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chronicparagon · 4 years

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Free Verse

I decided to move this to its own post to keep verses better organized and make Harmony’s information versatile.

The profile for Harmony’s Free verse is below.

NAME: Harmony Halcyon NICKNAMES: Harm, Har, Harmy, Ha-chan, Har-chan, Mato Ciqana (by her family, which means Little Bear).

Her nickname in her family changes to Mato when she inherits her grandfather’s Lakota name in honor of graduating from high school. AGE: Varies by verse between 18 years to 26 years. Default age is 19-20. POSITION: Default verse is a university student majoring in nursing and member of the swim club. Becomes a certified midwife nurse later on. RESIDENCE: Grew up on the Black Hawk Reservation in Montana, United States. Her current location depends on the verse. FAMILY: Destiny Halcyon (mother), Lucas Halcyon (father), Issac “Mato” Halcyon (grandfather, deceased). NOTE: Mato means bear or fiercely angry in the Lakota language. Harmony’s relatives are found here: LINK

ETHNICITY: Native American (enrolled member of the Lakota) Note: She’s half Lakota Sioux, a quarter Crow (the Crow Nation), and a quarter Euro-American (Irish and British). SEXUALITY: Pansexual

RESIDENCE: Grew up on the Black Hawk Reservation in Montana, United States. She moves to Yokota Air Force Base near Tokyo before relocating to Iwatobi when her father retired from the Air Force.

IMAGE COLOR: Turquoise MOTIF ANIMAL: Grizzly bear SWIMMING STYLE: Butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (crawl)

Reference

Art made by Yohao88

Appearance: Her long hair is dark brown, sometimes mistaken as black with long bangs and gray eyes. Harmony stands about 5 foot 4 inches (162.5 cm) who is toned due to working out with a pear-shaped figure. Her weight fluctuates between 135-140 pounds (61.2- 63.5 kg).

Her style varies. Compared to many girls in Iwatobi, Harmony is deemed to be a bigger girl due to her figure and musculature. Harmony is a member of the Lakota tribe from her father’s side. It was a goodbye present from her grandfather before leaving Black Hawk.

Harmony has three piercings. One on each ear lobe and she has a piercing on her tongue. When she swims, the piercings are replaced with retainers.

She also has features indicating her motif. Harmony has sharper canines to resemble a grizzly bear’s teeth. Hidden beneath her clothing are ghastly scars over her body. Her upper back, right shoulder from childhood. Growing up, there’s a reason why she opts to wear long sleeves. By the time she turned eighteen, Harmony received a tattoo on her upper back of an eagle.

Note: Due to cultural norms, Harmony would conceal the tattoo in public in Japan. in other verses where she is located elsewhere, she would be more likely to reveal her tattoo and scars.

More information for it can be found here: Link

PERSONALITY: Generally, Harmony a shy girl who can get excited on occasion. This can be off-putting to other people, especially if she just met them. It makes her come off as socially awkward. Most of the time, she’s more reserved, often in the background. She fears that people won’t like her because of the color of her skin, her name, or the scars she hides. This makes her have little confidence in herself. It will take time for Harmony to warm up to someone. Once she does, she’s sweet, even affectionate. Her most noticeable traits are her kindness, being polite, and quiet nature. Much like a grizzly bear, she can be fierce, which may be a bit scary. It occurs when she witnesses injustice or when her friends are in trouble. This is a little bit of a contrast to what she was like living in Tokyo prior to moving to Iwatobi. She was more belligerent and had a habit of getting herself into trouble. This is explained more in detail to what brought this on in her full backstory, which is further down the profile. She’s stubborn, sometimes this can do more harm than good. Harmony means well, but even after living in Japan for several years, she still has much to learn and a lot to adjust to. Harmony is dedicated, sticking to her tasks to the end. The last thing she wants to do is let anyone down.

