With the advancements in boat production for river and coastal rowing boats, prices have gone up. A brand new eight could go for between 50,000.00 and 80,000.00 depenidng on who makes it, and what add-ons/features you get. With clubs trying to compete at the highest level, it's no surprise that fundraising is all for boats. As far as strategy goes is it the right thing to do?
If youre in a club that is new and just starting out, its worth making a plan for this. When money comes along from grants or other fundraising sources, committees should target spending in all areas rowers need development. This includes strength and conditioning equipment. You could have the best boats in the world but if your rowers can only make them go so fast, there is a cap placed on their potential. Investing in strength and conditioning provides opportunity for the following:
- Injury prevention and/or care - with a certified strength and conditioning coach you get a professional approach to athlete development with an injury prevention priority. Find yourself with injurd rowers and the physio can direct the strength coach how to proceed with the rower.
- Improved athletic development - increase your rowers movement competency, coordination, and training IQ through correct programme design and implementation.
- Improved strength and power - being able to produce force rapidly and reptitively all while executing a highly skilled task is paramount to rowing success and making the boat go faster.
- Assessment and ranking of athletes strengths and weaknesses to drive team performance year on year.
Need a Shopping List?
Just like a decent boat costing 50K+, a decent starting point for a gym setup will set you back around 25k assuming you have the appropriate space. In this example I base this list off 12 athletes working in pairs through a session together. Its not everything youll need but its a good place to start.
Warm-up and Injury Prevention
- Mini bands, therabands, and power bands - assortment
- Floor matts for core/abs exercises
- Physioballs, medicine balls, kettlebells
- Technique dowels
- Technique plates
- Technique barbells
- Plyo boxes of different heights
Main Lifitng Session
- Squat racks (4) - can be full or half. Full can support a lifter inside and on the outside at the same time depending on the load and lift complexity
- Hex Bar/ Trap Bar - get decent ones, sometimes they can be too clunky and wide which can be limiting
- Bumper plate sets of 150kg per squat rack - competition plates have the metal insert in the middle, bumper plates do not. The latter might be all you need, or the competition plates may be appropriate for a high performance environment.
- Leg Press - selectorised. Great machine to teach youngster how to move around their knee joint.
- Hip Sled - plate loaded. Another great tool to teach athletes how to move their legs around their hips.
- Cable pulley system selectorised - handy for upperbody ancillary work or single joint supportive exercises. Typically a functional trainer covers most demands here.
- Back extension/hyperextension unit
- Supportive floor for olympic lifting
- Extras can be added to the list depending on the goals and training age of your members!
If you are looking for adivce on what to start with in a gym, or a scaffolded approach to build on year to year, or even help with grant applications, please get in touch with me. I can assist and offer advice about quality vs price when chosing suppliers.