Broken Oars Podcast

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After the wild surmise that was Episode 7, where we made Matthew Pinsent seat-race Conan the Barbarian for a seat in our Fantasy Eight (what? You’ve not listened to it yet? Go and download it now and we’ll say no more about it), Broken Oars Podcast returns!

 

Here at Broken Oars, we’ve developed an outstanding reputation for breaking vital and important stories at the moment when they’re most needed. Some have wondered if we have inside sources. Some have suggested we use superb and incredibly well-honed journalistic skills to craft carefully investigated and nuanced episodes that discuss everything from doping in rowing to why lightweights should pick another sport.

 

Others have suggested we’re just lucky, and that what we do is basically chat about stuff.

 

(Hint. The answer is: we’re just lucky and we chat about stuff).

 

Episode Eight is no exception.

 

That's right.

 

It's us, chatting about stuff, but doing so yet again in an incredibly timely and pertinent way.

 

As the decades-long questions about athlete welfare in British Olympic Sports continue to be asked, with almost daily revelations about British Gymnastics coming to light and British Cycling continuing to be caught in a horrifying slow-motion car-crash, we are joined by the coach, rower and researcher Tristan Mayglothing.

 

A scion of the Mayglothing rowing dynasty (yes, we admit that the fantasy language of Episode Seven is lingering a little bit …), Tristan has dedicated his life to creating positive and productive coaching cultures and is now taking that expertise into researching the vital topic of athlete welfare, sporting environments, toxic relationships and expectations in coaching and sport.

 

In doing so, Tristan is shining a light on the corrosive ethos that has underpinned some British Olympic Sports programmes since the inception of lottery funding (more medals = less oversight); how toxic cultures develop and are perpetuate (like hires like); and how to develop cultures that still deliver medals, but which looks at and builds the whole human rather than their medal-winning capacities.  

 

We at Broken Oars Podcast are no stranger to hyperbolic language. However, this is a must-listen for anyone with a genuine interest in sport, coaching, and creating an inclusive, positive environments that redefine success in broader and more impactful terms while still delivering podium finishes.

 

Bowside holding … strokeside’s heads under. Until the bubbles stop coming up. 

 

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Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

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Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

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Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

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Broken Oars Podcast returns! 

 

Breaking a long-standing tradition (that we invented a few weeks ago) and in a radical break from our usual programming style, we haven't followed up Episode Five's stellar interview with Terence Chipchase (What? You haven't listened to it yet? Shame on you! Go and download it now) with an episode of us talking about rowing. 

 

Instead, we've brought you another interview - and yet again, it's an absolute howitzer of one.

 

Episode 6 features the incredible, the inimitable and the unforgettable Pete Brewer, former Head Coach of Putney School for Girls (and still coaching there), rower, deep thinker and all 'round positive force for good in a world gone mad, bad and dangerous to know.

 

Some elements remain. It wouldn't be a Broken Oars podcast without some back-and-forth quippery between your hosts. The usual, familiar references to the North are in place to make you feel right at home. Showing our usual appreciation for doing our research, we even manage completely forget which episode we're up to (Hey! It's hard. We're running out of fingers) and then identify your key words for the now-traditional Thames Tradesmen’s Broken Oars Drinking Game.

 

(This evening, they include: Pete, Putney, Inclusion, Fun, Squirrels and Panthers alongside the usual suspects).

 

Essentially on this occasion, however, we just shut up and let Pete talk. The reasons for this will become clear when you listen to it. 'Why?' we hear you say.  

 

Well, as the kids on the street would put it, drop the needle on this anywhere and it's all good. This is an episode of Broken Oars podcast you should simply listen to as our guest drops knowledge bombs and truth throughout (apparently these are the terms the kids also use to describe insights and ideas nowadays) left, right and centre. Putting it bluntly, this is something that every rower, coach, parent and child involved in a sporting programme of any description should listen to.

 

Covering Pete’s introduction to rowing and positioning rowing as a place to foster inclusion and belonging, Pete moves seamlessly into what a rowing club is actually for (hint: it isn’t not what you think) and illustrates why one-size does not fit all in sport.