BASIC MEDICAL INFORMATION BLOOD TYPE O+ MENTAL DISORDERS: Depression, anxiety, insomnia MEDICAL PROBLEMS: Scars, family history of Type II diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disorders (tied to diabetes). More information can be found here: LINK

STATUSES CURRENT STATUS: Stamina: 4/5 Body: 4/5 Mental strength: 2/5 Water repellency: 3/5 Logic: 3/5 Courage: 4/5 EXPECTED STATUS: Stamina: 5/5 Body: 5/5 Mental strength: 5/5 Water repellency: 5/5 Logic: 5/5 Courage: 6/5

FULL BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Triggers: Fire, racism, xenophobia, death

Harmony Halcyon was born and raised in Montana. Her parents owned a small bison ranch, and she used to spend her days helping her parents and riding her horse to endless plains. She loved the mountains that stand in the distance and the sky was open, limitless. As a child, she spent time with her paternal grandfather. He often told her various stories from legends passed down between generations and humorous misadventures of himself and his sisters as children.

She had a Karelian bear dog named Sedona and a paint mare, Mojave. She used to take long horseback riding through the trails in the neighboring forest. Harmony was a happy child.

.Unfortunately, her life would dramatically change. Harmony was a child when her parents lost everything. It all started with fire. It grew and ravaged the wilderness, stretching far and wide. The Halcyons couldn’t save their home. The fire surrounded Harmony who was riding Mojave on their way home with Sedona in tow. The raging fire scared the horse, and the girl fell from Mojave’s back. She was trapped in the fire. A burning tree strikes her down, pinning her to the scorched ground. A desperate attempt to free herself burned her right hand and arm. Burning debris fell upon the girl.

She couldn’t escape.But she wasn’t alone. Sedona desperately dug at the pile of fallen branches and ash. The dog pulled Harmony out and to the edge of a lake away from the smoke. Sedona left her, only to return with a rescue team following her. If it wasn’t for her Sedona, Harmony wouldn’t have survived. Mojave’s return without Harmony warned her parents and they acted quickly, only to find that rescuers found their daughter and was transported for burn treatments. The burns would remain as scars on her skin. Harmony struggled when she became ill from infections, a result of the burns. In the end, Harmony would pull through. But the same could not be said for the stability her family had.

The wildfire took everything. The herd was killed by the flames and stifling fumes. Harmony’s home engulfed by flames. It almost claimed her life.All that was left was her family, Mojave, Sedona, and a few of their belongings.

.The Halcyons had nowhere to go and the hospital bill was high, Indian Health Service couldn’t help cover all the costs. Employment was difficult to come by in Black Hawk. No one in their small town would hire them, except two Air Force recruiters who met Harmony’s father, Lucas. He took a chance that day. He enlisted and soon found out he must go to Yokota Base near Tokyo, Japan. The family made sacrifices before leaving the United States. Harmony’s heart broke when her parents sold Mojave. They couldn’t take her with them. The little girl could only watch when a strange man drove away with Mojave in a trailer behind his truck. Harmony wouldn’t ever see her again.

Thankfully, the family kept Sedona, and the family relocated when Harmony was ten years old. They lived modestly, just like always while sending some money back to help Mato make ends meet. She struggled in a new country. New expectations, new people, new language. She was rebellious as a child, not adjusting well to the culture shock. Children made fun of her trying to speak in Japanese and her appearance. She was darker compared to the other children. The children often question whether “Indians” still scalp people or live in tipis like in the old movies. They teased with war cries and left her out in most of their activities.Fitting in society was just part of the problem. Harmony couldn’t stand the sense of claustrophobia with the city enclosing around her. She stayed in the large city, almost forgetting what the stars looked like and it’s as though the sky that she once loved is imprisoned by towering skyscrapers. She missed the mountains and valleys, and the sky that could go on for thousands of miles.

Yet, Harmony soon got used to it. Slowly adjusting to the life on the base and in an urban setting. The family learned to speak Japanese and blend in the best they could. Unfortunately, there would be another tragedy inflicted on Harmony when she turned thirteen. Her grandfather passed away, succumbing to his long battle for hsi health.

