Few rowing enthusiasts, in the United States at least, attend a regatta eagerly anticipating the sculling events. They go to watch the eights and, in the typical American fashion, admire the sheer explosive power and speed of the big boats. Singles and doubles sculling are merely offshoots of rowing - the sideshows. But women's crew coach Brian Dawe would like to see that image changed.
During the fall, Dawe employs an unorthodox approach in training his crew, putting all of his rowers in singles, doubles or quads and having them scull - many of them for the first time - to develop their rowing skills individually before they come together in an eight.
"No one in their right mind would try to build an orchestra using completely untrained musicians," Dawe told the Daily in an email. "But this is comparable to what the U.S. tries to do with rowing."
For those unfamiliar with rowing, traditional sweep rowing involves each rower holding a single oar in both hands and rowing on one side of the boat, which is typically a four or an eight, whereas sculling involves each rower holding an oar in each hand and rowing on both sides simultaneously, and is done in singles, doubles or quads.
Across the United States, most collegiate rowing programs emphasize eights, throwing together crews of rowers who have never experienced rowing alone and hoping that they will be able to build cohesiveness. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the world takes a far different approach, starting children as young as 13 in singles so that they can learn what it takes to handle their boat on their own before they ever race in an eight - essentially a fundamentals-first approach.
Claiming to follow the rowing dogma of early 20th century Australian rower Steve Fairbairn, who advised that every rower start by sculling, Dawe introduced sculling to various programs across New England over his career, including Williams in 1973, Bromfield High School in Harvard, Mass. in 2002, Wesleyan after that and finally here at Tufts. In each program, Dawe said, his teams have had tremendous success, not only in singles and doubles sculling itself but then later in fours and eights as well.
Dawe explained that his sculling methodology works because it controls the environment of an individual rower, immediately showing her what effect each of her actions has on the balance and steering of the boat.
"As a coach, I know exactly what the single sculler feels and can tell fairly quickly what picture they have in their mind about how boats go. This isn't possible in an eight," Dawe said. "There is just too much 'noise' from the other people in the boat. When you conduct experiments, you should generally try to limit the number of different parameters you make changes to. Otherwise, the results may not make any sense. This is also the same in rowing. By limiting the 'distracting' parameters, you can get scullers to focus on what is actually important."
Though rowing in bigger boats takes on a much different dynamic from sculling in singles and doubles, it builds skills that are necessary to all aspects of rowing. In the Tufts women's program, each rower starts out rowing in singles to learn stability and erase any fear of not being able to control their boat.
Dawe explained that he has his rowers start out in more stable boats for practice and then gradually progress to even shallower, less stable but faster boats, even directing his team to row into rougher waters, to teach patience and relaxation even under such incredible physical stress as racing.
The Jumbos have put on an impressive showing this fall - Dawe's coaching undoubtedly a major factor in the performances. At the Head of the Fish Regatta on Oct. 26, the top Tufts quad came in second just six seconds off top Div. I competitor UMass Amherst. The team then traveled down to Princeton the weekend of Nov. 2 for the Small Boat Challenge, where they faced off against some of the top Div. I schools in the nation. Princeton, Northeastern, Syracuse and Penn all had top finishers, but Tufts stayed competitive against their B and C rowers. Senior co-captain Caroline Ricard had the best showing for Tufts with a second-place finish in the C-finals.
Over the course of her career at Tufts, Ricard has come to appreciate the sculling-focused philosophy of Coach Dawe.
"My balance, timing and blade work have all improved tremendously after three seasons of sculling," Ricard said. "Rowing successfully in a single gives me confidence that I will not only add to the boat speed, but also to the balance and synchronicity to the eights come spring."
Ricard argued that perhaps the greatest lesson for her that she has taken from sculling is accountability.
"There is no one to blame but yourself if the boat is unbalanced or the steering isn't straight, she said. "Although this may seem obvious, it took me a while to appreciate the value of this learning tool. It is this responsibility and autonomy that transfers to all walks of life. Whether it be sculling in a new facility as a guest, joining a new crew after college or simply obtaining a job after college, the skills you learn from sculling are invaluable."
There is no doubt that Dawe's coaching tactics and the women's crew team's focus on sculling this fall have had a significant improvement in building the skills and confidence of each Jumbo rower. The effectiveness of this strategy will be ultimately determined in the spring, as the team prepares to apply the lessons they've learned from sculling to racing in eights in the coming regattas.
