by COC sculling director Sara Gronewold

Back in 1992, Kris Korzeniowski rode along with my coach, Anna Considine, to offer us some coaching. There was a single point he tried to make during that practice, and he used a simple expression to get it across, “Green Puddles.” He said this over and over again, and it took me a while to understand what he meant (let’s be honest: this was the Charles River in 1992 – that water was not green – it was brown!). But eventually, I figured out that he was talking about the absence of white water at the release. 

This point was further explained in a practice session in Augusta in 1998, with Igor Grinko. Igor took the paddle from his coaching launch, and showed us a simple demonstration of the way the oar should exit the water. He was tilting the top edge of the oar and drawing it back towards the bow, as the oar exited, creating a clean exit, and avoiding throwing any water towards the stern.

Both of these glimmers of insight were about the exact same thing, explained in two very different ways. When a rower finishes applying pressure to the face of the blade, the blade should be moving back towards the bow – this means the hands should no longer be moving towards the body. If this is done correctly, you wind up with a green puddle (no splash). There are two parts of making this work: first, finding the right moment to exit the water, and second, pressing the handles away at the right time. 

For the first part, I recommend rowing with your feet out. Being mindful of the contact between the ball of your foot and the footboard, row continuously and take note of the moment when your foot wants to break away from the footboard: THAT is when the oars should be exiting the water. Start this drill with low pressure! 

For the second, concentrate on the connection between your hands and your feet…when the ball of the foot feels like it wants to come off the boards, your hands should be transferring the focus from drawing the handles towards you to pressing the handles away. 

As we head back out onto the water over the next couple of months, take some time to establish these sequences, and it will set you up for a clean season!