RowingRelated

This week's VOTW comes to us from CRC head coach Bernhard Stomporowski , and features 16 athletes in contention for eight seats in London, at the outset of training camp (the number of athletes will likely grow next month). In addition to shots of the rowing (controlled rate pieces, roughly 26 s/m), there is also footage of the facilities and the available stretch of water, which we featured on RowingNews.com when Stomporowski first arrived in Oakland. While the group is not yet fully assembled, there is already a great deal of talent on hand (including David Banks, Josh Inman, Ty Otto, Mike Gennaro, Nareg Guregian, Steve Kasprzyk, Tom Peszek, Joe Spencer, and the Winklevoss twins, among others)–Mike Teti will have plenty of horsepower from which to mould an eight, and we are very excited to see what he can do in 2012. Want to suggest the next 'Video of the Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, or send us your suggestion via Twitter ( twitter....

Not only are the folks at California Rowing Club going fast, they're having a good time doing it. This week's video, courtesy of the one and only Bernhard Stomporowski , is one for the ages, offering a comprehensive look at a day in the life in Alameda, California, with a typically quirky soundtrack. The CRC athletes are shown sculling in mixed crews, logging miles on land, and even talking a little friendly smack between pieces in this training video, shot just prior to the West Coast Speed Order (hosted at the club). And it's not just banter, either: @rowingrelated @CRCBernhardHC @KBertko Kate weight in with at 1pm with 129.6 and started her test at 3pm and finished 21:45.3 later — B. Stomporowski (@CRCBernhardHC) November 18, 2013 Hey—we're not exactly sure what's going on over there, but whatever you're doing, keep doing it. Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your...

The above video comes to us courtesy of California Rowing Club head coach Bernhard Stomporowski , and shows the athletes at the eight camp in the final stages of selection–a process that is due to end with the announcement of the eight for Lucerne on Monday, April 30th. Among the many faces present at the camp are a number of Beijing Olympians, including David Banks , Giuseppe Lanzone , Brett Newlin ,  Steve Coppola , Dan Walsh , and Josh Inman (Banks, Lanzone and Newlin rowed on the M4- in 2008, while Coppola, Walsh and Inman won a bronze medal in the eight). There are also a number of athletes with national team experience, if not Olympic experience, challenging the more established résumés and looking to make a name for themselves. The camp has reached the point where there is a great deal of parity among the athletes, and the final selections will no doubt be extremely difficult for the coaching staff–however, Mike Teti has been in this position before, and we're confident...

Ever since the boats were selected for the 2011 World Rowing Championships, there has been controversy surrounding the U.S. men's rowing team. We published an article in August  (prior to Worlds), asking questions about the nature of selection, which seemed to be producing inconsistent results within the team from year to year, and which hasn't, during the McLaren era, produced many notable results internationally, despite the talent within the U.S. system. The article sparked a discussion that continued through the World Championships, and things didn't settle down following the performance of the U.S. men in Bled – in fact, things have heated up across the board. After coming back from Worlds, I headed over to CRC to meet the newly appointed head coach, Bernhard Stomporowski, who comes from the German system, and whom Mike Teti greatly respects as a coach. Following the interview and tour of the facilities that I put together for Rowing News , there was some speculati...

This week's video comes to us from none other than Bernhard Stomporowski at California Rowing Club , and features an inside look at CRC's visit to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California a short while ago. The U.S. men's eight is on the scene in Sydney and gearing up for the first World Rowing Cup of the season as we speak, with the events at the greater 2013 Sydney International Rowing Regatta already underway. Stroked by 2011 U23 gold medalist Mike Gennaro (formerly of Syracuse), the eight also includes several members of the 2012 Olympic crew, in the form of Steve Kasprzyk , David Banks , and Grant James , while another Olympian, Tom Peszek of the 2012 U.S. men's pair, is holding it down in seven seat to begin the new quadrennium. As we've come to expect from Bernhard's videos, there's a healthy bit of humor thrown into the mix, starting with the title.... (Also, well done to 2012 USRowing national champ in the M1x  Matt Brown on t...

