This site has not been updated for two years. I am keeping it up because people still seem to be accessing my old articles and even writing to me about them. Since these articles seem to remain a resource for some, that provides me a reason to keep them available. Some of the photo links inside the pages may not work, however.
I stopped updating this site in part because of difficulties in accessing it and in part because I stopped being actively involved in rowing in Summer 2002, leaving me with no fresh experiences and few new ideas worth rambling on about here. There is no sense for me to keep rehashing the same old ideas I have already addressed, when my only new insight comes from watching a limited amount of rowing when it appears on television, reading the internet, and sometimes getting a quick glance at a boat while on vacation somewhere where there is rowing. But even though I am not active, I am happy as always to receive e-mails about any of the material here and to discuss.
This page was written for the benefit of the Wolfson College Boat Club (Oxford) and the international rowing community. Tune in here for some of my radical thoughts on rowing. For those who don't know me, or who don't at least know of me, I have an opinion on just about everything. This is probably not a good thing, but it gets people's attention.
68) Fall 2002: Rowing Tales from the East, via Banyoles.
67) Summer 2002: Mind the gap! The wandering rowing coach is wandering to a land without rowing.
66) April 2002: The US collegiate racing season seems to be starting earlier and earlier. Is this good?
65) March 2002: After the Winter fiascos, do we need the Olympics?
64) February 2002: Weighty matters.
63) January 2002: Winter cross-training and training camps.
62) December 2001: Where did December go? I'm not sure, so here is a a retroactive entry.
61) November 2001: Safety and bureaucracy.
60) October 2001: Rediscovering the wonder.
59) September 2001: Rivers and lakes.
58) August 2001: Technique notes.
57) July 2001: Rowing weddings and reminiscing.
56) June 2001: Some thoughts on the development of juniors within a club.
55) May 2001: Counting our blessings.
54) April 2001: Undergoing coaching certification.
53) March 2001: Don't rush the novices.
52) February 2001: Steering tips.
51) January 2001: The second fifty.
50) December 2000: Drinking and rowing.
49) November 2000: Notes from FISA.
48) October 2000: A rethink on drug testing.
47) September 2000: Thoughts on recreational rowing.
46) August 2000: The importance of fun in club rowing.
45) July 2000:Boat naming.
44) June 2000:Broadening the horizons.
43) May 2000:Coaching in a foreign language.
42) April 2000: Who are the real visionaries in collegiate rowing?
41) March 2000: Since I noticed that Torpids got canceled again this year, I thought I would ask what to do about the weather.
February 2000: This is a crazy month as I have been dealing with a bureaucratic snafu and a move from Cambridge, Mass., to Zurich, Switzerland. I may not have a chance to write this month. In the meantime, however, I am taking suggestions for a new name for this column. This column originated as the "Guru Page" in June 1996, and became the "Letter from America" in August 1996 when I moved back to the US. In Zurich, I will need a better name, but would like one which will also be an appropriate title for the previous column, as well as columns I will write whenever I eventually move on from Zurich. Ideas?
40) January 2000: As I prepare to move back across the Pond, a comment on American football.
39) December 1999:The Coxswain in Winter.
38) November 1999: A tribute to Dr EA Gilcreast.
37) October 1999: In the wake of the Oxford University Boathouse fire, some eulogies. This piece was picked up by Rower's World.
36) September 1999: It's that time of year again, when high school seniors select a college.
35) August 1999: My long-awaited piece on pot-hunting has finally appeared.
34) July 1999: My June letter created such a stir (with massive readership and feedback which was either very positive or very negative - though mostly positive) that I decided to use my July letter to write a clarification.
33) June 1999: A rambling piece on Summer Squads - slightly revised version (read July first).
32) May 1999: Some thoughts on Dad Vails.
April 1999: OK, April has come and gone. This turned into a surprisingly busy month as work deadlines piled up harder than planned. I have a half-written piece on pot-hunting which will probably end up becoming my entry for May. Whatever I post in May, expect it in the second week of the month.
31) March 1999: The "Three Year Development Plan" comes to an end.
30) February 1999: Another anti-NCAA tirade this month: the inherent logic of the NCAA's rules insinuates that rowing coaches would exploit athletes if given the chance. But, we are educators.
29) January 1999: When the river floods in Winter, as it does every year in Oxford, take to the land.
28) December 1998:Intercollegiate sculling, yet another idiotic idea inspired by the NCAA.
27) November 1998: Squandered opportunities for women's lightweight rowing.
26) October 1998:Remorum Cognoscere Causas: The refounding of the London School of Economics Soviet Socialist Rowingclub (LSE SSR). I have been asked to write an article for the Rowers' Stories section of Row2K.
25) September 1998:Racecourse conditions and this year's Worlds.
24) August 1998: On rowing scholarships at US universities.
23) July 1998: Harvard's other rowing programs: intramural and recreational rowing.
22) June 1998: My original posting to rec.sport.rowing about Texas Crew and the rewards of coaching dedicated athletes.
21) May 1998: A critical guide to US collegiate championships.
20) April 1998: The merits of a separate Freshman Crew.
19) March 1998: A short comment on Coach's Hat Syndrome.
18) February 1998:Crew for everyone: a refutation of Brad Alan Lewis' book Wanted: Rowing Coach.
17) January 1998:Women's rowing, revisited.
16) December 1997: People have been asking me for a while to write about the US collegiate practice of betting shirts. There was a move afoot by a bunch of bureaucrats to have this tradition banned, but good sense seems to have prevailed for the time being. Sounds like a good time to explain the tradition.
15) November 1997: The importance of having Friends.
14) October 1997: The topic I was preparing for this month got postponed to November for reasons beyond my control. In the meantime, I was asked to write an anecdotal piece for Rower's World.
13) September 1997: The differences in coaching on both sides of the pond.
Summer 1997: I am overseas and have only sporadic e-mail access. It is therefore unlikely I will update over the Summer. Considering I have spent a week hanging around at Wolfson, including at the annual boat club dinner, everyone has had a chance to talk to me in person anyway. Now off to Spain.
12) May 1997: My first trip to the Dad Vails.
11) April 1997:Umpiring races.
10) March 1997: Crew selection. [A hacker broke into my account at the end of March and deleted everything. I have gradually been able to recover most of my files, but not this. If anyone has a copy, please forward it to me.]
9) February 1997:The how of coxing.
8) January 1997:Winter training.
7) December 1996: In search of a higher-level of competition.
6) November 1996: On buying boats.
5) October 1996:How to coach novices.
4) September 1996:Rebuilding a rowing program from novices.
3) August 1996: My first entry written in the US is a review and random commentary about the Olympics.
2) July 1996: The last thing I wrote before I left was a review and random commentary about the Henley Women's and Henley Royal Regattas.
1) June 1996: And check out my old "guru" page with info on Wolfson College Boat Club's resurgence and on the importance of wearing the right colors.