mike Spracklen has put 70+ years of his life into the sport and joins us today to reflect on a very special chapter: 12 years on Elk Lake from 2000-2012. Mike shares some powerful memories of this time and how he maintained his conviction to help athletes reach their potential year after year. While times have changed, Mike’s belief remains that his principles of hard work and creating confidence through competition will prevail. Despite some minor audio challenges this chat will hopefully help you reflect on your day to day and keep focusing on what matters most in your life.

Today we return to the airways with a remarkable individual whose incredible journey over the past 29 years battling Erb’s Palsy will leave you fired up to attack any challenge you may be facing. Dani Hansen, 2 time Paralympic Medalist and graduate of UW, joins us as she prepares for another Paralympic campaign while also aiming to keep pushing Hydrow to new heights as employee #4.

The Revolution welcomes Ezra Carlson for an incredible conversation while he and his teammates prepare for the upcoming World Championships. With a combination of humility and determination Ezra’s words will leave you feeling a sense of responsibility to make the most of every opportunity to prove yourself. Rather than focusing on the reasons why he was unlikely to be successful as a rower he chooses to focus on making his coaches and teammates trust that he increases the probability of winning when he is in the boat.

Today Dr. Volker Nolte joins the Revolution to discuss his nearly 60 years of experiences in the sport of rowing. We start with some great questions from our community about the challenges facing competitive rowers and coaches these days. We then turn our attention to the Holy Grail: collegiate rowing and the special experience for a student athlete. We finish with a discussion of Volker’s latest book Rowing Science and his goal to create the gold standard in terms of world class information.

This conversation serves as Part 2 for our deep dive into the theme of Transition. Today Susanne Wereley (nee Grainger) takes us into the boat with her as she reflects on her NCAA championship in 2012, the raw feeling of unfinished business following the Olympic final in Rio, and the process of redefining excellence that was critical in her crew’s Gold Medal performance in Tokyo. But equally powerful is how her accelerated transition to marriage, parenthood, full time work has helped her truly own the growth she forged on the water and the life skills she acquired with her teammates during her nearly 20 year rowing career. Lace up your runners or pour a strong cup of coffee and turn on airplane mode because this conversation deserves your undivided attention. Onwards and Upwards!!

We are thrilled to welcome Christine Faith Roper to the Revolution to help us further explore the theme of transition that we introduced during Episode 7. After almost 20 years in a boat culminating with a Gold Medal in the Women’s 8+ for Canada in Tokyo, Christine powerfully describes the personal growth she is achieving as she transitions into a career in consulting. This is Part 1 of 2 and we can’t wait to build upon the unique perspective that Christine shares with us during this free flowing conversation. Onwards and Upwards!

Today we begin the process of unpacking one of the most difficult and confusing aspects of every student-athlete’s journey: the transition to the “Real World”. This discussion serves as an introduction to our upcoming conversations with two incredible individuals who have offered to share their experiences to help our community reflect on the past, present, and future transitions in their own lives.

Today we are joined by one of the most accomplished coxswains in US rowing. But as per usual we go beyond the resume and dig into the unique challenges Katelin faced as she sought to mold the athletes effort and coaches expertise into a masterpiece on race day. From the formative and floundering days at Winter Park Highschool, to avoiding lily pads at the the Conibear Shellhouse, to guiding the USA W8+ to gold in Rio, Katelin’s journey truly demonstrates the powerful idea that “experience is what we get right after we need it”. Her ability to transfer these learnings to the next chapter of her athletic journey will have you reflect on challenging interactions and identify personal growth for future success in all your relationships.

Building on the themes of Episode 4: K Squared and the behind the scenes chat with Sorin Koszyk about how Coach Kerber built an IRA winning environment at Cornell, we double down and head inside the Bear Den. Today we are joined by both Jake Wetzel and Coach Amerkhanian as they share the their memories of the 1997-1998 season. With each minute that passes we hear how a life long bond was forged as both coach and athlete brought maximum effort to the annual campaign towards competing at the historic IRA Championship Regatta. Jake and Craig provide an intimate look at how when humans work together positive things happen.

Today we begin the next chapter of this project as we deep dive into the special relationship that is behind some of the best performances we see on the water. We are joined by Sorin Koszyk, graduate of Cornell University and two-time IRA champion, to explore the powerful human interaction between coach and athlete. This behind the scenes look at Soren’s experiences at Cornell with Coach Kerber can be applied in any rowing environment and beyond into relationships like Teacher-Student, Parent-Child, Employer-Employee. A special combination of effort and expertise is needed for any of these relationships to achieve success. Today we see how the athlete, by giving maximum effort, can ultimately acquire some of this expertise from the coach and share it with others.

Having taken the appropriate time to thoroughly process our last episode with Olena Buryak in (Episode 2: Феофанія #10,001) we start this episode by discussing our individual reflections over the past 2 weeks on this conversation. We also introduce our belief that while an EVENT is often out of our control, we can control our RESPONSE and that the combination of both the event and our response produces the eventual OUTCOME. By reflecting back on the end of an athletic journey that like so many did not end by choice we explore the importance of letting something die so we can allow something new to begin. This conversation also sets the stage for Episode 4 which focuses on the process of moving on from a dream before it has been realized.

Our curiosity and vulnerability are stretched to new limits during this conversation with Olena Buryak, 2012 and 2016 Olympian for Ukraine. She shares the terrifying reality she and her husband Pavel Shurmei, 2004 and 2008 Olympian for Belarus, are facing in Kyiv, Ukraine. The call for action to our rowing community is pure and we invite all of you to reach out to her using her Instagram account @superburyak

Today we lay down the foundation for this project. We go deep into why we believe stories like The Problem Solver and The Trail Blazer will help others. Whether you are working out, sitting with a cup of coffee or a cold drink or walking the dog these 60’ will sharpen your focus on mission critical in your life.

Andrea Proske, 2020 Olympian in the Canadian Women’s 8+, joins Carlos and Barney for a conversation. We go deep into her incredible journey from a Fine Arts Highschool in Vancouver, to a cattle ranch in Australia, to Hotel Manager in Whistler, to her first strokes on Burnaby Lake, BC and eventually Tokyo, Japan. Andrea’s story demonstrates how rowing requires both tremendous self determination and also pure vulnerability to achieve success as a crew.

Barney and Carlos go deep into the story of Seth Weil, 2016 Olympian in the USA M4-, and how he arrived at Lake Samish in the summer of 2012 with the singular goal of becoming the toughest, fastest athlete he could be.

What is the Rowing Revolution? Carlos and Barney dig into their reasons for embarking on this adventure together and how they believe it will eventually serve as a call to action for their community of athletes, coaches, parents and alumni of the sport of rowing.

Barney listens and learns about Carlos’ eventful journey from the Port of Barcelona, Spain to Lausanne, Switzerland and eventually Lake Samish, USA.

You only get one first for every project and this conversation represents our first time recording. Carlos listens to Barney revisit the special highlights of his athletic journey from Saltspring Island, Canada to Athens, Greece and eventually Oxford, England.