Rower Hands
Feb. 9th, 2007 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterIn the past two weeks, I have had opportunities to shake hands with two former Olympic rowers. I could see in a heartbeat, just from their handshakes, why they were such successful rowers--they both had humongous, powerful hands attached to big, powerful bodies. I felt like I was reconnecting to the larger rowing community through those handshakes. Those handshakes encapsulate one of the greatest things about rowing. The sport is still intimate enough that one can meet and interact with even the superstars.
As my birthday present to myself this year, I signed up for a weekend-long sculling clinic taught by one of the aforementioned former Olympic rowers, Jim Dietz, and another high-caliber coach, Mark Wilson. I cannot explain to you how refreshing it has already been to hear these two coaches talk about rowing. Their descriptions of the basic mechanics of the rowing stroke have an almost poetic quality to them, and their love of the beauty of the movements of rowing is entrancing. Perhaps the nicest aspect of their descriptions is that they always explain the why of different aspects of good rowing form. It gives me something to aspire to, something to achieve; something that, when I start to get it, I know I will go, "Ahh, this is how it should feel."
I have had that feeling about sweep rowing on occasion, when I've been rowing with good rowers or with extremely good coaches. But I've had no frame of reference when it comes to sculling. At last, I am getting that frame of reference. And what a joy.
As my birthday present to myself this year, I signed up for a weekend-long sculling clinic taught by one of the aforementioned former Olympic rowers, Jim Dietz, and another high-caliber coach, Mark Wilson. I cannot explain to you how refreshing it has already been to hear these two coaches talk about rowing. Their descriptions of the basic mechanics of the rowing stroke have an almost poetic quality to them, and their love of the beauty of the movements of rowing is entrancing. Perhaps the nicest aspect of their descriptions is that they always explain the why of different aspects of good rowing form. It gives me something to aspire to, something to achieve; something that, when I start to get it, I know I will go, "Ahh, this is how it should feel."
I have had that feeling about sweep rowing on occasion, when I've been rowing with good rowers or with extremely good coaches. But I've had no frame of reference when it comes to sculling. At last, I am getting that frame of reference. And what a joy.
