OK City Named U23 Training Site

[Long & Low]

Why the vitriol? Words like "disaster", "insane", "incompetent"? Fatty has got it right. If a community like OKC wants to help promote rowing; Have at it! And, good luck.

If training centers can develop around the country where athletes can train together, work or attend school.....it can only help. Let the athletes pick where and with whom they want to train. (I think the training center that is going to do the best is the one that is going to find part time work for its athletes.)

CRC has really shown us the way. The have 8-12 guys working out twice a day and have for the last 5 weeks. (And more will come.) When they show up at little head regattas like last week's Wine Country or NARF they get some training in, the regatta gets a bump, the college rowers see that there are choices post graduation. The creation of the CRC is already providing a huge benefit to elite rowing, the National Team and (in the long term, maybe more importantly) rowing in general on the west coast.

I expect Seattle/Pocock will do the same for the Pac NW. If OKC wants to try and do it in the mddle of the country, great.

[fullmetal]

sculling talent has no real central location at moment...or am i wrong? :p

[TurdFurguson]

The vitriol L&L is due to the erratic and misguided direction that elite rowing is following. It seems as though the national strategy (if there is one) is to simply let things happen without any overall aims.

For instance, moving the U-23 team/development to Oklahoma City benefits the elite preparation for 2012 how exactly? What is the development strategy? Will the whole elite structure be moved there? What are the new sources of money, exactly? How are they being apportioned?

Basically, this looks to me like someone high up at USRowing is acting to shore up support in Oklahoma City before anyone else can come in and make real strategic decisions. It reeks of a lack of oversight. That's why this is a bad decision.

[GDI]

Hey, I'm not moving to Oklahoma any time soon, but the comments on the board come across as very snobby. No one has really tried to put together a central U-23 development location with full civic corporate and local rowing support, so the team does very well at the international level. if they can find funding in OKC to put that together and provide jobs and paid coaching for the young men in the summers, and for the developmental members who have just graduated year round....why is this a bad thing?

If it's the official training center for the U23's, isn't that one cohesive place to train? If OKC and their corporate partners are willing to fill in the gap where other cities have not been generous, why is this a bad thing?

Is it really necessary to have a zero wind 2000m 7 lane buoyed course to train for U23 worlds and Pan Ams. They don't have this in Boston, Seattle or DC. Philly has the current. This is a gift, the OKC folks could spend their money on curling instead, but they have chosen to support rowing. What's the old saying about gift horses and their mouths?

If you don't want to live in OKC, that's fine, don't go. But sniping at some generous folks who are trying to put together something new and helpful - at least don't tear them down before you see what kind of package they put together for the athletes. and I think we have to look beyond 2012 to 2016 for these athletes.

As one of my friends keeps reminding me "rowers eat their own".

[andrew]

I stand by the words "utterly insane" to describe this idea.

The press release touts the creation of a year-round training center for Under-23 athletes at OKC.

Again, I'll repeat that U23 athletes, by and large, are enrolled in universities except during the summer. I have absolutely no idea how a year-round facility would benefit people who would probably be spending their U23 years learning stuff at Harvard or Cal or Wisconsin or Washington or Michigan (and on and on and on).

Development-level athletes are one thing, U23 athletes are an entirely more specific category.

[crewu]

Jesus F Christ.

The U23 USA Men's 8 just won the world championships and now USRowing needs to screw that up by sending our senior B talent to OK City? Is this to push more coaches around the nation out of contention for ANY national team coaching responsibility?

This reminds me of how USRowing relocated to Indianapolis just because someone offered them some free office space.

LOSERS.

[okayrower]

Matt Imes, Glenn Merry and the folks in OKC should get some credit (and some slack) for this idea. In the press release Glenn Merry says this is "an emerging concept," and there are no commitments on any boats training there. The focus for the center will be U23 athletes. This is far different than the U23 team being based in OKC. Where the U23 eights train will likely depend on who is coaching them, and OKC might be an option for them. This is good news. Give it a chance.

