Full RowOn Virtual Coaching Conference Schedule Announced
The 2021 RowOn Virtual Coaching Conference will be full of diverse selection of sessions led by an esteemed group of presenters from throughout the rowing world and beyond. In partnership with AMP Rowing, Row Ontario announced on Thursday the full slate of sessions for the Conference, which will run from Nov. 28 – Dec. 5.
At this year’s conference there will be five lecture sessions and four limited participation ‘Fireside Chat’ sessions, which will offer greater interaction between the presenter and attendees. The theme of the 2021 Conference is Health and Performance: How Mental and Physical Health Impacts Performance.
In July, two-time Olympic gold medalist Eric Murray was announced as the keynote speaker for the Conference, and in August two of the most accomplished coaches in the country, Michelle Darvill and Carol Love, were announced as the first two Fireside Chat presenters.
The four remaining lecture sessions include a mental performance-themed session by Kiri Langford of the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario and National Team athlete Susanne Grainger titled Mental Performance: How to Help Athletes Develop Mental Strategies to Approach Training and Competition. Langford is a former member of the York Lions hockey program as well as the New Zealand national hockey team. Following the conclusion of her competitive career, she transitioned into coaching and is currently completing a Masters in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa with a concentration in Intervention & Consulting, Mental Performance. Grainger is no stranger to Ontario rowing circles, having rowed at Central High School in London and the University of Virginia before joining the National Team program. She is also fresh off a gold medal performance with the women’s eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and should give some insight into how the crew prepared for their incredible performance in Tokyo.
Dan Bechard, a current Research Associate with HUDSON Boatworks and head coach of the Western University men’s rowing team will also lead a technical lecture session titled Demystifying Critical Rigging Concepts, where he will discuss how selecting the right boat and choosing appropriate rigging numbers are important for both learning and performance. Row Ontario Hall of Fame member and legendary National Team coach Al Morrow will team with another legendary coach in Kris Korzeniowski for a lecture session titled What We Can Learn From the Past and Apply to the Future. Morrow became head coach of the Canadian women’s national team in 1990 and led the program to unprecedented success until 2004, while Korzeniowski has coached with several of the top national team programs in the world including Canada, Poland, USA, Italy, China, and the Netherlands. He also started the USA rowing coaches certification program in 1989. The two coaches will discuss the innovations and staples in their programs which have survived the tests of time in their session.
The final lecture session to be run will be a diversity and inclusion themed session presented by the unlearn group. Unlearn is a social enterprise with a passion for inspiring critical thinking by design, whose mission is to educate, elevate and inspire everyone to create positive change in their communities. The unlearn presentation is titled Critical Thinking By Design and will be the final session run at this year’s conference on Dec. 5.
The final two Fireside Chat sessions to be announced are How to Communicate Challenging Issues with Your Athletes, which will be presented by two Ontario university rowing head coaches in Dave Leger and Katie Bruggeling and Caring for the Body: Practical Recommendations for Injury Prevention and Staying Healthy, which will be presented by Dr. Jane Thornton. Leger has been the head coach of the Guelph Gryphons rowing program since 2012 while Bruggeling was announced as the Queen’s Gaels head coach in July after serving three years as a full-time assistant. Thornton is a 2008 Olympian and 2006 World Champion in rowing who is a Canadian Research Chair and Sport Medicine physician at Western University specializing in long-term athlete health, female athlete health, and physical activity in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease.
Details on how to register for the conference will be released in October.
Full Conference Schedule
Nov. 28 – 1pm
Title: Mental Performance. How to Help Athletes Develop Mental Strategies to Approach Training and Competition
Presenters: Kiri Langford & Susanne Grainger
Type: Lecture Session
Nov. 29 – 7pm
Title: Demystifying Critical Rigging Concepts
Presenter: Dan Bechard
Type: Lecture Session
Nov. 30 – 7pm
Title: Effective Drills and Skills to Implement Technique Changes with Athletes
Presenter: Carol Love
Type: Fireside Chat
Dec. 1 – 7pm
Title: What We Can Learn From the Past and Apply to the Future
Presenters: Kris Korzeniowski & Al Morrow
Type: Lecture Session
Dec. 2 – 6pm
Title: Identify Core Values and Principles to Operate By. Establishing Vision and Mission for Your Team
Presenter: Michelle Darvill
Type: Fireside Chat
Dec. 2 – 8pm
Title: How to Communicate Challenging Issues with Your Athletes
Presenters: Katie Brugelling & Dave Leger
Type: Fireside Chat
Dec. 3 – 7pm
Title: Caring for the Body: Practical Recommendations for Injury Prevention and Staying Healthy
Presenter: Jane Thornton
Type: Fireside Chat
Dec. 4 – 3pm
Title: Sustaining Performance (Keynote Address)
Presenter: Eric Murray
Type: Lecture Session
Dec. 5 – 1pm
Title: Critical Thinking By Design
Presenters: Abhi Ahluwahlia & Lakhdeep Singh Dhaliwal (unlearn)
Type: Lecture Session
