UW's Bryans Addresses Media Before Midwest Rowing Championships
April 17, 2006 | Women's Rowing
Wisconsin's women's rowing head coach Bebe Bryans addressed the media Monday before the rowing teams compete in the Midwest Rowing Championships on Saturday. Bryans answered questions on the championships, as well as the strength of the UW novice boats, among other topics. A full transcript follows.
To view the archived video footage of the news conference, click on the multimedia link above.
BEBE BRYANS: We've had a very challenging schedule. We didn 't hold back anything when we scheduled this year for this team. We've had races pretty much every weekend against top 10-ranked teams. And we are still figuring out our speed, figuring out our lineups. We knew that would be the case.
It's the one downside to having less water time than a lot of other teams, is that we don't have time to play in private. When we have to make changes and make fixes, it's out there in public and it's, you know, it's race after race after race. So we're still looking for our speed. I have every confidence in this team. Our novices are fabulous. They're doing a great job of stepping up and being really fast. And we're still looking to be extremely competitive at the Big Ten Championships and beyond.
QUESTION #1: Bebe, does it surprise you the time that your novice boat did [Saturday]' And just as you go into the rest of the season, how do you decide who to move up and maybe what do these novices have or what sets them apart from other teams or rowers that you've had'
BRYANS: That's a really great question. I think that time surprised everybody. They had the second-fastest time of the day. I think Michigan 's varsity was probably a little surprised as well, even though they weren 't in the same race. They have gelled really well. They've got a joy in racing, a reckless abandon, so to speak, and they're fearless. They love to race. They love to pull hard. And that's what's coming out.
And in fact, when I talked to my varsity eight before we sent them out in the afternoon, that was what we talked about, was we need that in our racing, we need that reckless abandon, that just get out and rip the handle off the oar and see what happens. And that's what's inspiring us right now actually to go faster.
How do we figure out who goes where' We're going to race the boats. You know, everything every day, again, is still up in the air. These lineups are not set. If you looked at the lineups in the varsity eight, pretty much everybody moved between the morning race and the afternoon race. The people were the same, but they were all sitting in different seats, which is not normal and not usual.
But again, we don't have time to sit back and wait and see what's going to happen. We have to make changes as we see them being needed. And we're going to give the novices an opportunity to move up.
QUESTION #2: After a race like that, are you tempted to put them in a varsity race just to see what they could do, I mean, every single rower in that novice boat ' I mean, is that something that you consider or is that just too drastic to even do'
BRYANS: I'm open for anything. My goal is to have the fastest varsity eight on the water that I possibly can, and then the fastest second varsity eight, and then the fastest varsity four. Those are the three boats that qualifies for the national championships. Those are the three boats that get us the most points at the Big Ten championships. We've planned all along to be looking at open lineups.
But because of their performance this weekend and in the weeks leading up to this, they've just dominated everybody that they've come up against, which, you know, is a good thing. We are just going to look a little sooner. So that isn't out of the realm of possibility. I'm daring. I'll try just about anything.
QUESTION #3: Coach, looking ahead to these Midwest Rowing Championships, I mean, how big of a preparation is that for those Big Tens the week after '
BRYANS: Well, it serves two roles for us. First of all, it's a great regatta for the University of Wisconsin and the city of Madison. And hopefully it 'll be a nice weekend. This past weekend was perfect regatta-watching conditions. It was a little breezy for the rowers but not bad. So we're hoping to have a great day. Last year was not a great day. So that was then and this is now. It's going to be beautiful.
It give the, it's the opportunity for all of our athletes to compete. So some people that haven't gotten to race or haven't gotten much race experience will get to race here, both for the men and the women. And it 's our last tune-up, so we're going to be trying some different lineups, trying some different races, putting people in different boats perhaps. So it's a tune-up for the top boats and it's a great racing experience for everybody on the team.
QUESTION #4: And then also, how much are your rowers looking forward to getting back at the Big Tens, another chance at Michigan State, Michigan'
BRYANS: More than I can possibly say. I think, you know, we were not fast enough this weekend and they were very fast. That Michigan State boat is really fast. They are legit. The Michigan boat's right behind them. In fact, Michigan beat them by a couple tenths of a second a couple of weeks ago.
So these crews are legit. They're top, probably top, if not top five, I would say they should be in the country. So they are serious competition. I know that we can compete with them. We didn't do a good job this weekend. And I don't need to tell my athletes that. They know it. So we blinked this weekend, and our challenge is to race with them and not blink again. Yeah, they're looking forward to it. So am I.
QUESTION #5: What's the level of competition at this event ' I mean, I know you must be chomping at the bit since it got cancelled last year obviously, especially being in your second season. But is this a very high-level field coming into this championship'
BRYANS: Not really for our top competitors. Again, it's a great opportunity for us to get all of our athletes on the water and racing. And that 's something that I think most people don't understand about rowing, is that everybody trains the same way all the way through the season, all of the grueling winter workouts that we do, all of the weight stuff, all of the running.
And it's similar to most other sports, is that you 've got people that just don't get that many opportunities to compete and put all of their training to the test. So that is one of the best things about this weekend 's regatta, and we get the opportunity to try different race plans, try different seats, putting people in different boats, and it's a good warm-up for us, for Big Tens.
