May is exam month at UCC. It is when you really see who manages their time well and who tries to cram it all in at the last minute. A consistent observation over the last decade of coaching at school and university level is that good athletes are very often good students with above average grades. I have every confidence that this is true here at UCC.
One of the most noticeable characteristics of a good student athlete is their calm management of exams and training. The recognition that the two can be mutually beneficial.
Flexibility in training helps and certainly I don't want to see athletes at training if they should be at an exam! Or if they have an exam later that day or the next morning. If they have a run of exams over several days then they may miss a few sessions but as long as they find the time to do a 12k session or some similar cross training then no serious ground will be lost and they may even return refreshed and better focused now the exams are out of the way. The training will also help break up the study and can even serve as a carrot for the end of a period of study.
For those that can make it to water sessions it is an ideal time to improve in the small boats as the session numbers are smaller. This evening we had half the men's squad down but the quality of learning was excellent. By the end of May several beginners will have had a number of sculling sessions and I am confident will return to the bigger boats with an improved appreciation of boat moving, failing that they will have had a few refreshing baths...
Good luck to all those rowers taking exams this month, and indeed throughout the Summer.
One of the most noticeable characteristics of a good student athlete is their calm management of exams and training. The recognition that the two can be mutually beneficial.
Flexibility in training helps and certainly I don't want to see athletes at training if they should be at an exam! Or if they have an exam later that day or the next morning. If they have a run of exams over several days then they may miss a few sessions but as long as they find the time to do a 12k session or some similar cross training then no serious ground will be lost and they may even return refreshed and better focused now the exams are out of the way. The training will also help break up the study and can even serve as a carrot for the end of a period of study.
For those that can make it to water sessions it is an ideal time to improve in the small boats as the session numbers are smaller. This evening we had half the men's squad down but the quality of learning was excellent. By the end of May several beginners will have had a number of sculling sessions and I am confident will return to the bigger boats with an improved appreciation of boat moving, failing that they will have had a few refreshing baths...
Good luck to all those rowers taking exams this month, and indeed throughout the Summer.
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