SPRING ‘24 COACHES REPORT – MEN
CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER
By Ted Sobolewski, Farwell Family Director of Men’s Rowing
As I reflect on our 2023–2024 season, I am reminded of a Zen saying that was brought to my attention through the writing of renowned Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers Coach, Phil Jackson, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
This year is the story of a team in transition. Since the spring of 2021 we’ve bounced between years that felt like a relative success (5th in 2021, 8th in 2023) and years that felt like we came up short of our expectations (13th in 2022, 12th in 2024). Whether we felt success or failure at the end of the year, there hasn’t always been a clear path towards building off the results towards something better the following year.
Our outlook at the end of this year feels different. Even in the many moments we came up short of our goals, it felt like we were simultaneously building towards future success. While we faced our fair share of challenge and adversity, those moments were met with growth and maturation. This has set the foundation for a group of athletes who are ready to elevate the competitive speed of the program moving forward. There is a clear path towards this team being better in 2025, and then even better in 2026.
We didn’t shy away from challenge in our racing schedule this year. We started the year off at the IRA Sarasota Invitational, racing two teams that eventually came in 1st and 2nd at the National Championship. All in all, we ended up going head–to–head with six of the eventual top seven teams in the country in our early season racing. Ultimately, this is the level that we aspire to compete at. It was no doubt a difficult introduction to collegiate racing for our ten frosh who raced in the 1v/2v mixture, however, we gained a lot of valuable experience that is already proving useful towards building into next year.
Our performance at the IRA unsurprisingly mirrored our year–long preparation. Roughly two weeks before the championship, we settled on what I believe was the best lineup we had all year in the varsity. That crew had a great final 10 days of training. They rowed fast training pieces in practice, and ultimately had a solid row in the heat to advance into the A/B semi. The vibe in the crew after the heat was awesome, and we still felt like we had more speed than what we showed in the heat. While we were ready to be opportunists in the semi, the inconsistency of the year caught up with us, and we were unable to bring our best to the water in the final two races. The speed we found at the very end of the year was fragile, especially under the highest–pressure racing of the year. We will have 8 of 9 from this crew return next year.
The 2nd Varsity Eight wound up with a very difficult draw in the IRA heat, which landed them in the C/D semi. They did an excellent job of regrouping and winning the C–final in a convincing fashion. When I talk about this year feeling different, I think this crew is a perfect example. While the result we got is ultimately the same as our 2023 result, the crew was a huge step forward in all ways. We had four frosh and a sophomore in the stern five, providing an excellent rhythm. These five athletes have the right attitude and mindset, along with massive physical upside heading into next year. I expect them all to compete for seats in our varsity boat, but with their continued development, we expect to have a significantly faster 2nd varsity next year, which will bode well for the upward pressure on our varsity crew.
While we have a great group returning next year, with 10 incoming frosh and two graduate transfers joining the mix, we also lose a great group of seniors. These athletes were supposed to begin rowing at Stanford in the fall of 2020. As you remember, life got a little crazy before they arrived here – their high school senior years were cut short due to COVID–19, our program was cut in July 2020, their frosh year was moved entirely online, and we didn’t begin training in person as a team until March 2021. It was a lot to go through, and it would have been easy for them to walk away. To a man, they all stuck with it, and to a man, they all had their best years rowing as college seniors. I want to thank them for their commitment to Stanford Rowing and will always remember the role they played in navigating the program through some difficult years.
Finally, I want to thank our alumni, families, and friends of the program for all their support. This is the end of my fourth year at Stanford, and I continue to be blown away by the people we have behind us. You are the biggest asset we have as a program. Who you are and the values you hold is why it’s so important we continue to support the sport of rowing at Stanford. I can also say that through your support, our community is stronger than ever. We’re looking forward to the 2024–2025 season, and we’ll continue to “chop wood, carry water.” Go Card!