First her home, Mojave, and now her grandfather. Harmony felt isolated, hurt, and yet she couldn’t do anything. Kids made fun of her for not looking the same, her necklace, and although she became more fluent in Japanese, she still stuck out. She tried to make the most of it but wished things were different. Isolation has left her longing for friends, becoming withdrawn and unsure of herself. This led her to get into trouble for any sort of attention. This included getting into fights.After several years, Harmony’s father went into retirement from the Air Force.

Her parents grew to love Japan, but missed the quiet life in the country. They were also afraid of Harmony getting into trouble, such as joining gangs that were rampant in the city. They thought Iwatobi would be the perfect place and relocated there. Harmony’s mother, Destiny, received an education from Yokota and gets a job as an elementary school teacher in Iwatobi. Lucas got a job as a security guard at Samezuka Academy, and Harmony transferred to Iwatobi High School.

After moving from the city to the quiet town, Harmony must acclimate to another dramatic change of environment. This time, it was easier because Iwatobi is closer to nature, just the way she likes it. However, making friends isn’t easy, which led her to wonder if joining a club would help in achieving that goal. After searching for all the options, Harmony discovered the Iwatobi Swim Club. A chance to challenge herself, make a name for herself, and make friends.

#ooc #for Harmony's Free verse #the default bio will be a little different #working on that for my new promo

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shiftyskip · 6 years

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Herbert M. Sobel

Because while everyone hated him, he helped create Easy Company and prepared them for action. It is said he deserved the credit for their survival. But seriously, there’s a lot about Sobel here. And honestly, it is kinda sad, especially the ending.

The Real Sobel:

Herbert Maxwell Sobel was born January 26, 1912 to Max and Dora Sobel, aristocratic business people. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He had an older brother, Julian, who was about three years older than him. He had two younger sisters, Maxine and Ruth. Sobel and his family were Jewish.

He attended Culver Military Academy and was part of the swim team. He would come back to Illinois and graduate from the University of Illinois in Urbana and Chicago (he is shown in two places,a few years apart, it is possible he transferred), where he was the Business Manager of the Yearbook along with the B’Nai B’ Rith Hillel Foundation (a Jewish organization devoted to social and religious work among students) and in Chicago he was a part of the Infantry Officer’s Club. He was six feet tall and skinny. It is said his actor in the HBO series, David Schwimmer, was chosen because of the resemblance. After University he was a reserve officer until he arrived from Fort Riley, Kansas to serve with the 506th. He had been a military police officer at Fort Riley, which perhaps his strict expectations for rules.

Sobel was the first member of Easy Company and became its commanding officer. He told the officers that he would have no violence of discipline and that he expected Easy to be the best in everything it did, marching, marksmanship, and physical fitness. He wanted Easy to be ready for combat. But one thing he lacked, according to Winter, Sobel was not a great field officer.

Sobel was tough during training with Easy Company. His fitness tests were paired with water endurance: no man could drink without permission. During their training, Sobel was promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain. Sobel’s inspections and promotion led to him to be extra critical on the troops. Few men survived his inspections without getting their weekend passes revoked and another three miles up and three miles down Currahee.

Easy became a unit that exceeded expectations and became extraordinary. The credit belonged to the officers of Easy, even Sobel’s hard discipline and work. But even though he worked hard, Sobel was hated by almost every man in Easy. Steven Ambrose described Sobel as a “ petty tyrant”. His arrogance was also marked upon as he gained complete control over Easy. He was strict and harsh against any breach of command, even if it was imaginary.

He was given a nickname by his men and officers: Black Swan. This developed into “Herr Black Swan” as his perception as a tyrant grew among the men. He was described by Winters as “just plain mean”. As leadership was being tested in Easy, later in their training, Sobel’s moods got worse and it was sad during a bad one, he could go down a line of soldiers and mark up six men in a row before switching rows and gaining another three-four. Easy men could not have a fair, passable inspection if Sobel hated them. Yet Sobel was always on time, making him the only officer to not be penalized, and he would stand up for his company to higher powers. Before their march to the port, Sobel heard an officer was to be left behind due to being unsuitable. Sobel marched to the office and gave a “spirited defense” that the man was allowed to stay on. Sobel even asked family of his men back home to write to their men often, to give them a reason to fight.

