Club Committee

2013-14 Manifestos

Men's and Overall Club Captain - Rob Stroud

I have been coaching at First and Third since Lent term last year, and have coached boats at all levels during this period. I have been on Ali's senior coaching team since the end of Michaelmas term this year, and so have directly relevant experience of running the upper squad.

Although we will be losing many of the members of this year's upper squad, I see no reason why we cannot improve on this year's successes with a proper training plan and consistent coaching.

Selection, coaching, and lower boat-development are the three key issues facing the Men's captain.

Selection

Despite our efforts this year, we have not managed to keep everyone happy with the selection process. I am in a unique position to improve things next year. I propose to run selection with the following strategy:

• Progress monitoring on land- this will not be 2k-based testing. The 2k test has little relevance to our boat-moving capability, is not the type of race we are training for, and has a lot of psychological stigma attached to it. However, it is still useful to measure physical improvement. I propose that we do this using other tests- e.g. 30 min test, 5k, 1k r24 etc.
• Technical development profiles from the coaching team- we will look at how individuals have improved to assess their potential.
• Ideally, some seat racing. There are sources of statistical noise in the data we receive, as we found this year; however, this is the best way we can try to approximate someone's boat-moving capability. This will be weighed up in balance with the other criteria. It also gives the crews involved a chance to directly compare how the boat changed when one person was swapped for another.

Coaching

I hope to keep Iain as head coach. I hope to build a coaching team with one or two of the more senior members of the club. Coaching consistency will be maintained through weekly meetings. We will make use of video analysis, and regular timed pieces, which will be used to monitor improvement. I will also look to having guest coaching from the Bufties at the weekends; I will aim to organise this at least twice a term.

Lower Boats

The bulk of our upper squad comes through our novice program. It is too late to teach people to row when members of the lower squad are selected into the upper squad simply because there are not enough members of the upper squad to fill the upper boats. We need a professional, but fun program to teach the basics properly from Michaelmas term onwards. The major limiting factor in novice development this year has been the lack of consistent coaching. I will work with next year's MLBCs to try to help them recruit regular coaches, and will assist them in developing the less experienced coaches. If possible, I will also give some of my own coaching time to lower boats. The basic structure for next year under my captaincy:

• The top few rowers in the squad will be encouraged to trial for CUBC/CUL.
• The rest of the upper squad will undergo a rigorous technical development program, starting the week before Freshers' week with an on-Cam camp.
• I will run trial 8s again for the first 5-6 weeks of term- as well as being a fun process in itself, this is an effective way to improve the general standard of the squad.
• Further technical development in the week post-Fairbairn's, with optional sculling coaching.
• Off-Cam camp to make further technical progress, and induct any promising novices into the upper squad. Selection for Lents will be finalised during this week.
• Start Bumps-specific prep as early as possible in term to maximise 'on the day' performance during Lents
• Enter one or two 8s into HoRR depending on standard and commitment of the crews. Post Lents technical development camp on-Cam, like this year.
• Reassess state of the squad etc. before the beginning of May term.
• Similar approach as to Lents- lots of Bumps prep

I have a document with more detail of this plan, which I am happy to discuss with those who are interested. I will work closely with Iain, Ming, and bufties like JPD and Neil when writing the detailed technical plan over the summer.

Overall Captain

Training Camp: I have already started negotiations for holding training camp next year at Tyne Rowing Club. On the same stretch of river that Durham, Newcastle, and Northumbria University Boat Clubs train on, as well as two successful town clubs, this is an excellent location for a camp. In the case of poor weather conditions, there is also the option of using DUBC's indoor tank. Training Camp this year was too expensive; through my connections at Tyne, the overall price will be significantly less than this year, without compromising the quality of accommodation or facilities.

Alumni Relations: there is rarely much emphasis on this, despite all the support that we receive from the association. I will try to revive the various sporting fixtures with BPBC (football, cricket, paintballing, and maybe even some rowing!), and will encourage more members of the club to join in events like the Pre-Boat Race Pub crawl. I would also like to arrange talks about rowing for the current squad given by alumni.

Sponsorship: I hope to extend the sponsorship contract with Cantab Capital Partners, and will enter negotiations with them alongside the sponsorship officer and Professor Kingsbury as soon as possible, if elected. As well as sponsored kit/stash, I would like to spend some of the money on some new equipment for the club- I would like to invest in some RowPerfects: I think there are significant advantages to these over Concept2 ergs, but this would be subject to discussions with Iain and JPD, as well as past captains.

Women's Side: I feel that there is not a particularly strong bond between the two sides. I would like to encourage more socialising between the upper squads, and will arrange events with the KSS to facilitate this. I will also support the elected Women's Captain with the writing of training plans and objectives if required. I would like to organise occasional coaching swaps between the sides to offer fresh perspectives on the rowing, and maximise the progress made each term on both sides.

Proposed by: Ali Abbasi
Seconded by: Peter Ford