Dragon Boat West

I have decided to post this because it is something that has bothered me for the past little while. I am both a paddler for a team and a coach for another team. The team I paddle for is considered a competitive team that has been around for quite a few years although the name might have changed and the team I coach is considered a recreational team that has been resurected this year after having taken a few years off when they first gave it a try.

My question to you all is this. And I hope a lot of you are in the same boat as I am. (No pun intended! LOL) But if you paddle on one team and coach another do you consider yourself to be a paddler first or a coach first? The reason I ask is because I feel I am committed to the team that I paddle for. That is my team. I am a part of a committed group of men and women and so I feel I have to be where they are especially when it is at a regatta. That is how my own coach or team captain can be sure that all who were expected there is there. It helps with ascertaining seating plans etc. However when I coach a team and they plan to be at the same regatta that does not change one bit. I always tell the team I coach that my priority is as a paddler therefore I will not be around to always prepare or debrief the team I coach because quite frankly that is what practices are for. You train so that you can do well in a race. Now true that a really really good coach would be there for the pre-race prep and the post-race discussion but then how good of a team member/paddler would he be if he can not be with his own team to discuss what worked or didn't work on a race that was just completed? Have I lost anyone here yet? I am looking for feedback for all coaches. How do you feel about that?

I am in the same boat (pun intended!) but I made my priority to be a coach first. I left the competative team I paddled with to coach my team which started out as a Rec B and ended up much higher than anyone on the team (an especially me) expected. I still wanted to paddle as well so I was lucky in finding a good competative team that understood my priorites but made their expectations of me known as well. Overall it was a good time at Alcan but I found it quite hectic balancing the roles and in hindsight I should have spent more time with the team I coached before the final races. Having said that I will probably will try to paddle again but make it know to the team that coaching at the festival will be a bigger priority and that I will be prepared to sit off to focus on the team(s) I will be coaching. It was kind of neat to race my own team in a heat (Focus in the boat) , not so neat when they kicked my butt...)-:
I say we form a coaches boat next year and have to the motto "Do as I say, not as I do!"  :lol:

Well Lethal it is always good when you get to race off against the team you coach just so that you can compare to how each other did in the final result. I have yet to have a team that I coach beat the team that I paddle for. But on many occasions I have offered a small reward if they do beat me but so far I have not had to buck up!

As for forming a coaches boat I think we the coaches talked about that years ago but it never materialised. You would think that the coaches boat should do well but we never got to find out. I think with all the different attitudes out there from different coaches, a coaches boat may never even get out onto the water because of it! Too many egos come into play and regreattably that is something that can actually create too much animosity between teams because of differing coaching opinions and tactics. Usually a team will side with their coach and do as he says. That is too bad because a coach can always be fired but the team can always stay together and do what is right for the good of the team and the good of the sport amongst their peers.

It all depends on the individual coaches and the team that he/she paddles on.  As well as how important (ie, being a captain, strokes, caller) the coach is on the team he paddles on.  Some team frowns upon their paddlers being a coach of another team… some teams encourage it.  It also depends if you are coaching for fun or taking it on as a full-time duty.

Personally, paddling comes first for me.  I wouldn’t want to waste all my effort training on the water for months to have issues on the team that I coach distract me when I’m on the water in key races.  It would be nice to be there for the team (prep, watch, and debrief), but I also believe that a good team should be able to get themselves ready and sort out issues with a little bit of guidance from the coach at the end of the day.

As for having the team that I coach beating me in a race…  that’ll be the day I hang up my paddle and join a ballet class.  :lol:

For us, our coach's team happened to be right next to us in the racer's village, so we were lucky in that way.  I never coached and paddled together in one season, but if I did, I would have to say my priority is with the team I paddle for.

Check the Classsifed to buy my paddle then..... :D
Besides the ballet classes may help my rotation (or severe lack of!)
I think it was cool that my team beat us in a race. Only proves my motto...Do as I say, not as I do!  8)

Having coached a junior team and having paddled on an adult team ages ago, I would say I'm a paddler first.  

However, as a coach, I also feel obligated to watch and debrief at least some of the races my juniors had.  Even though I am a committed paddler for my adult team, I am also a committed coach.  I don't feel it would be fair to my juniors if I were never around.  Not to say that I will baby them and be with them every step of the way through the entire festival or regatta, but they do deserve a fair share of my time.  

As a coach, I want to see the team I coach grow, and I don't see that happening without constructive feedback in their racing. Racing experience is very important to their development and they need someone to tell them how they did.  It's difficult too sometimes especially when the team you paddle for hassles you for running around trying to help your juniors, but after spending so much time watching the younguns develop, I feel that I owe them this, I owe them some of my time... not just because I have to, but because I want to.  :wink:  

Think of it as... passing on the torch.  One day, us oldies won't be able to paddle anymore... someone needs to take our place  :lol: I hope I haven't lost anyone either.