Sobel’s harshness, high pitched, raspy voice, constant shouting, and interesting phrases such as “high-yo silver” got him laughed at behind his back. He could not read a map and failed at tactical fighting. The men took advantage at this to get back at Sobel. George Luz even mimicked a higher ranking officer’s voice and commanded the panicking Sobel to cut barb wire and proceed with training. When confronted about his foolish mistake, Sobel did not realize he had been tricked until he was told that officer was not there. Sobel, as a result, did not have single friend in Easy as they headed off to Europe.

In Europe, Sobel’s NCO formed a “rebellion” against him and handed in their stripes after writing a formal protest against him. Sobel was eventually removed from his place in command in February of 1944 and placed in command of a new division training center.

Later in the war, during 1945, Sobel came back into contact with Easy. Where he witnessed what had become of the men he trained. Many of the men he had trained were in high command positions. Winters says the moment must have been bittersweet for the man. As Stephen Ambrose remarks “Sobel must have been doing something right back in the summer of ‘42 at Toccoa.”

Not much is stated about what Sobel was actually doing during the war. He was the regimental s-4 throughout the war, which meant he mostly worked with supplies and logistics.

Winters continued to feud with Sobel throughout the war. Often getting little jabs in at Sobel whenever he could. Winters was asked to hand back his silk map or pay $75. He had sewn the map into his belt throughout the entire war, it was a level of sentiment that Winters decided to keep it. Winters disobeyed, wrote Sobel a letter that said “Nuts!” signed it “Richard D. Winters, Major, Commanding.” He never paid and hung up the map in his office. His most famous encounter was after Winters had been promoted to Major when he ran into Captain Sobel one last time. Sobel ignored him but Winters called out to him, “Captain, we recognize and honor the rank!” (Better known as, “Captain Sobel, we salute the rank, not the man.” Winters claimed he said it one way, Ambrose said it was another) Sobel reluctantly saluted him.

After the war, Sobel married a blonde, former nurse in Italy, catholic girl. Her family were farmers, but she worked at a hospital in Chicago. They met when Sobel ran into her while visiting a wounded soldier. Although she was not accepted by his family due to the differences of religion and background, Sobel’s children were raised Catholic and they attended Mass regularly, although Sobel did not regularly go with them.

Sobel, for all his cruelty with his family, loved his wife to death. He doted on her lovingly and gave her constant affection and attention. He woke up early and made her breakfast every day. If it was winter, he’d go heat up the car for his wife to drive to work.

The loving couple had three sons, Herbert Jr., Michael, and Richard. They also had a baby girl that died several days after her birth. The family lived in the house that Sobel had grown up. “He was a great dad in many ways,” Michael said. “He was very loving and attentive. He doted on my mother and was very much in love with her. I never heard him use profanity or witnessed him losing his temper. He never raised a hand to us kids when we didn’t deserve it—and there were plenty of times we did deserve it and didn’t get it.” He made pancakes on Sundays and invited neighborhood kids to come in to join them.

Each of his sons were given nicknames that Sobel called them. Michael was Inky, his brothers were Footsie and Skookie. His sons played baseball and did work outs with him. Michael recalls: “Dad was always in great physical shape and could bang out pushups no problem. It’s odd that the HBO series showed him struggling with pushups. As kids we did 50 to 75 pushups per night, and Dad did them right with us.”

Sobel served active duty in the Korean War until 1953 (I cannot find his records but it is credited in Brotherton’s book by Sobel’s son Michael). He remained after the war in the reserves until he retired as a Lt. Colonel. He then worked as a credit manager for a company. It is said he did not miss a day of work. All of his savings went to all of his sons college expenses. Sobel told them that education was second only to family.

During the Vietnam War, Sobel’s relationship with his family was torn. One of his sons was drafted in the Coast Guard, one was diabetic, and Michael was away at Berkeley. Michael was arrested for protesting at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which strained his father’s relationship with him even more.

