A Wise Athlete Sport and education. Both.
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The base at home, the sport at a club

Rowing at home

A boat, water, a life jacket and a coach at a club; at home, the stroke on land and swimming.

1 cards at home 1 for a park or court 4 for the club

What should we practise today?

Tell us where you are and who is playing. You get one card and the reason.

Where are you?
Who is playing?

Start a session

New to rowing? The game in a minute

Read this once before the first card.
The sport in short

Rowers sit in a long, narrow boat facing backward and push it through the water with oars. In sculling each rower has two oars, one in each hand; in sweep rowing each rower has one oar held with both hands. Beginners start with sculling because both sides of the body do the same thing.

The boats

A single (1 rower), a double or a pair (2), a quad or a four (4) and an eight (8). Larger boats may have a cox, a person who faces forward, steers and calls the rhythm.

How races work

In a regatta, boats race side by side in lanes, usually over 2000 metres, and the first bow across the line wins. In a head race, boats start one after another and race against the clock.

The stroke

Every stroke has four parts: the catch (the blade goes in), the drive (legs push, then the body swings, then the arms pull), the finish (the blade comes out) and the recovery (sliding back forward, arms first, then body, then legs).

Rules children break first
  • Never go on the water alone, and always with a coach and a safety boat.
  • Pass the swim test first and wear a life jacket when the club says so.
  • Carry boats with enough hands and only on the coach's call.
  • Keep quiet in the boat so everyone hears the calls.
At home you build the base

The stroke order on a stool, and swimming and floating at a supervised pool. Everything in a boat is learnt at a club.

Words you will hear (23, in plain language)
Sculling
Rowing with two oars each, or with one oar each held in both hands.
Oar
The long pole that pushes the water; the blade is the flat end in the water, the handle the end you hold.
Catch
The four parts of a stroke: blade in, push, blade out, slide back forward.
Single
The boats, named by how many rowers sit in them.
Cox
The person who steers a crew boat and calls the rhythm.
Bow
The front and the back of the boat; rowers face the stern.
Port
The left and right sides of a boat when facing the front (the bow).
Stroke seat
The rower nearest the stern who sets the rhythm, and the rower nearest the bow.
Crew
The rowers in one boat.
Dock
The platform where boats are launched, and the frame where boats are stored.
Swamped
A boat full of water.
Heel restraints
Ties that hold the shoes to the footplate and release the feet if the boat turns over.
HELP position
In the water with a life jacket, knees pulled up to the chest and arms crossed to keep warm.
Life jacket
A floating vest that keeps you up in the water.
Erg
A rowing machine.
Stroke rate
How many strokes a crew takes in a minute.
Ratio
The time of the recovery compared with the drive; a good ratio has a slow recovery and a quick drive.
Run
How far the boat glides between strokes.
Piece
A timed or measured stretch of rowing in training.
Rigging
Setting up the boat's parts (foot position, oar angle, oar length) to fit a rower.
Regatta
Races side by side in lanes, or races one after another against the clock.
Umpire
The official who starts and watches a race.
Seat racing
Swapping rowers between boats in timed pieces to choose a crew.

Try it, nothing to buy

Mark the space once. Every card starts from it.

The cards, level by level

Nobody is late. A beginner of any age starts at Basic.
Basic 3 cards · show· hide Feeling at home in, on and around the water; handling a boat (turning, backing, steering, stopping, docking, carrying it); the four parts of the stroke (catch, drive, finish, recovery) in a sculling boat; and clear calls. Young children do short seasons or camps and try other boats such as kayaks and canoes to get a feel for boats.

Move on when the coach confirms the child can scull and handle a boat.

Intermediate 2 cards · show· hide From the growth spurt: a strong base of steady fitness, good sculling, a good ratio, clean blade work, rowing in different seats and small crews, and a simple race plan. Training grows to six to nine sessions a week, three to six of them rowing, with one or two other sports kept on. Rowing-machine scores are compared per kilogram of body weight, because bigger, earlier-maturing children score higher.

Move on when the coach confirms the athlete can hold good technique at race pace.

Advanced 1 cards · show· hide Powerful, efficient strokes at race pace, rigging set for each rower, crews of two, four and eight, seat racing, and coping with very hard efforts. Many rowers start late, after other sports.

Teaching this at home

Movement, safety and the words at home. The sport itself needs water, a boat, a horse or a coach.

You do not need to know the sport. Each card tells you where to stand, what to say and what to look at. Pick one thing to say in a session and say only that. The first week looks messy; that is normal. End every session on one that works.

Cards marked At a club are taught by a coach. They tell you what the coach teaches, what is safe at home, and what to ask the club before your child joins.

How to warm up before playing is at workonfitness.com. The rules of the game are at sportsmaze.com.

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