Rhett Ayliffe - How to increase speed by focusing on the boat before the athlete

In this video, Rhett Ayliffe discusses what it takes to move a rowing boat. 

His approach focuses on what the boat is doing. His unique approach looks for problems with the boat working backward to discover the source. Rhett has coached his crews to rowing World Championships, including a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Rhett is the head rowing coach at the West Australian Institute of Sport.

In this 60-minute session, Rhett discusses:

• What contributes to boat speed
• Whether or not you should copy fast crews
• Three things you need to know about the drive
• How to move the blade through the water
• How to make changes in your athletes
• Rowing acceleration curves, why you need to understand them and what they should look like
• The relationship between your maximum and minimum velocity
• How to increase your minimum velocity
• How to approach coaching your athletes
• What you need to know about the recovery phase
• What it takes to get the job done on race day.