In 1970, Michael had transferred to Southern Illinois University, where he was laying low for a while due to his unpopular political opinions. He had not contact with his fathers in years. The police finally found him and had reported that his father, Sobel, had attempted suicide. His wife was inconsoable and could not understand why. It is believed that Sobel and his wife had seperated before his attempt, but at the time they were still married.

Sobel had shot himself in the head and lived. The bullet had entered from the left side and passed behind his eyes out the other side, leaving him blind. Michael found this rather odd, as his father was right handed.

Sobel was moved to assisted living in Waukegan, Illinois. The conditions were poor and he was often unresponsive or in a dream like state. There he remained for 17 years. His wife eventually divorced him. He died on September 30, 1987 due to malnutrition. His family did not attend his funeral. His sons were not bothered by the portrayal of their father in the HBO series and figured they just needed someone to take the fall.

One of Sobel’s men’s son met Michael at a speaking arrangement and hugged him. Saying that his father told him to because Sobel was the reason he was alive.

#profiles #sobel #herbert sobel #band of brothers #Real Life Band of Brothers #real band of brothers #this was sad to type

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rowingchat · 6 years

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Magic secrets of top rowing coaches

We all want to know the deep secrets of top rowing coaches. Surely they must do things that “normal” coaches don’t do? Charles Simpson is the co-author of Advanced Rowing and shares his deeper thoughts about rowing, life and how to become a better rower and coach.

Advanced Rowing book

Why did I choose to write this book?

It was clear that many of the world’s best rowing coaches are very happy to share their ideas publically at conferences (e.g. World Rowing Conferences) but:

The presentation details and content were often quite variable

It is hard for many rowers and coaches around the world to access the information, so lots of useful knowledge and experience of top coaches doesn’t reach a wider audience

So Advanced Rowing was a way to systematically capture the ideas of top coaches from around the world in a way that allowed space to give a good level of detail and to do so around key topics:

Training environment

Training and conditioning (including samples of weekly training)

Athlete selection and talent development

Coach and athlete relationship

Technical approach

Support services and technology

Fine tuning for racing

Blue sky thinking

Magic secrets of top rowing coaches

It’s human nature to try and make the complex seem understandable by focusing on the one thing that might explain why one crew is better than another.

It’s understandable why outsiders might think there are secrets, but if you ask top coaches if there are any secrets in what they do – the vast majority will say there isn’t. In truth, top coaches do lots of things very, very well.

Also, top coaches move around from program to program – if there were secrets in their approaches, then these secrets get passed around a lot….

So if there aren’t any magic secrets – why are some coaches so secretive???

Possibly, some coaches lack confidence in their methods – maybe they just are fortunate with recruiting good athletes…..

More likely, there can be a sense of power in creating the impression to outsiders that this team has a something special. We all like a bit of mystery and I think by trying to protect training strategies and athletes erg scores from the outside world it’s possible that athletes within a very closed team start to believe that their coach/system has something magical….So when it comes to race day, those athletes have a feeling that they have something extra in their back pocket…..something more and better than everyone else….it doesn’t matter if it’s make believe….what matters is that the athletes believe it SO then they have an extra layer of confidence……SO some coaches are probably playing on the theme of secrecy to help improve the confidence of their athletes through training and racing….

Once people realise there is far more to know about high level rowing than can ever be hidden, then people can stop chasing shadows and just get on with developing stable training approaches that are effective and time efficient.

Learning rowing coaching from books:

Lots of rowers don’t read rowing books……especially if you remove the biography-type books which are not designed to improve performance

What can readers take away from Advanced Rowing:

It’s possible to reach world class standard even if:

You don’t have great facilities (Denmark Lake Bagsvaard and 2000-m TURNING a coxless four in 16 to 18 secs!)

Sharing a lake and boathouse with lots of other users (Norway, Denmark)

You are NOT a full time athlete…….lots of the top rowers are part time students (esp. using online learning)

Coaches should be clear about their expectations of athletes (e.g. Tom Poulsen’s charter)

Range of cross training (e.g. Dave O’Neill’s running at the start of practice each day; NZ and the use of cycling)

ESPECIALLY finding ways to make the best of the environment and athletes that you have in front of you….

A tangible sense of the quality and quantity of training performed by top rowers.

