steady state podcast

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Steady State Podcast reframes the popular, yet limited narrative about rowing culture. We celebrate the expansive array of rowers, coaches, and coxswains in a podcast designed to savor real-life experience from launch to cox seat at every level. 

Perspective: One Coach’s Lifesaving Efforts
coaching, safety, training Rachel Freedman coaching, safety, training Rachel Freedman

Perspective: One Coach’s Lifesaving Efforts

Damion Winship had only been coaching for the Ancient Mariners Rowing Club for a short while the morning his coaching life changed. A masters rower new to his program had a heart attack on the water. Hear how Damion worked through his emergency checklist, how his CPR training kicked in, and how the crew worked together to try to save a life. 

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Bonnie Garmus: Life Lessons in Balance
culture, training Rachel Freedman culture, training Rachel Freedman

Bonnie Garmus: Life Lessons in Balance

Bonnie Garmus was a competitive masters rower for years before an offhand comment during a business meeting prompted her to begin writing her first novel, "Lessons in Chemistry," which has been adapted into a hit Apple TV+ series. Everyone wants to talk with Bonnie about the book’s main character, Elizabeth Zott, so we turned the table to ask Bonnie about the role rowing plays in her life – and her best selling novel.

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Giving and Getting Support: Burnham Boat Slings’ Peter Kermond
training, safety, culture, business Rachel Freedman training, safety, culture, business Rachel Freedman

Giving and Getting Support: Burnham Boat Slings’ Peter Kermond

Peter Kermond has been the face and voice of Burnham Boat Slings since purchasing the business in 1999. When he's not in the shop, or out rowing, he is probably manning a Burnham booth at a regatta. That’s where we met him – at Head of the Charles – in 2022, just a month after he survived a widow maker heart attack. Peter and his wife Carin Reynolds are both successful national team and masters rowers and high school coaches. They are a testament to teamwork, as they navigated Peter’s health emergency and rehabilitation, and his return to racing.

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How to Thrive: Lessons from ZLAC, the World's Oldest Women's Rowing Club
training, safety, culture Rachel Freedman training, safety, culture Rachel Freedman

How to Thrive: Lessons from ZLAC, the World's Oldest Women's Rowing Club

Established in 1892, ZLAC's unique structure allows for both competitive and social memberships. You don't have to row. New members are added to generational Crews to bolster cross-program and boathouse interaction and provide personal connections to members in a similar age range for support. As far as we know, ZLAC is unique in this offering. Be prepared to take notes and consider what more your club could do to help build and sustain community.

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Sue and John Hooten's Mutual Admiration Society
training, safety, culture Rachel Freedman training, safety, culture Rachel Freedman

Sue and John Hooten's Mutual Admiration Society

A member of the first U.S. women’s Olympic team and a longtime masters rower, Sue Hooten has a lifetime of rowing memories. She learned to row in California in the early 1970s, really appreciated the boathouse sock box in Philadelphia, and has raced around the world. In March 2018, her husband, former National Team and Vesper Boat Club coach John Hooten, had a medical emergency on the water while training in his 1x. He was out with his training partner, without a coach, and – like most rowers – was not wearing a PFD.

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For One Heart Attack Survivor, the Beat Goes On
training, safety, culture, racing Rachel Freedman training, safety, culture, racing Rachel Freedman

For One Heart Attack Survivor, the Beat Goes On

HEART EMERGENCY SERIES: PART 1 - David Setter and his wife were pushing through a tough gym workout when suddenly he didn’t feel well. He describes his heart attack that days as “feeling like the 1500m mark of a 2k,” despite a massive blockage that could have killed him. They tell us about remaining calm in the moment, motivation in rehab, and learning to find more joy in rowing.

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Elizabeth Gilmore Gets After It
training, racing Rachel Freedman training, racing Rachel Freedman

Elizabeth Gilmore Gets After It

In just two years, Elizabeth Gilmore has had in insanely meteoric trajectory from indoor rowing newbie to indoor rowing champion and world record holder, to Head of the Charles course record breaker. And it all started with getting on the erg to rehab a running injury.

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The Jen Huffman Connection
coaching, racing, training, culture Rachel Freedman coaching, racing, training, culture Rachel Freedman

The Jen Huffman Connection

After guilt-tripping her son into learning to row, Jenn followed suit. At 38 she stepped into a boat for the first time and quickly became an accomplished masters rower. She also gained new appreciation for her grandpa – Joe Rantz – who was a member of the 1936 University of Washington V8 that won Olympic gold in Berlin. By unlikely happenstance, Joe’s scrapbooks became the spark for The Boys in the Boat.

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Mass. Local Ellen Minzner on HOCR, Para, and Equity in Rowing
culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman

Mass. Local Ellen Minzner on HOCR, Para, and Equity in Rowing

Head of the Charles Announcing Committee co-chair, USRowing Para High Performance Director, and Massachusetts native Ellen Minzner. From walk on at Villanova to 5-time National Team member, to her transition into coaching and program development Ellen saw the long game: changing the status quo of her clubs, organizations, and communities. She also gives a peek behind the curtains at the world’s premier annual rowing competition - the Head of the Charles - from her vantage point in the announcers booth on top of Cambridge Boat Club.

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Back to School with Lindsay Dare Shoop
culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, training, racing Rachel Freedman

Back to School with Lindsay Dare Shoop

In 2002, Lindsay Dare Shoop reluctantly walked-on at the University of Virginia. Within a year she became an NCAA Division I All American. In four years she broke a world record and earned her first World Championship. Within six years her hard work manifested a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Today she seeks to help others remove self-imposed limitations. This Fall, 20 years after it all began, the author of Better Great Than Never returns to UVA as an assistant coach, paying it forward.

This thought-provoking conversation considers serendipity, struggle, pressures on student athletes, walk-ons, team-building, rowing for life, Head of the Charles (and being coxed by Mary Whipple), and a whole lot more.

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Steady State Podcast reframes the popular, yet limited narrative about rowing culture. We celebrate the expansive array of rowers, coaches, and coxswains in a podcast designed to savor real-life experience from launch to cox seat at every level. 

Steady State Network Patrons have episode access before the general public.