NEW BRUNSWICK TELEGRAPH JOURNAL

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1998

-A highly successful provincial rowing program has taken a giant stroke forward by hiring full-time coaches

By: NEIL HODGE

Sean Creary, left, head coach of the Kennebecasis Rowing and Canoe Club chats with Ed Winchester, who works out at the club when he’s not representing Canada at international meets as a member of our national team.

LOOK AROUND. It's easy to see these are the glory days for rowing in New Brunswick

The province captured 11 rowing medals at national and international competitions in 1997. The breakdown was eight medals at the Canada Summer Games, two at the Royal Canadian Henley and one at the world championship.

But the province wasn't content to sit on its laurels and ride that wave of success.

Another major stride was taken in the off-season with the hiring of Sean Creary as a year-round head coach and executive director at Kennebecasis Rowing and Canoe Club in Rothesay.

The Fredericton Rowing Club set the trend one year earlier by hiring Katie Burke as a year-round head coach. She's now on the latter half of a two-year contract.

These are New Brunswick's two biggest rowing clubs and this is the first time either has ever had a full-time year-round employee in any capacity.

The Kennebecasis and Fredericton clubs each have approximately 170 members. There's one other venue in the province with approximately 15 members at the St. John River Rowing Club in Woodstock.

Given the membership numbers at Kennebecasis and Fredericton, Chris Flood says a year-round head coach was required if provincial rowers were going to take a step to the next level.

In the past, New Brunswick had seasonal coaches in rowing. As soon as the on-water season ended, they would leave with no guarantee of returning.

"If you don’t make it a full-time position, you have a high turnover in coaching because there’s nothing that’s keeping them there," said Flood. "There’s no sustainability.

"By having someone full-time, you have someone there in the winter and the on-water season. It creates continuity. The coaches can set a total training regime for the athletes through the winter and do other tasks around the club."

Flood garnered an impressive collection of medals during his rowing career - gold and silver and bronze at the 1987 Pan-American Games. He also had a fourth-place finish at the 1992 world championship.

He believes the key to success in rowing is to make sure quality coaching is in place. "If you don't have top-notching coaching, it's very difficult to get top-notch athletes," he said. "You're working against the grain.

‘My belief is that you've got to have high-caliber coaching in order to bring athletes to the next level. To me, sport always comes back to coaching."

Creary is from Saint John and he developed as a coach within New Brunswick. Burke, of Victoria, B.C., is an imported coaching talent.

"That’s been our focus - to try to develop coaches from within New Brunswick," said Flood. "For both Sean Creary and Katie Burke, part of their mandate is to try to develop coaches as well as athletes."

Under the watchful eye of Creary and Burke, New Brunswick had its most successful showing ever in rowing at the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon, Man. It parted the water of Lake Minnedosa and captured eight medals - one gold, four silver and three bronze.

Consider this; In the previous seven Canada Summer Games, New Brunswick won 10 rowing medals. In 1997 alone, it came two medals away from equaling that mark.

Rowing, with 18 medals, is New Brunswick’s most successful sport in the history of the Canada Summer Games. Swimming is next with 10.

The rowers were responsible for eight of New Brunswick’s 17 medals at the 1997 Canada Summer Games. It was the province’s best-ever overall showing at the summer spectacle, bettering the 15 medals it captured in 1989 in Saskatoon.

At the previous Canada Summer Games in 1993, New Brunswick qualified for one rowing final and didn't win a medal. It finished eighth in the rowing standings for both men and women.

At the 1997 showcase, the province qualified for 10 rowing finals. It wound up fifth in the rowing standings for both men and women.

Since 1993, Wayne MacFarlane has been president of Rowing New Brunswick and Chris Flood has assumed the role of vice-president in charge of development. Restructuring at the provincial and club levels led up to last summer's success.

"We were definitely happy with our results last summer in Brandon, but it didn't come as a complete surprise to us," said Flood. "We had been working on a four-year plan toward, those Canada Games. Now, we're looking long-term toward the 2001 Canada Summer Games. That’s the objective, to keep producing more and more talent along the way."

One thing about rowing, it’s a sport with expensive equipment. "The fortunate thing is we have the best equipment in the world here in Brunswick and that benefits our elite athletes," said Flood. "The boats we had in Brandon last summer were brand-new, top-of-the-line the fastest boats you can buy in the world. We've always put a lot of focus on getting the best equipment. It does make a difference."

By having his position turned into a full-time job, Creary says he can put all his energy into thinking about how to develop rowing, both within the Kennebecasis club and New Brunswick.

"Your energy in the summer is spent on recruiting and training" he said. "In the off-season, we'll still continue training. But since we're not as busy, there'll be more time to promote and develop new programs. I've got a few ideas about what we can do to help promote our club. Hopefully, that'll help promote the sport in the provinces.

The Continuity aspect cannot be overstated, said Creary.

"Everybody knows who's running the program and who's going to be there the next year," said the coach. "As a result of this stability, we should see more development in the nest year or two. There isn’t really anything else I’d rather do right now than this job. The office is the river. I enjoy working with kids and trying to develop talent.

As co-coaches of the provincial team, Creary and Burke are in daily contact with each other. They're trying to steer the Kennebecasis and Fredericton clubs in similar directions.

"We're trying to grow our membership base," said Creary. "We want to get more recreational rowers, but at the same time keep the competitive aspect because that's the heart of the sport. You always want to have your fast racers because they're the ones that give the sport and the club exposure in the community."

Creary would like to see more rowing clubs in New Brunswick, but the main obstacle is the high cost of equipment.

"Further down the road, we'd like to lend some boats to a developing club that might arise in Moncton or the Miramichi - wherever," he said. "Maybe we could do something to help get another club started."

New Brunswick's success story in rowing in 1997 - particularly the Canada Summer Games- has left a deep impression on the sport in this province.

Several rowing medallists from that memorable week last August in Brandon are still members of the Kennebecasis and Fredericton clubs."

"These individuals are role models now," said Creary. "They're a really good source of inspiration for the new kids coming up. The kids coming up see what these individuals did at Canada Summer Games.

"They realize success is attainable and they see first-hand what it takes to be successful. It makes my job that much easier."

Creary says last year's success has had a contagious affect on the New Brunswick rowing scene.

The positives from that have fed into this year, no question," he said. "It has created this atmosphere of intensity and determination and training."

There's not a lot of rowing on the east coast of Canada. Of course, that affects the level of competition athletes here face on a consistent basis in regional meets.

"But you don't have to be in the heart of things to succeed," said Creary. In some respects, it's an advantage to be off on the east coast because the pressure's not on us when we go to large regattas.

"People don't know what to expect from us when we go to regattas outside the Atlantic region. We have that advantage of being able to have a sneak attack."

Creary is all smiles as he speaks about the current state of rowing in New Brunswick.

"We've got I some really promising rowers coming up in the next couple of years," he said. "It's an interesting time, an exciting time.

"We've seen a steady increase in our membership over the past few years, mainly on the competitive side. There’s been a steady increase in the number of athletes and coaches. Lots of good things are happening in rowing in New Brunswick."