Comparing national team to club rowers….in many cases the volume of actual rowing is similar…..150 km per week for men’s teams…..(10 to 15 hours)….what may differ is the additional training that full-time athletes especially can do….extra cross training in particular……

Noel Donaldson and building flexibility into the training program

At the heart of the NZ program has been a lot of effort placed on using technology and spreadsheets to log the training of every athlete. The athletes are provided with a Garmin watch to log heart rate, GPS, sleep etc….and this all feeds into software that helps monitor individual athlete training load.

Once you have a way to track what athletes are doing and to capture their training load, it becomes possible to allow athletes more flexibility in choosing other ways to achieve the training load (e.g. more cycling, running, skiing)

So in Noel’s case….a lot of the flexibility he wants is to avoid boredom and give a sense of ownership

How do we get better at asking questions to develop understanding ???

It’s quite possible that rowers do not actually want to ask questions, at least not those in a team with a coach…….

The power dynamic in teams is such that many coaches want athletes to do as they are told….not to openly question……

So if a rower was to read a book, find some good solid information that could help the team, it may be risky to suggest to the coach that they could be doing something better……It can create tension and a perception of threat to the coach……Some coaches think “ROWERS SHOULD BE SEEN BUT NOT HEARD”…….

In some teams, the US especially, there are team captains to help raise issues and discussions from the team to the coach – this helps

It would be better though if coaches had more secure evidence-base and answers for their practices…..so I think Advanced Rowing does present a way for rowers and coaches to have a conversation about things that might be worth exploring together….

Art versus Science

The entire season is just one big experiment…..keeping written logs and notes of how a session went is probably a good way to find the balance………

Tom Poulsen says you can use more scientific type approaches such as seat racing BUT he then says one of the lightweights who won gold in 2012 in the 2X came 10th in the seat race rank order…..SO sometimes, he says, the coach must trust their intuition

Don’t get too wrapped up in the science……lactate monitors are helpful BUT it can take a lot of time to get the value out of the information………BIOMECHANICS……..Dave O’Neill says his mantra every day is “The main thing is to keep the main thing as the main thing” – for Dave, the main thing is the NCAA regatta in May

What would a club coach take from the book?

Avoid the tendency to race too much in training….spend more time building weekly volumes at low intensity (4 of 5 sessions below lactate threshold; so 65 to 80% HRmax.

Seek ways to make the most of your existing opportunities….

Avoid the tendency to think that everyone else has better athletes, better facilities, more money, secrets etc… Advanced Rowing shows that what is common between clubs and national teams is a lot of sustained and sensible training –

STAY CURIOUS AND INTERESTED even as you become an elite coach……

Find stability in what you do…….

ALSO…….ideally ALL coaches would go and spend time with master coaches and this would help them learn their trade…..BUT……in practice…..this is not always easy to do…….especially if you live in a fairly remote rowing community (this was easy in Sydney and South of England) BUT it was hard in the North East of Scotland and Texas……SO…..books written by coaches may well be the best thing to being to sitting alongside a master coach for a season……

Summary of the Chapter themes:

Noel Donaldson – Very organised and disciplined training approaches…..lots of support staff, other coaches and athletes feeding in to the system….Geographical isolation is a challenge b/c it limits their access to top competition……..use of dynamic and static ergs to add variety to training (including Rowperfect).

Johan Flodin – one of two full time national team coaches in Norway BUT they make good use of Olympiatoppen staff and especially cross country ski experts. Take many training camps….. treat technique on the erg as an important issues (while Noel says he sees the erg largely as a conditioning tool)…1000 hours per year of training and 125 km of rowing average week.

Simon Cox – Swiss (now Czech republic)………..setting up a national team system which clubs buy into……….a centralised system……………working with club coaches/meeting with them………Lots of variety in training location and CC ski camps as well as swimming camps, cycling camps, erg camps (which was partly used to bring on new talent into the national team system)…… Building athleticism into the training of the wider body of rowers in Switzerland (e.g. adding weight training).

