2K Results for HS Freshman

Question
My son is in the process of trying out for his HS freshman team.  The try out is based upon the result of 3 2K erg tests and on water.  According to my son, some of the boys went down in erg time by 20 seconds from the first to the second test.  Is this possible?  My son improved his time by four seconds.  He just started rowing, so his knowledge is limited.  Is it possible that a difference in "drag time" would result in such a significant improvement in time?

Answer
Hi Gina: Generally, it would be nearly impossible for experienced rowers to have such a drop in time unless they really dogged it on the previous piece.  But for rank novices like your son and other classmates, such results are possible based on the great variance in rowing skill and conditioning.  It's possible that one rower rowed his initial piece with a stroke so fundamentally wrong that he made dramatic gains by the coach giving him a couple of technical pointers.

I'm not quite understanding what you mean by "drag time." The only thing I can think of is that there is a damper setting on the ergometer that adjusts the level of wind resistance.  I'd recommend your son sets it at between 4 and 5.  A setting of 10 is extremely heavy and could even cause injury.  

Your son simply can't worry about how others are dropping their time and should only concentrate on his own perfromance.  A 4-second drop is still good.

Finally, I don't quite understand what the coach is trying to achieve by taking novices and forcing them to row as hard as they can with no training or practice -- just to make a team.  This is a good way to injure them.  99% of the coaches accept all candidates on the team and train them slowly throughout the season, while allowing the kids to cut themselves.

Regards/AP