Club Committee

2011-2012 Manifestos

Jacob Fries - Men's Captain

I am currently coming towards the end of my first year at Trinity but approaching the conclusion to my sixth consecutive rowing season. During these past six years I have built up a great deal of experience and understanding about this sport, which I now want to use for the advancement and promotion of FaT.

Throughout my first year at College I have rowed consistently at M1 level, have helped with coaching for the lower men and women’s sides and have been an involved and active member of the boat club. I believe I have a good understanding of how the club works, its values, and what it aims to achieve. I recognize that the main priority is now to maintain the May’s Headship and to regain the Lent’s Headship.

This has been a challenging year for FaT. Despite a very hard fought battle, which demonstrated the true strength and character of the type of individuals that this boat club can produce, the Lents Headship has fallen. Furthermore, the natural turnover in any Club was particularly accentuated for us last year and will be further accelerated with many members of the current M1 leaving FaT at the end of this season. It is therefore an appropriate time to take stock, develop a new set of oarsmen and consider how new approaches and improvements can be made in order to reassert M1’s position at the top of the Headship.

I believe I possess the necessary skills, experience and motivation to achieve this goal. By assimilating what I have learnt through many years of schoolboy rowing at Abingdon with the strengths and values of FaT, I am well placed to provide leadership for the M1 crew. Having competed and been trained through a system that has consistently produced GB, Blues and Olympic rowers I understand that it is crucial for a boat club to be able to develop professional, determined, hardworking and most of all competitive athletes. I believe that if these qualities can be instilled within all of the oarsmen then winning will become a common occurrence.

I propose to achieve this by first and foremost trying to instil the kind of mental attitude and mind set needed to be a winning crew. I also propose to take the boat club beyond the confines of college rowing in order to offer a new perspective on things. I want FaT not just to be a boat that can compete and win the Headships but can also compete on a national level at regattas such as Head of the River, MET, Marlow and Henley. In addition to mental discipline and exposure to more competition, it is of course essential to have a well thought out and strong training programme. I therefore propose to make the following changes to the boat club training regime:

• Michaelmas Term will be devoted to building a foundation of strength and fitness, which can then be developed further in subsequent terms;
• There will be a maximum of eight sessions over six days each week. The one day of rest is important for making sure the training is sustainable while also allowing time for other activities. The eight sessions will comprise:
  • three erg sessions a week – which will vary from low UT2 level to high intensity AT levels. This is crucial for building fitness and endurance;
  • three water sessions a week– these will primarily take place in 8s and will again vary from a technical focus to intense pieces to long paddles. These will be used to make sure that everyone develops the same rowing style and improves their technical skill;
  • two weights sessions a week – these will increase individual strength and enhance the fitness training being done on the water and on the ergs.
• The main focus for Michaelmas term will be Fairburns, where I hope that we can test (and demonstrate) our strength, endurance, mental strength and competitive edge;
• Having built up a sufficient technical base and level of conditioning I would hope to add in another water session instead of an ergo for Lent term. This will hopefully build up more finesse and technical precision, as well as strength and fitness all of which will be necessary in order to regain the headship;
• I will also try in Lent term to find other college crews to spar against in order to develop our experience and practice at racing;
• The same regime will continue during Easter term with the possibility of an additional water session taking the total of sessions per week to nine;
• Throughout the whole year I will aim to enter the men’s crews into races, which I think will be beneficial and give us good race experience. This will mostly occur during Easter Term with the Summer Regattas.

Coaching:

I very much hope to continue working with Lianne Stanford, who I think has done a fantastic job with the men’s crew these last two terms. I think there is wide agreement that we have all benefitted from her consistent and high quality coaching. I therefore aim to prioritise securing enough funds to ensure that the men’s side will have coaching for M1 and M2 for the entire year rather than just the last two terms.

Selection:

I will ensure that there will always be a fair, thorough and transparent selection procedure for with all factors being taken into account. Each term I will aim to carry out at least one 2k test (but preferably two), which will formally monitor performance and I will expect everyone to participate to the best of their ability. In addition, I propose a system of continuous assessment to make sure every person is constantly improving and to try and instil some competition for seats and competitive drive between people. All erg scores will be recorded by me on a weekly basis.

The Trinity First and Thirds has a long and distinguished history as one Cambridge’s premier boat clubs and it would be a great honour to serve as its M1 Captain. If elected to this position, I will commit to doing everything in my power to ensure that the club continues to strengthen and develop its record of achievement and success.