Tom Poulsen – View that using weights could have helped him set an even faster world record but only by 1 second perhaps…..Use of weights…………Small centralised system……..willingness to work with local universities to make projects…..limited training facilities……camps……taking boats to Copenhagen harbour…use of both C2 and Rowperfect ergs…..very democratic,…..the lightweights were really left to figure out how to make weight and athletes could be 3.5 kg over the male limit 24 hours pre-race….

Ben Lewis – Talks a lot about what he learned as a rower at Oxford Brookes from Richard Spratley…..developing an ethos of hard work….Helping guys who have full time London jobs to find time for rowing = efficiency in time use…..”row as much distance as possible within the time” – keeping intensity down to hit the weekly volumes……

Dave O’Neill – The coach as an educator – holistic – developing mindset, culture, tradition, being part of a BIGGER Texas project (athletic department) – INCREDIBLE financial resource – selection is something that is happening every day and he works hard to be transparent to athletes – writing up the results….…..

Mark Fangen-Hall – Fair but not necessarily equal – best boats go the best athletes….elite culture….REWARD EFFORT NOT RESULTS…..weight adjusting erg scores….lots of levels of rowing in the club…..Not seeking to be the athlete’s friend…

The post Magic secrets of top rowing coaches appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

4 ways to use video with your rowing crews – Part 1

How to use video with your rowing crews – Part 3

from Rowperfect (On-Demand) http://ift.tt/2oIlNC9

#rowing #crew #rowperfect #Rowperfect (On-Demand)

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cvasps · 7 years

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INTRODUCING 2017 PRESENTER, DIRECTOR OF HIGH PERFORMANCE FOR USA SWIMMING, KEENAN ROBINSON

Today we introduce the sixth presenter for The 2017 Seminar, USA Swimming's High Performance Director, Keenan Robinson. Keenan has worked with swimmers from North Baltimore Aquatics Club, University of Michigan and Team Wolverine, Arizona State, and USA Swimming along side with all time great, Coach Bob Bowman. The success they've had has been immense, with their athlete's Olympic medal totals approaching 50. With all that success, you'd never know his track record when meeting the man. Keenan is one of the most humble people in the world of athletics and is constant striving to improve the preparation the athlete's involved in USA Swimming. Even with USA Swimming being, arguably, the most successful American sport organization in the Summer Games Keenan is constantly striving to find more efficient ways to improve the long term development of his athletes. Keenan is a guy who's never held a punch, and never hid what he has done with this athletes. He's a fantastic ambassador for Strength and Conditioning Coaches and the sport of swimming. It is physically impossible for me to be more excited to have Keenan on the docket for The 2017 Seminar, he is a fantastic addition to an already loaded line up. Is it July yet???

JD: If you could, please give our readers a little background information about you, what your niche in the world of athletics is, accomplishments, how you got there, education, any products you have available and/or notable publications

KR:

[caption id="attachment_4132" align="alignright" width="225"] Keenan with Coach Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps after Day 6 of the Olympics, titled Capacity vs Utilization on Keenan's Facebook page[/caption]

My name is Keenan Robinson, and I am currently the Director of High Performance for USA Swimming. I started this roll in September of 2016, after 12 years of “on the deck” skills at various swim locations. By way of formal education I am a Certified Athletic Trainer, but during my journey added strength and condition certification to assist in the General Physical Preparation development of swimmers.

I suppose I am most known for my work with Michael Phelps, being with him since 2004. However, I have designed and implemented quadrennial GPP plans for swimmers at the age group level(10-14), senior club level(14-18), collegiate level, and international level. I suppose the niche would be merging an integrated approach to the SPP, GPP, and rehab domains of this particular sport in a manner that is now popularly called “Long Term Athletic Development” In the particular sport of swimming the plan we have developed(I use “we” because this was created over the years by not only myself but also the coaches who tasked me with this goal, as well as (and most importantly) the athletes). We created a very logical progression of developmental skills, movement proficiency, and finally biological expression of the different domains of human strength and power. All of this was done in accordance with the swim coaches development of the energy systems required of a swimmer. This has led to the highest level of swimming at each of the aforementioned swimmer developments. In just the last quad for example, the team I have worked for had the only 18 and under male to win and individual long course medal at a FINA Long Course World Championship/Olympics, and produced the club with the most 18 and under athletes to win individual long course medals at an IOC/FINA swimming international meet. At the senior international level the program we have developed has led to over 15 Olympic medals, and then of course you may add the medals won by Phelps himself. I would say the other unique aspect of this program within the sport of swimming is that it has led to US athletes competing at a FINA Long Course World Championships or Olympics in events for the 100 up to the 10/25k.

