The goal of seat racing is not to win your seat race. Blasphemy. But how do you expect to make the boat if you aren’t trying to win? The problem is you are focusing on what’s good for you and not what’s good for the team. Most of us don’t understand that seat racing is a selfless act. When I’m in the launch running selection I can see who is focused on the boat and who is focused on themselves. I believe that seat racing can have positive effects on the community of the team, and I frequently tell my athletes that winning a seat race is not the end all be all. Be a good teammate. Help others win. That’s what I’m looking for.
In my opinion the goal of seat racing is to unite the team with a focus on moving the boat at optimal speed together. When you tie into the boat you can win a seat race by focusing only on yourself and pulling as hard as you can. You can race in the vacuum of self-absorption. And frequently you can beat someone else by doing this. There are so many athletes with a relentless focus on what is better for them in the moment. But rowing is a team sport. You have to work with your teammates. And believe me I can see this from the launch right away. And how I define winning might be a little different from the obvious sense of the word. When you get into a seat racing situation and focus only on yourself you aren’t being a good teammate and ultimately aren’t serving your team. I’m not just looking for raw speed, I’m looking for how you integrate within and uplift your boat.
You likewise can’t win a seat race by wishing you were fast. It is a combination of personal effort and miles put on the water. Developing key elements of fitness, strength, endurance, mentality, and harnessing them towards moving the boat in a way that allows everyone else to become better in the moment. It is easy to channel your energy into YOU being the best and far harder to channel your energy into OTHERS being their best. This requires being selfless, something that we aren’t too comfortable with in our every day lives. Unless you are exclusively racing the single your job is to elevate the rest of your crew by using your talents, gifts, and skills to make them row better. By focusing on what you can give instead of what you want to receive, you not only produce more speed, you create more synchronicity. I’ve seen many races won with someone a little less strong in the boat because they know how to row for others. And I’ve seen many races lost even though the eight “fastest” people are in the boat because they have no chemistry and are focusing only on themselves.
Ultimately a seat race is never the end all be all to who makes the “top” boat. It is the person, the teammate, the oarsman that you bring to the team every day and the integrity of the body of your work. Do you have the ability to lift others up to physical heights they could not achieve on their own? Or maybe help them to believe in themselves in a way that allows them to achieve more than they even believed they could?
I’ve been in so many racing situations where the person switching into the boat is disruptive and anxious and pulls so hard that the crew can’t come together. I’ve been that person myself. There is no I in team, but there is a ME. And that me is a seamless, focused, piece of a larger, greater system. You can either be the part of that whole that creates harmony, balance, and rhythm, or you can be the part that stands out and disrupts. I learned early on in rowing that what I’m capable of giving is best harnessed towards making others feel good, relaxed, and like they can pull hard. And a great teammate will reciprocate that giving mentality. These attributes are what make the fastest, the most competitive, and the most fun boats to row.
Winning a seat race is easy. Giving to your teammates is hard. It necessitates letting go of your personal desires and training your vision on what is best for the team. How could this way of thinking be applied to how you are in the world?
