Broken Oars, Episode 35: Dan Armstrong - Deep Diving with a Thoroughly Modern Coach

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Broken Oars Podcast, and your genial hosts Lewin (Southern One) and Aaron (Northern One) return with what could be our most important and insightful episode yet.

 

Oh, you always say that, you podding scallywags.

 

Well, yes, we do.

 

And we always mean it too.

 

On this occasion, though, it might just be true.

 

We're joined on this episde by Dan Armstrong, former junior performance pathway rower, former Durham University rower, current Durham University Coach and Tyne United Head Coach.

 

Starting with his introduction to the sport in a non-traditional rowing area (Hexham, Northumberland) and discussing how opportunity can be as important as parental or personal inclination in opening a door, we go on to look at how rowing can be identify forming in junior athletes - and the challenges that brings when it coincides with the search for your own adult identity.

 

Talking openly and honestly about how his own experiences of trying to juggle being a High Performance athlete with family life, the demands of university, and developing into a fully rounded human being all at the same time led to his eventual burnout, Dan goes on to address how his trajectory through the sport and subsequent transition into coaching meshes with the demands and expectations placed on the modern coach.

 

He outlines the challenges and responsibilities he feels for his athletes and the sport; why specialisation ultimately always beats standardisation and where British Rowing is heading with our Olympic slots under threat.

 

In tracing Dan's journey from a state-school rowing club in a non-rowing area through to his current role as a coach at one of the country's most prestigious HP programmes, alongside his role in Tyne United's community orientated approach, this episode ties together all of the threads and levels of British Rowing in a fascinatiing, nuanced and expansive deep dive into Broken Oar's Podcast's key themes and interests.

 

Oh, and we also define where the North begins and ends; establish the limits of sports science and the importance of data; talk about PED use in elite sport; why the stance on Modafinil use was indicative of the rot setting in; and why the Northern One has the finish of a sweep oarsman, no matter how many hours he spends sculling? 

 

Essential listening.

 

Stern pair? Shush. The grown ups are talking.

 

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Thank You!

 

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