JD: Discuss with us the mistakes you see made by strength and conditioning coaches in the United States and around the world, and what you feel should be done differently/how to correct these issues.

KR: I don’t believe I have the experience, knowledge base, or exposure too enough global programs to call something a mistake. I have spent so much time critiquing, modeling, and adapting my own that it would be incorrect for me to call out another program. I would say this, and this is coming from the capacity I serve in now, which involves more consultation than actual programing and implementation (which is true coaching), the “remote fitness enthusiast” model of providing a fitness program needs to be critically evaluated. My intent in this statement is that, if the program a swimmer/ coach are using doesn’t have a designated strength coach on the floor daily I would question that program hard. I still have yet to see a cell phone be able to get up and walk the floor, coach athletes, develop relationships to understand when one athlete is ready to bring the heat and the other is more concerned with mastering technique because they dominate in the pool and don’t want to get hurt. No manual, at least what I’ve experienced, has the brain and intuition to make the changes necessary if Plan A isn’t going to work. Perhaps Im ranting now, but I like the way Cal Dietz and Joe Kenn have presented their belief systems. A coach can purchase their books, look on their respective websites for their exercise demonstrations, and even send them questions via email and then implement Triphasic or Tier System. It doesn’t require an exorbitant annual fee to have House come every September and spend 48 hours with something that with inevitably change because of the human response to stress. Another reason I respect that is because Joe and Cal don’t have time to do that because they are coaching everyday the programs they champion, producing Super Bowl Teams and NCAA Championship teams.

JD: What advice would you give a coach to improve knowledge in the lines of continuing education, meaning could you point our readers in a direction to find the scientific and practical information to improve the methods they use to improve performance?

KR: This is a great question, and I believe an answer comes from what unique to you as a coach. Read the foundational books(Zatsiosky, Bondurchuck, Issurin, Siff, Yessis, Dietz, Rippetoe, Louie Simmons) and start programming and COACHING. As issues come up or questions arise start looking for resources that help answer those questions, for me programming became so clear and changed my approach after I read The Tier System. You and I reached out to each other because I coached a high school athlete who went on to work with you in college and we shared similar questions as to whether we are doing anything right.

Listen to podcast and the speakers/topics that interest you dive deeper into for me this is where Weingroff, Cressey, Bartholomew, Valle, Gabbet, Pat Ward, and others have influenced me.

This usually leads to other information uncovering other influences, for me it became coaches that I value incredibly high Buddy Morris, James “The Thinker” Smith, Dave Tate, and Tom Myslinski.

During all this time create a Strength Shoppe, a unique network of individuals who think, program, coach differently but are like minded in willingness to positively share information to make you a better coach.

JD: If you could give a brief description of what our attendees can expect from you at The Seminar?

KR: An explanation of system, particular to a unique/niche sport, that is specific to human development, not sport specific. This explanation, hopefully allows coaches to apply or seek out assistance in areas that they previously haven’t worked on or haven’t had exposure to.

JD: Any closing thoughts?

KR: This is without a doubt, one of the humblest professional experiences I will have in my career. For years, I have purchased the Seminars videos because the presenters are the absolute best in the field and to know have the opportunity to actually attend and being asked to present is overwhelming. Jay, you are one of the few that walk the walk in terms of being open to what you do as a coach, sharing information openly, and trying to aggregate information and disseminate it to the profession to make us all better.

Read Full Article Here: INTRODUCING 2017 PRESENTER, DIRECTOR OF HIGH PERFORMANCE FOR USA SWIMMING, KEENAN ROBINSON

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