This blog serves a few purposes: to talk about my Japan project, to document what I’m learning from working abroad, and to show a timeline of events from the 2024 Japan Campaign.
Building the Rowing Exchange Program
Lately, I've been pushing my limits! For the past two years, we've been building a rowing exchange program with Japan Rowing and Toyota Boshoku (TB). This involves three-month campaigns in Japan, where we row, race, and coach for Toyota Boshoku. We bring along New Zealand rowers for a priceless and totally unique rowing and cultural adventure, teaching Japanese athletes everything we know about making a boat go fast and helping our team win every regatta we compete in. The immediate goal is to win regattas, but the longer-term goal is to elevate Japanese Rowing and help them win Olympic medals for the first time.
Modeling After Rugby Success
This is a significant task, and we're modeling our program after the successful Japan/New Zealand Rugby exchange. The rugby program has propelled Japan Rugby forward and provided incredible opportunities for international NZ players. We were lucky enough to visit the Toyota Verblitz team to really understand the size and scope of their operation - so many Kiwi rugby players there!
Balancing SK Digital Work & Rowing Work
I feel uniquely privileged to help build the Japan Rowing Exchange Project while also continuing to grow my business. The skills and knowledge I've gained from years as a professional rower have helped my business flourish - And the business skills I've acquired since stopping professional rowing have, in turn, benefited this Japan project greatly!
At the moment, my favourite word is ‘CONTEXT,’ and I have plenty of it for this project as it perfectly intersects my knowledge of rowing and business!
Keeping Standards
It was crucial to me that while I immersed myself in rowing and developing this relationship with Japan Rowing - SK Digital continued to thrive. The beauty of working in the digital space is the ability to work from anywhere. My goal was for my current clients to be totally unaware that I was out galivanting in another country for three months!
Daily Routine in Japan
One of my biggest fears was that the quality of my services at SK Digital might slip - I'm a firm believer in it taking YEARS to build a reputation and MOMENTS to destroy it. To prevent this, I adopted a strict approach to time and task management, consistently flirting with a touch of burnout, but determined to stay on top of everything. My typical day in Japan looked like this:
4:45 am: Wake up
5:00 am - 7:00 am: SK work
7:15 am: Cycle to the lake & warmup
8:00 am: 20km row on the water
10:00 am: Debrief, video analysis, coaching
11:00 am: Team lunch
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm: SK work
2:30 pm: Cycle to the lake
3:30 pm: Hour erg or weights
5:30 pm: Home and a little more SK work
6.30 pm: Dinner
8:00 pm: Sleep
This routine repeated for three months - weekends didn't exist! It was tough but manageable as long as I ate like a demon and slept like a kid crashing off a sugar rush!
I was able to both row and operate my business to a reasonably high level - it gave me a new appreciation for what you can get done in one day!
Timeline and Highlights
Reuniting with Japanese Friends:
I was welcomed back by some of the best people and food in the world. The hospitality made us feel at home.
Training in Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya:
The first few weeks were tough as hell as I got back into proper training again - for context, I officially retired from elite sport in 2021!
Exploring Nagoya
From our apartments, it was a 5-minute bike ride followed by a 20-minute train ride to the center of Nagoya.
First Regatta:
Coming away with the win at our home lake in Aichi Prefecture (1km course).
Preparing for a Bunch More Racing:
Packing boats and traveling to multiple regattas and training camps.
Western Japan Champs in Osaka and Japan Company Champs in Saitama/Tokyo:
Two different venues, Osaka resembling a shipping lane and Saitama a narrow, purpose-built rowing lake.
Training Camp in Ishikawa:
My favorite place in Japan. We spent three weeks here preparing for the All Japan Championships.
All Japan Championships in Tokyo:
Returning to the place where I won my Olympic medal was emotional. And we managed to retain our unbeaten streak for Toyota Boshoku - 3 from 3 on Sea Forest now! Score!
An Extremely Challenging Success
Completing the job in Japan was rewarding, but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. We were outsiders initiating many changes in training, rowing, and overall operations. I was impressed by how quickly the Japanese athletes adapted.
Contrary to what one might think, although these athletes have little international rowing experience or results, they are far from average. They exhibit incredible commitment, discipline, and work ethic, and I found I was learning as much from them as they were from me.
However, their culture places immense and often overwhelming pressure on performance/winning, which was often counterproductive. We discovered that the more we ‘needed’ to go fast, the slower and more tense we became. While when trusting and enjoying the process - taking the 'need' to go fast out of the equation - we could row with more freedom, more excitement and less fear of failure.
This was the golden ticket for the 2024 campaign!
Home Time
I'm finally back on home soil in New Zealand. I'm tired and a bit burnt out, but I am proud of the last three months. For the first time since starting my business over two years ago, I'm taking a week off work (heading to Fiji!) Then come August, it's back to SK Digital business because someone has to carry the boats 😉.
