Stretching and stability

There are many, many good things about rowing. Fitness, finesse, peace, competitiveness, blah blah.

There are quite a few not-as-good things as well. Like a car full of smelly socks and desperately trying to nap mid-afternoon whilst at work. (And instead writing a blog).

So in an effort to keep our athletes fully-functioning, this edition of the WA Rowing Club blog brings you two things:

Stretching (see above): Yoga for athletes with Greg Zhender on Wednesdays from 6pm to 7.30pm, $15 cash at the WA Rowing Club. No experience necessary, you don't need to bring anything and added bonus: It's not Bikram and does not involve chanting "Om Shanti".

Stability (see below): We have recently adopted Kay Robinson, who previously worked as the physiotherapist for the British Skeleton team.

Not this skeleton:

(for some inexplicable reason, this skeleton pic reminds me of John Cicerelli)

But this Skeleton:

Having looked after insane punters who hurl themselves down an ice luge headfirst, Kay knows a thing or two about avoiding injury. And presumably, she knows a bit about people who do stupid things. Kay has written us a brief on core stability in rowing here:

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So what is our ‘Core’?

Everywhere we seem to go in the rowing world we hear coaches, physios and fellow athletes harping on about our core. But, what exactly is it?

Core is defined as “the dense central region” of something or “the part of something that is central to its existence”, both of which we can relate to in rowing! In the physio world our core is much more than the abdominal muscles alone and describes the group of muscles that (should) work simultaneously to stabilize the spine in all directions of movement, like our own in built corset! 

This includes the diaphragm, glutes, pelvic floor muscles and hip flexors to name a few.

In rowing we have all chosen a sport where our core needs to be engaged before we even begin our outings from lifting boats onto the water, stepping on unstable and slippery surfaces and then of course is needed to continually right our bodies following each postural and balance change in the boat. Hence, why we need to train it in different positions and challenge muscles to work together through movement. Sit ups are great but try to add rotation and build in using your extremities too for an additional challenge.

A strong core gives us the necessary base to produce the power and speed to win races while avoiding injury!

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Moral of the story?

If you need to stretch out, come to yoga at WARC.

If you need some stability in your life, Kay is at Physio Atelier. As this blog isn't in the habit of endorsing third party providers... we should point out Kay is one of many awesome physios who keep WARC athletes in something resembling functioning order.

But we're pretty sure she's the only one who gas a yarn to spin about Sochi Skeleton athletes.

And they're back: All the action from SIRR

And they're back: The combined University of WA Boat Club and West Australian Rowing Club nationals contingent have returned with enough booty to sink the the Francis.

Which is quite a bit, because I've tried to sink the Francis before and I swear that boat is intentionally trying to thwart my murder efforts. But as usual, I digress:

The team have returned victorious. And as far as I'm aware, in one piece.

For those who caught the action on TV, it's always a thrill to see our own athletes on the big screen (somehow even more exciting than watching them in real life) and I think we all cheered just that little bit extra to see Maia Simmonds. Firstly, they accurately pronounced her name - eventually. Then she was voted the "rower's rower" at the event. And then she went on to win the LW2X- world cup with past Olympian Hannah Every-Hall. As you do. It was a goose-bumps moment.

Anyway, some of the results are as follows:

Janelle Austin picked up a bronze for her position in the WA crew for the Victoria Cup, jagged a second in the Open LW4X-, and won the Open LW1X B-final by about three lengths. It's worth noting the time would have put her in the middle of the field in the A-final - a stellar effort.

For the lads, Matty Butz Cochran also picked up a win in a B scull final - the U23 in this case and he also won his event pretty much before anyone else had even left the starting blocks. Mat also had a berth in the Kings Cup event, as did some of our mates from UWA. There's some great pix of the Butz and a few other WARC friends in this gallery

Denika Kelsall medalled in the U19 quad scull (and convinced her fellow athletes to row in RED. Go sista!) and made the A Final in the hotly-contested U19 1x. She was also one of the senior members of the Youth Eight, which was a young crew with a bright future ahead of them.

Wakeford was there. He rowed. He's been very quiet on that front.

For Amy Bobbins Walters, she also made the B Final in the open lightweight single to race alongside Janelle, and had a great outing in the LW2X- with Alex Needoba from UWA. Bobs was also in the crew which picked up a silver in the open lightweight quad.

I am waiting on a summary of the equally huge, impressive and generally amazing haul from the UWA contingent, so come back in a while and I'll hopefully have it updated.

Meanwhile, a huge thanks to all the very, very many supporters who have stood behind these athletes and made the campaign possible. Very many know who you are and we have had your names pinned up in WARC for the last few weeks to remind everyone that for every shining star on the national stage, there is a veritable mountain of people underneath making it possible.