4 girls... 2 sisters, 2 alpha girls and one girl who is not quit in sync......oooooohhhhhh yes.....now say it with me DRAMA, major drama. After several days of rather unsuccessful practices in the K4 it was obvious we were heading for disaster. People were visibly angry or upset and making the girl who was at the root of the boats disjointedness feel awful. I decided it was time to break from my joking (trying to ease the tension in the boat) and lay some ground rules: 1. no bickering between sisters. 2. no finger pointing. 3. If you cant figure out a way to say something so that its constructive don't say anything. 4. No scowling after practice. 5. No talking about people behind their back. 6. Stay positive and focused in the boat, vent later. Remarkably today went much better! Team boats in canoe/kayak a very difficult every movement of your body needs to be in sync with every other person in that boat. In the top level boats peoples breathing is even in sync. Hostility and tension is easily transferred into the movement of the boat making it difficult to paddle. If one persons movements aren't smooth of slightly lopsided it can cause the boat to lean making it actually painful for everyone else in the crew.
Team boats are amazing when you get them to work and they're well worth putting in the hours on and off the water to get to that point.
I believe we are now off to a better start now that we have laid forth a set of ground rules and I look forward to the steady improvements we will be making.
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