 

Going on to explore the reality that fun in sport is as viable and important an outcome (if not more so) than high-performance ambitions, we also learn the difference between panthers and squirrels; why memories matter as much as medals; and what rowing could change to accommodate itself to the people who want to do it rather persisting with a model that forces individuals to accommodate themselves to the sport - and why this is important for the sport's future.

 

We at Broken Oars are no strangers to inflationary rhetoric and repetitive hyperbole - we do after all live in the UK, which has suffered a ever-escalating explosion of both recently. However, it's reassuring to know that despite our interesting journey in recent months, there are still people in this country who are calm, well-qualified, community-minded and pragmatic; and who don't have to reduce complex issues down to a three-word slogan in order to get their points across.

 

Not only will you hear the rare sound of us listening (for once), but we'll learn why that the slightly nerdy kid on the chess team or the weedy kid waiting for his growth spurt could be just what you're looking for (and looking for just what rowing at its best provides). 

 

In short, this is the perfect episode to listen to as the UK and rowing moves into whatever it will be post-Covid and into the uncertain times ahead.  

 

And it's out in time for the weekend?

 

GET SOME!

 

Bow Four, holding. Stern Four, backing. GO! Not you, Five, you know it muddles you up. 

 

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Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net

 

Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

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Broken Oars Podcast returns with its third episode in three weeks!

 

After the glory that was Episode Four and the fireworks that was our 'Jurgengate, Trolls and the Two Billy Goats Gruff Episode', we have returned to our roots with an engaging, informative and insightful interview with Terence Chipchase - member of City of Sheffield RC, Leander Club, and Ardingly RC, Tez is a rower, coach, umpire, member of the Stewards Enclosure, long-time rowing volunteer and all-round good egg.

 

After some light badinage from your genial hosts, in which the Southern one clarifies some of the effects of Turinabol pertinent to the Jurgengate episode (What? You haven't listened to it yet? Go and download it - it's a cracker) and the Northern one clarifies that those playing Thames Tradesman's infamous (and now traditional) Broken Oars Drinking Game should watch out for the words: Peterborough, pitch, pin, set and FISA - we let Terence take over.

 

Starting with his introduction to rowing, and discussing why good sculling is like flying (although your hosts can't really lay claim to knowing much about either), we chat about fingerrolls, the mild obsession that characterises early rowing careers when the bug bites hard, the importance of strong role models in the sport, and why women tend to respond to coaching better in the early days (hint: women don't think they know it all already and they aren't obsessed with showing off their muscles).

 

We talk about the transition to other aspects of the sport, and find out that sometimes even international coaches don't actually know if their boats are set up correctly or not, and why every rower and every coach should learn about about and take responsibility for their seat, their set-up and their boat.

 

We learn about some of the intricacies involved in keeping Henley Royal Regatta - rowing's showpiece event and one of the iconic landmarks of the global sporting calendar - going every year, including: how the timing system works; what the people in the launches actually do; what you should do if a herd of rampaging buffalo makes it past Remenham and invades the enclosures; why even the best A-line short hem just won't make it past the skirt police; why you should wear your blazer hard and with pride; and the wonders that are the army that keeps the Henley machine running smooth - and that's before we get to the Oxbridge porters.

 

We learn why umpires should never shout; and the things that all good rowers, coaches and clubs should take ownership of to keep this sport that we know and love safe, enjoyable and inclusive for everyone.

 

It's an entertaining ramble through some of the less-explored highways, byways and curios of a landscape known by us all - this wonderful world of rowing that we all love. 

 

Perfect for the weekend?

 

We couldn't possibly say.

 

(But yes, it is).

 

Bow Four? Come back in. The Meatwagon need your help. Stern pair? Drop out, and shut up.

 

GET SOME!

 

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Enjoyed this episode?

 

Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.

 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd.

 

Thank You!

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1

 

Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/

                                          www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/

 

Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net