Build it and they will come: Renton Rowing Center sends its first athlete to the National stage in Florida

Their laughter is palpable as I walk towards the boathouse. They’ve just finished practice for a summer training camp and their smiles are infectious as we pass each other on the bridge leading to the boathouse.

I meet a Renton Rowing Center board member before I get a chance to chat with Coach Matt Oclander, Head Coach of RRC’s rowing program. When I mention to the board member that I’m from the George Pocock Rowing Foundation and I’m here to interview Coach Matt, he immediately begins gushing. He tells me “Most rowers are engineer types and are terrible communicators, but Matt is able to get through to anyone. His style is very unique.”

I can’t wait to sit down and chat further with the coach who has led an athlete - the first in RRC’s program history - to stand on the podium at Northwest Youth Championships and then to compete at Youth Nationals in Florida this year…..and place very competitively. 

Tell me about yourself, I say to Matt once we’re sitting upstairs in the office, joined by Coach Thomas.

Oh boy, he says and takes a deep breath.

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Matt Oclander and Rachel Wong - Renton Rowing Center’s Executive Director - go back a long way. They’ve coached together in the past and have been friends long enough that they don’t remember when or how they originally became acquainted. But Rachel does know Matt’s coaching ability, and she offered him Renton Rowing Center’s head coaching job just over a year ago, without hesitation. It’s been positive momentum ever since. 

When Rachel first approached Matt to take on the head coaching role last August, he was aware of the organization's transitional state. Renton Rowing Center -  a community boathouse created in 2014 with the help of the George Pocock Rowing Foundation - was in the process of securing its own 501c3 status and working to develop its coaching staff and program capacity as an independent organization. Despite the changes taking place at the boathouse, Matt wasn’t intimidated because he wholeheartedly believes in Renton’s mission to encourage people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to discover community on and off the water. He does admit that when he first started, like in many new jobs, he felt as though he was drinking out of a firehose, but the kids made it (and continue to make it) worthwhile, and Matt attributes the team’s progress and his ability to thrive as a coach to Rachel’s leadership. 

In their early discussions, Matt knew that he and Rachel were on the same page about RRC’s future; they wanted to build an elite program but within a full-athlete model. This meant aiming to develop athletes at a level appropriate to their physical, intellectual, and emotional development stage and not just training kids to do multiple 500m race pieces every day.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding of what “elite athlete” really means,” Matt explains. “For coaches who have spent time delving into programming to really understand “elite” level performance, they understand that it is more about the whole athlete development. This means equipping the rowers with knowledge, tools, and skills to empower them to thrive on and off the water. The RRC program has a clear sense of direction, purpose, and mission.”

And it is with that understanding that they are building their staff to deliver the program that will focus on the entire athlete. In those early discussions with Rachel, Matt could tell that shifts were happening and it was going to take the program to the next level. He couldn't wait to be a part of it. 

According to Coach Matt, Isabelle Teal (Izzy) doesn’t present as uber-competitive when you first meet her. She started rowing in 6th grade and attributes her success to the team, not her own hard work, dedication, and attitude. Early in the 2023 season, Coach Matt asked Izzy what her goals were that year and she told him that she wanted a Renton boat to go to Nationals. She didn’t specify which boat or which athletes, just that she wanted RRC’s representation at the event. Coach Matt was completely on board with the goal. However, he didn’t just want success for one season, he wanted there to be long-term program purpose and results. He honed in on data and numbers and customized training plans for the athletes. “I never thought I was a data nerd until I had to be!” he exclaims. 

Coach Matt knew that the mentality of training needed to shift too, in order to take the program to the next level. 

His strategy began with a focus on individualized training plans for his athletes. And, rather than measure success just simply by the standard 2k test (he does that too), he has found ways to show athletes how they’ve progressed, and not just in seconds. Sometimes how you talk about measurement and success is more impactful than the actual progress itself.

For instance, he explains “If a kid goes 107% over their previous score, that sounds better than you were 1 second faster than your last 2k.”

Moreover, focusing on each individual's success and contribution to the team is the focal point. The way Coach Matt sees it is that just because a teammate is getting faster doesn’t take away from another teammate’s personal progress because everyone is moving in the same direction, toward the team’s unified target. Using data, percentages of improvement and overall team progress to see how they’re improving as individual athletes and as a team has been a game changer.

With the full athlete development model in their back pockets, the Renton Rowing Center athletes are flourishing. They recently represented the Pacific Northwest region with pride at Northwest Youth Championships. And for the first time in history, Izzy accomplished the goal she sought for RRC when she qualified to compete in the USRowing Youth Nationals Championships in Florida. She is now the 26th fastest U17 1x female in the nation. Matt doesn’t take credit for this success, at least not solely, and neither does Izzy. They believe the power of the team, the strategic training plan in place, the vision for RRC, and the whole athlete programming, and the coaches have created a space for all the athletes to thrive.  

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As I reflect on my time at RRC and talk with Coach Matt, Coach Thomas, the board member, and the athletes, what strikes me is the clear appreciation of and commitment to the team here. No one is talking about their individual performances, their erg scores, or how one boat did in comparison to another in practice. The kids are enthusiastic and supportive and team-oriented and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this newly independent boathouse.

The stern deck of the single Izzy raced in had a picture of her team on it….because “it was a team effort to get her across the finish line in Sarasota, Florida this past June.”