This weekend, as a Women in Sport Initiative, Rowing Ireland delivered a club coach development camp – entirely virtual. The workshops included sessions covering the ‘Rowing Ireland Technical Model’ by Dominic Casey, ‘The basis of a training programme’ by Neasa Russell, finishing with one to one, Coach and Tutor sessions, with Pat McInerney and Robin Winkles.
Twelve coaches from 11 clubs took part across the weekend.
The original plan had been to host the camp on the water in Galway. Of course, amid the Level 5 restrictions, that was not going to be possible. Between the team and Rowing Ireland coach education tutors, a plan was devised to move the ‘camp’ online. The sessions aimed to still cover a range of topics, whilst giving the coaches the opportunity to join group discussions and get one-to-one feedback.
Claire Lambe, Women in Sport Lead said of the camp, “I’m very happy with how the overall camp went. Achieving the variation in topics and individual work, whilst online, was fantastic. Most importantly the coaches got an opportunity to mix across clubs which is invaluable at this time. I can’t thank the tutors enough for being so dynamic and enthusiastic, even after two full days on Zoom. I believe this camp was a success and can be used as a model going forward.”
Massive thank you to Dominic Casey, Neasa Russell, Robin Winkles and Pat McInerney for all their efforts in supporting our club coaches.