The role of team culture in rowing success

Team culture is the foundation of any great crew. It’s the set of shared values, habits, and expectations that shape how a team trains, competes, and supports each other. In rowing, timing and unity is everything so a strong team culture is essential for peak performance. Olympic Champion Sholto Carnegie explains how to build a clear sense of unity and a team bond that will stay strong in the tightest of races.

How does a strong team culture help make boats go faster? There aren’t many sports that are both a race and a team effort, but rowing is one of them. You can’t swap rowers in and out mid-race, so once you’re sitting on that start line, you need to have complete trust in your crew. Team culture matters because there are no second chances; by building a strong team culture you will prevail in the highest-pressure moments.

In my experience every fast crew I’ve been in has had shared goals and shown qualities of trust, focus and most importantly fun!

Shared goals

Don’t be afraid to talk about what you want to achieve as a squad. Saying a goal out loud and discussing it makes it seem more real and gives you something to unite around. When I was at Yale my coach Steve Gladstone would say, “We want to be the fastest boathouse in the country.” Saying this was a form of manifestation; although this was a bold ambition at the time, saying it made us start to believe it was possible and gave us a goal to unify behind.

Focus

Knowing when it’s OK to joke around and when it’s time to be serious is very important. In the GB Men’s eight we would have a lot of fun around the edges of training but once we pushed off from the dock it was time to focus. Talk about this in your squad and come up with some collective triggers to engage focused mode. This will make sure everyone is on the same page and not getting annoyed by a jovial attitude.

Having fun

While hard work is essential, a great team culture also embraces the importance of having fun. Enjoying the training and your teammates’ company keeps motivation high, reduces stress, and strengthens team bonds. Laughter during tough training sessions, shared inside jokes, and celebrating small wins all contribute to a positive team environment. When rowers are having fun and enjoying the team they push harder for each other. On the hardest training camps I’ve always shared the silly inside jokes to make the hard miles slip by quicker.

Team bonding outside of training

Strong teams aren’t just built on the water – they’re also built through the connections made outside of training. Spending time together away from the boathouse develops deeper trust, better communication, and a stronger sense of camaraderie. Whether it’s team dinners, doing homework together, or simply hanging out after a tough session, these moments create bonds that carry over into training and racing.

These friendships will stay with you for life

A crew that enjoys each other’s company off the water will fight harder for each other on it. These friendships will stay with you for life. Some of my closest friends have been made through rowing as rowers share a sense of hard work and discipline.

Team group chats

Similarly to having a switch to turn on the focus I’d recommend having separate team group chats for different purposes. You’ll need one with your coach for team information, race strategies and important information. But have a second one with just the athletes for fun and stories. This allows the team to stay professional when needed while also having a space to build camaraderie and enjoy the journey together.

Supporting your teammates

If you’re reading this you know that rowing is a hard sport that takes countless hours of dedication and grit – but the saving grace is you don’t do it alone. In our sport you have teammates to support you and push you forwards.

The rowers in the fastest crews set the tone for the entire squad

Think about what you value in a great teammate – then strive to embody those qualities yourself. It’s important to understand that everyone has a role to play in building team culture and fostering a positive environment. No matter what boat you’re in, everyone pushes each other to contribute to a team’s success. The rowers in the fastest crews set the tone for the entire squad – when they make the athletes at the bottom feel valued, it raises the standard of the whole boathouse.

Always respect each rower’s ability

As a team, I’d suggest discussing some non-negotiables. In my time at Yale, some of our principles were:

• Respect everyone’s input
• Win together, lose together
• Buy into the training program
• Always respect each rower’s ability – banter is fine, but never at the expense of someone’s confidence.

Great teams aren’t built on talent alone. They thrive on trust, discipline, and a shared commitment to building something bigger than the individual. Follow these simple steps to create the best training environment.

Banner photo: Benedict Tufnell