As we'd hoped, CRC head coach Bernhard Stomporowski has released a video with images and interviews from the California Rowing Club men's eight's experience of the 2012 Red Bull XRow, from Zug to Lucerne, Switzerland. Listening to the interviews, it certainly sounds grueling, but in many ways a great race to kick off fall training, and a complete departure from the norm. Speaking of fall training and racing, the Head Of The Charles kicks off this weekend in Boston, and, as you might have imagined, we're ready to shoot our mouths off about who's going to win. Picks and predictions coming up tomorrow on RR! -RR

Early morning training at California Rowing Club (Photo: B. Kitch) The final boats for this year's U.S. world championships team have been named, following trials on Wednesday in Princeton. And, we've got to say, we don't understand the logic behind the selection procedures for the men’s quad.

California Rowing Club's Bernhard Stomporowski has done it again—this recap of the CRC experience of Crew Classic has some nice camerawork, interviews with all of the crew members, and one of the most off-the-wall soundtracks you'll find accompanying any rowing video. (Frankly, we'll be happy to celebrate (almost) anything that includes the stellar vocals of the late, great  Eduard Khil .) As in 2012, CRC dominated the men's open eight event in San Diego, though Cal's entry in the event proved stronger than in previous years, nearly hanging onto a bow-to-stern deficit, with the Little Knights rounding out the top three (also for the second straight year since winning the event in 2011).

The above video comes to us by way of California Rowing Club head coach Bernhard Stomporowski , and gives us a window into the CRC side of national team training camp down at Chula Vista , from January 6-27, 2013. Not only do we get a glimpse of this year's invitees doing some work in fours, but we're also invited on land for erg work supervised by newly appointed men's national team coach Luke McGee . USRowing released the full list of athletes invited to the Chula Vista training camps on both the men's and women's sides last week, with the (mostly) lightweight men's camp set to run from February 7-17. For the men, the camp included an NFL Combine -style assessment, as evidenced by some furious activity on Twitter: 20yrd sled push. @ usrowing @ coachlukemcgee @ rowingwolf7 @ rowingrelated twitter.com/volp/status/29… — bryan volpenhein (@volp) January 23, 2013 Also making an appearance in the film (not listed by USRowing but present representing CRC...

This week's video comes to us via the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, and features an inside look at the recent quad camp there, which included Craftsbury Green Racing Project's John Graves , Potomac's Willy Cowles , and California Rowing Club scullers Derek Johnson and Hans Struzyna . The camp was put together by CRC head coach Bernhard Stomporowski , and, in the words of John Graves, served as a way to encourage greater collaboration between clubs and training centers looking to develop elite athletes and crews. Here's an excerpt from a post Graves' wrote for his blog, Jaunting , about the camp: "The majority of our rowing was low intensity, but we did a couple of 3k pieces with some of the other boats at the TC; most notably the women's 2x and light women's 2x who have showed medalist speed over the past couple of years." This allowed them to compare some percentages, and get a sense for how the lineup performed by t...

This week's double-feature is all about winter training, be it on land, or on camp. The above video comes to us from Bernhard Stomporowski of California Rowing Club , who is in Mexico City with the U.S. women's lightweight double training on the 1968 Olympics course. For athletes Kristin Hedstrom and Kate Bertko , it looks like the trip was timed just right, escaping the cold snap in Northern California (it was a frigid—get ready for this—37 degrees for about three hours one morning in San Francisco) and catching some rays at altitude (the real reason for the trip, no doubt). Meanwhile, in France, lightweight phenom Jérémie Azou was at it again, breaking the French official record for lightweight men in a time of 6:06.1 (though this is not a personal best—last year, Azou recorded an unofficial 6:02.9 before picking up a silver in the LM1x in Chungju). Given that this result comes from early December, it looks like Azou will be even faster this spring—though whether his...

As I'm sure you all know, there was some big news for those of us stateside last week. That's right, USRowing announced that it would be taking on none other than Washington frosh coach Luke McGee to take over the responsibilities of coaching the U.S. men's eight and U23 men's eight, while current lightweight coach Bryan Volpenhein will take on the additional duty of coaching the men's heavyweight four. Oh, and we elected a president. Getting right down to it, there are some reasons to like this move, and some major questions regarding the timing and the new roles that these two coaches will take on as we begin a new quadrennium. First, let's look on the bright side. Personally, I was excited to hear that Luke McGee would be taking on a role with the U.S. national team, particularly after we named him as one of our top candidates (along with our top pick, Tom Bohrer , and California's Dave O'Neill ) in our piece calling out USRowing for not bein...