The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-19
GEORGVTOWN'S NEW COACH
Marry VAL, VINO mas TAKEN
CHARGE or THB CREW.
Ne Has Been In RswiHG AEAin for Years.
bat Has = Hard Task 70 Make . Sue
eetSfui Eight II Washington Seine
thlnE About HIs Methods q Teaching .

Ne Has beon In hoWtHg AHAir Tor Tears,
bat Has = Hard Task 70 Make . Sue
eetSfui EiEht 1t Washington Some
thinE About His Methods u TeaehlRg.
Harry Vail, the Georgetown rowing
coach, like James A. Ten Eyck, who in
strlots the Syracuse oarsmen, comes Of
. rowing family. oryears the Walls have
been acting " feTrymen on the 81. John
River. up In New Brunswick. about like
the former Ten Eycks, who used to row
boats for hire across the Hudson at Peeks-
kin. Certainly no Vail ever rowed wash
lAgton across the Sc. John. a. report has II
that one Ten Eyck did years ago across
the Hudson, but at any event the occupa-
ton In the Vail family dates back about
- far.
There have been some great osrsmen
from that section Of the Dominion, and
Harry Vail. although we'll along toward
50 years old. shll IL q capable hand with the
Scull. He 10 the second Canadian TO be a
coach OF one Of the colleges which row
at Poughkeepsie. Rice Of Columbia, who is
from Brockville, is the other.
AZ q newcomer In charge OF one Of the
larger university crews, therefore. Vail IL
an interesting character. although he 10
not neW 10 college rowing. For years he
was with the Newell Boat Club At Harvard,
and he and Rice, who was with Weld, did
their share Of developing material for the
varsity eight at Harvard. While he IL and
was q good s%culler, much II not most OF
Vail'S " rowing experience has been with
the sweeps In four cared crows. He Is a
small man, but sturdily put up, with a
frank, ingenious ann
The varsity rowing coaches who are
established with the other crews speak well
Of Vail, whom they all know. DO starts
Oh AZ Georgetown with the well wishes OF
the other coaches, and the backing Of those
who know what a job II lie to make a first
rate crew at Georgetown.
VANS 6ystem consists chiefly in hard
work, which II after all not very different
from the idea Of almost any other college
crew coach. II IL q simple matter to under
stand that . Grew can acquire the stamina
10 90 four miles at the Hudson clip only by
q lot Of distance rowing, and those coaches
who are hindersd by weather or water
conditions from getting in that sort Of work
early hardly need take the trouble to
bring q crew 10 the regatta.
Rowing, almost any coach will say.
cannot differ in essentials, however much
il may differ in details. About the only
item in what Vail hasto teach that is dI-
ierent from what SOM other coach tells
il in the MANAGEMENT OF the slides on the
recover. When the stroke is pulled all the
way through. Vail believes. the best thing
to do 10 TO start the slide back quickly. |
This doesn't mean rushing it all the way
through, but solely to get a sort Of jump on
the first few inches Of the recover. Although
apparently this can hardly he done without
Ofsetting tho way Of the boat to a degree,
IL 10 the idea Of lost motion that Vail Is
fighting against, and he believes that men,
whether light or heavy, are doing the best
work when they keep the slide moving
all the time. This detail Of slide manage
ment iS where Vail differs from other
coaches. The Cornell idea. il has been said
in order not In any way TO check the boat
between strokes.
Wallis idea in another detail is TO get
q great deal OF power in the middle part
az the stroke, apparently at that moment
when the oar is at right angles TO the boat.
He believes In letting the back and arms
bring up the body TO an upright position
directly after the catch, on the theory that
the body has farther to travel than the
legs and should be about upright 80 as 10 |
combine the hardest part OF the leg drive
with the greatest power Of the back. This
puts the power on when 1t Ia most direct
and helps the men to finish we'll back. but
still not 20 far behind the perpendicular
that they are lying down in the boat. The
idea lie to avoid pulling so much with the
arms and stroking so that the end Of the
pull IL made into the erect body.
The way Murray Russell had the
0eorRotown boat rugged the men did not
cover the full blade Of the oar and were
rowing high up on the chests too. The
men we're taught 10 shootthe hands and slow
the slide, The Dempsey idea was to make
Rhard catch, on the theory that lees strength
was needed to keep up the momentum
when the snap and drive were put into the
start Of the stroke. II may be seen that
the Vail idea differs materially from these.
and &c 2 result his task 10 bound 10 h. all
the harder. He has under him now men
who we're taught by both Ruesell and Demp-