"Leave no Stone Unturned" - An Interview with Coach Rodney Hagebols
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Q – How did you get involved with Austin and John Dane?
A – I bought my first Star boat from Austin in San Francisco. It was his father’s Star 7310. We had a lot of fun racing up and down the city front. At that time, Austin was working with Banc of America Securities. During this period, I had some good results in the Star with a 14th at the Bacardi Cup in 2002 sailing with Paul Erickson and Austin had heard about my coaching background. In 2007, I saw Austin down in Miami during the OCR while I was crewing for Colin Beashel. Austin mentioned coming into the program but definite plans were not made. Later in 2007, Austin contacted me about coming to Portugal with them for the ISAF worlds. After the worlds in Portugal, we made plans for the US trials, it was convenient for me because at that time I was living in Newport Beach only an hour South of Marina Del Rey. Our objective was to win the trials and then plan the following year.
Q – As a coach, what do you specialize in?
A – As a coach you need to excel in a lot of different areas such as sail trim, racing rules, mental preparation, planning, boat maintenance, managing equipment and so on. If I were to pick some areas of strength, they would be mental, racing rules, sail trim and kinetics. I bring my experience from other classes of boats and draw on lessons learned as well as things that have worked in other classes.
Q – What are some of the challenges you foresee for the Beijing Olympics?
A – Our biggest challenge at the moment is that there are many things we are currently testing in a limited amount of time. The best news is that we have a great benchmark with our testing program, the 8230 boat we won the trials. It is a very fast boat in different wind ranges, and we know this boat and rig package very well. Any gains from where we are at will be very small. Other challenges for the Olympics will be the limited amount of accreditations the team will receive for coaches. So the Trinity team needs to be as self-sufficient as possible going into the Games. Then there are always the food and water issues to make sure the athletes don’t get sick. Being sick in a hot environment can lead to other problems such as dehydration etc.
Q How long have you been coaching?- whether there is family involved or not. JD, Sally and Austin are part of a bigger picture, part of a team that will be representing the USA at the Olympics. The team is strong and we all pull together when times aren’t so cheerful. We are all very focused
A – I have been coaching for 20 years and have been full time for 16 years. I
am Australian and started coaching when I was on the national team. We received funding from the Australian Federation and in return we traveled around the country performing coaching clinics for different state squads. I enjoyed it a great deal and it turned out to be a career for me.
Q – What do you enjoy most about working with the team?
A – The best thing about this team is that the team is not just Austin and JD. We have three excellent coaches: Hans Wallen, Steve Erickson and myself. We really are a “team” and we are all committed to getting the best result we can in China. We are all currently living in a house in Miami that provides a great forum for bouncing ideas off each other. It is very productive.
Q – Is there anything in particular that Austin’s fans might be interested to know about him?
A – Austin is a very driven guy, like a bull in a china shop. Some people read it the wrong way, but in reality he is just a softy. He has given his heart and soul to this program and has always believed that he would be representing the USA at the Olympics this summer in China.
Q – What is unique about working with a father and son in-law team?
A – Generally the team gets along very well, but as with any team that spends a lot of time together, there will be times when things get difficult
right now and we provide each other with a lot of support.
Q – How is their campaign different from other campaigns you have been
involved with before?
A – This campaign is more professional than any other program I have been
with. We also have three coaches concentrating on different areas of performance but with a little overlap as well, just like the Olympic Rings. The program also is very lucky to have JD and Trinity Yachts in a position to provide the resources necessary to ‘leave no stone unturned,’ as JD would say.