As the spring season draws to a close, the Rowing Club of The Woodlands sincerely thanks Coach Magdalena Plati for her incredible commitment to the team and offers best wishes as she steps away from coaching.
An extremely talented rower herself, Coach Magdalena stepped up when the Club needed her, expanding her skill set and stretching her comfort zone to make sure that RCTW juniors had a great experience. Rachel R., a novice who often trained with Coach Magdalena, said, “She was always very encouraging and supportive. She cared about us a lot and would always do anything for us.” Using her knowledge of rowing, first gained as a high school champion in Poland and refined as a master rower, Coach Magdalena first worked with RCTW athletes by supervising land workouts. She excelled at approaching each rower individually and helping them find their motivation, teaching them how to get maximum meters and use good form to protect from injury.
Magdalena’s exceptional dedication, knowledge, and hard work have benefited and inspired RCTW juniors, and it’s no exaggeration to say that we couldn’t have done it without her. In the fall of 2022, she was called to take on a more independent role. She began designing practice plans, learned to drive the launch, and coached on the water. Educating herself so that she could teach athletes concepts like good technique for distance running, she devoted countless hours and a great deal of energy to meet the demands of the team.
Throughout the Spring 2023 season, she continued to support Coach Howell and the athletes, focusing primarily on the JV and novice team members. Coach Howell noted, “Magdalena’s careful and dedicated management of the 4:15 group this spring made holding two practices every weekday afternoon a much more efficient process and was invaluable to their development.” She has always taken great care to give her best, consistently seeking ways to improve even the smallest details. Truly, she sees the potential in each rower and has helped many RCTW rowers build a foundation that will serve them for years to come. At both the Heart of Texas and the State Championship, she could be found most often with a smile on her face, watching her novices and indeed, the whole team succeed. Earned through dedication and consistent effort, Coach Magdalena’s pride in her work shines.
Although she’ll be moving on from her role as coach, Coach Magdalena will be at the boathouse and on the water, continuing to hone her technique. We’ve been so fortunate to have her assistance as a coach and wish her the best in all of her endeavors. Many, many thanks to Coach Magdalena for her incredible commitment to the juniors team over the past four seasons.
We look forward to seeing you on the water, Magdalena!
Please enjoy this interview with Magdalena, reprinted from the April 2022 newsletter.
Master’s Spotlight: Magdalena Plati
Magdalena and I had the chance to chat this past Monday as the juniors’ team put up the boats, enjoying the warm and windy weather. She is well-spoken, reflective, and knowledgeable, having truly achieved all that is implied by the term “masters-level” rowing. With many notable achievements under her belt, including two gold medals at national championships, she focuses on the finer points of the stroke, building the type of technique that can sustain a life-long love of rowing.
Rowing became a part of Magdalena’s life as a teenager in Poland. Through her performance in early training, including a grueling high-altitude winter camp that served as a “weeding out,” as she called it, she earned the opportunity to compete with her high school’s crew team. At that time, there were no recreational rowing programs, and athletes trained seven days a week, vacationing only for 2-3 weeks after the annual national competition.
During this time, Magdalena’s understanding of what it takes to be a rower solidified. While a certain physical build was desirable for those who raced singles, the coaches were anticipating the introduction of lightweight-specific races. In addition to this, Magdalena experienced what many other athletes know: natural talent is helpful, but success on the water can also be built through technique, discipline, and the right attitude. “To be a good rower, you don’t just judge—you think. If you know you can do better, you start thinking. Don’t blame or find fault. When you plateau, you must figure out what else you can improve.” She recalls that the coaches were “expecting sustained pressure and mental toughness.” Ultimately, she says, “to be successful, a rower must have strength and mental strength, and be humble and self-motivated.”
As a master rower, Magdalena has rowed with different professional coaches at RCTW, continuing to refine her stroke with great attention to detail and discipline. For her, it has come to a point where it’s not about the medals. Instead, it’s about improving her form and technique, even pursuing training that will make the difference of a fraction of a second. “It becomes a passion. The more you know, the more you want to know.” The advice of a Polish Olympic coach sticks with her: “Don’t think about the next stroke until you execute the first one.” Developing and maintaining this kind of focus “gets tough, but adrenaline comes and creates an energy in the boat. All of this builds you into a better person, but you must find in yourself what motivates you…. life gets easier because rowing is so tough.”
Magdalena’s understanding of the internal struggles that rowers face helps her to work with the juniors, recognizing their initial doubt both through their facial expressions and the sound of the ergs’ fans. As a young athlete, she experienced firsthand how difficult it is to “compete against [both one’s] self and against friends.” Yet the group aspect of rowing can also be a source of significant motivation, since once everyone is in the boat, “if you don’t pull for yourself, you pull for your teammates.”
Towards the end of our conversation, we got to talking about what it feels like once the pieces fall into place and the boat really gets moving. Magdalena emphasized that it takes a lot of time on the water to build this type of momentum; rowers “must feel the water, feel the boat moving. Once you know what it feels like, you never forget. You know when a boat moves—you just glide.”
Header photo credit: Joe Flynn