[SwissSculler]

It's not US Rowing deciding to spend money and resources for a training center in OKC. It's the OKC rowing community offering to do this for US Rowing. It's not like US Rowing takes the money and then does what they want. It's an opportunity being offered, a pledge made and a concept to be worked out. I have been on OKC and had a training camp there. There is a lot more to OKC than it appears at first sight.

[casitas48]

Fine, there is more to OKC than meets the eye. That's fine. But the point remains, raised by numerous people above - what is the role of a YEAR ROUND U23 center, when most implementations of that would interfere with collegiate coaching agendas (what - winter training camps? not related to universities? i dont see that going over well) or even NCAA rules. I commend OK for working to expand rowing in the midwest, but the draw backs of the venue and the lack of explanation of the purpose of the undertaking within the context of the overall USRowing program is beyond questionable. Of course, the lack of definition at the seniorlevel of USRowing may exonerate them from much...

[SwissSculler]

Well, would it look better if US Rowing would present a full blown plan right now? Sure... Keep in mind, at this stage of the quadrennial a number of decisions need to be made. I think it's a great start for this quad to see a place like OKC coming forward. Sure things need to be worked on but these concept don't pop over night.

What frustrates me somewhat is the general attitude here on the board. It's "cool" to blast anything that comes along. The fact that any kind of funding is going towards the sport and development is good news, no? Let's work it out now. Let them do the work.

[TurdFurguson]

Swiss, this isn't a popularity contest. I think that everyone is voicing valid concerns which aren't being addressed in any way shape or form. Simply accepting money BECAUSE doesn't seem to be a good strategy to me.

Otherwise, on what basis should we simply trust them to do the work correctly? As a counter-point, your message might be justified; however, from where do you draw such unwavering trust in USRowing?

[andrew]

Being on the board helps...

[The Stig]

x

[Muad'Dib]

This doesn't strike me as such a bad idea, especially for sculling. Notice they're not talking about having 50 people there right away. And remember not everyone has the means or the academic ability to go to an ivy or even wisco or washington. Why not develop talent year round? Sure rowing in college is great but wouldn't the U23 team have greater success if they trained together year round? This could be a win win for a lot of people, free or discounted education - coaching and career experience with the internships etc. Just because it's not on a coast doesn't mean it should be immediately dismissed as insane. I personally know of some scullers for whom this could be a great opportunity.

[TheWiseOne]

USRowing had a good idea by naming an actual U23 training site. Other than the 8s and maybe the Men's LWT 4-, the U23 boats trained all over the country before traveling to Germany this year. Having a single training site where all the athletes can come together and push each other to get faster is not a bad idea. Most of the other countries had all their boats training at the same location leading up to the race. This will definitely help bring the athlete pool to one location and help with the small boat selection.

Naming OKC as the training site has its ups and downs. Its closer to the middle of the country so athletes from all over can meet up there. The course is dead straight with a few bridges. The boathouse and facilites are really nice. However, there can be a ridiculous amount of wind on the course. I have heard that it usually isnt windy and it has the misfortune of becoming windy whenever there is a big regatta. I also remember there being a tornado going on not too far away during ACRAs. It is nice that the city and companies are behind this decision in trying to help the athletes get internships and jobs and such. However I feel like theres nothing to do socially down there except maybe see the new NBA team whatever they are call now - The Not SuperSonics maybe.

The whole year round training site might not take off. It could be a good idea for single scullers to go train together all year round. However, those that are competing in sweep boats arent going to want to either leave or even join up with a program that isnt established. Also those established programs can offer some of the best education in the country. These U23 kids are also students, so an opportunity to row at a high end rowing program and go to school at some of the top institutions in the country/world isnt something that is easily given up. Even the kids on the team from club programs were from really good academic universities.

Yea overall just skeptical about the whole year round thing. Definitely a single training site for the summer where everyone just goes right after IRAs is a good idea. Just bring all the top rowers to one location and put out the best boats possible and make each other faster leading up to the regatta.