steady state podcast

Reframing the popular, yet limited narrative about rowing culture.
Celebrating the expansive array of rowers, coaches, and coxswains.
Savoring real-life experience from launch to cox seat at every level. 

SPECIAL SERIES:

Heart Attacks, Emergency Preparedness, and Response

safety, culture, training Rachel Freedman safety, culture, training Rachel Freedman

Sue and John Hooten's Mutual Admiration Society

A member of the first U.S. women’s Olympic team and a longtime masters rower, Sue Hooten has a lifetime of rowing memories. She learned to row in California in the early 1970s, really appreciated the boathouse sock box in Philadelphia, and has raced around the world. In March 2018, her husband, former National Team and Vesper Boat Club coach John Hooten, had a medical emergency on the water while training in his 1x. He was out with his training partner, without a coach, and – like most rowers – was not wearing a PFD.

Read More
safety, culture, training Rachel Freedman safety, culture, training Rachel Freedman

For One Heart Attack Survivor, the Beat Goes On

HEART EMERGENCY SERIES: PART 1 - David Setter and his wife were pushing through a tough gym workout when suddenly he didn’t feel well. He describes his heart attack that days as “feeling like the 1500m mark of a 2k,” despite a massive blockage that could have killed him. They tell us about remaining calm in the moment, motivation in rehab, and learning to find more joy in rowing.

Read More
culture, coaching, racing & regattas, training Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, racing & regattas, training Rachel Freedman

The Jen Huffman Connection

After guilt-tripping her son into learning to row, Jenn followed suit. At 38 she stepped into a boat for the first time and quickly became an accomplished masters rower. She also gained new appreciation for her grandpa – Joe Rantz – who was a member of the 1936 University of Washington V8 that won Olympic gold in Berlin. By unlikely happenstance, Joe’s scrapbooks became the spark for The Boys in the Boat.

Read More
culture, SSN, coaching, racing & regattas Rachel Freedman culture, SSN, coaching, racing & regattas Rachel Freedman

2023: Year in Review

In this special episode, co-hosts Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan take a look back at 2023. Go behind the scenes of Steady State Podcast to learn more about Rachel and Tara's rowing careers, listen to clips from some of their favorite season 4 episodes, consider their big takeaways from interviews with nearly 40 guests in the past 12 months, and get a peak at what's to come in Season 5 in 2024.

Read More
culture, coaching, para rowing Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, para rowing Rachel Freedman

Mass. Local Ellen Minzner on HOCR, Para, and Equity in Rowing

Head of the Charles Announcing Committee co-chair, USRowing Para High Performance Director, and Massachusetts native Ellen Minzner. From walk on at Villanova to 5-time National Team member, to her transition into coaching and program development Ellen saw the long game: changing the status quo of her clubs, organizations, and communities. She also gives a peek behind the curtains at the world’s premier annual rowing competition - the Head of the Charles - from her vantage point in the announcers booth on top of Cambridge Boat Club.

Read More
culture, coaching, racing & regattas, training Rachel Freedman culture, coaching, racing & regattas, training Rachel Freedman

Back to School with Lindsay Dare Shoop

In 2002, Lindsay Dare Shoop reluctantly walked-on at the University of Virginia. Within a year she became an NCAA Division I All American. In four years she broke a world record and earned her first World Championship. Within six years her hard work manifested a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Today she seeks to help others remove self-imposed limitations. This Fall, 20 years after it all began, the author of Better Great Than Never returns to UVA as an assistant coach, paying it forward.

This thought-provoking conversation considers serendipity, struggle, pressures on student athletes, walk-ons, team-building, rowing for life, Head of the Charles (and being coxed by Mary Whipple), and a whole lot more.

Read More
culture, coxing Rachel Freedman culture, coxing Rachel Freedman

Mitch King: Finding and Pushing Past Limits

“Physical limitations only exist if you’re willing to find them.” That’s the philosophy of Mitch King, coxswain for River City Rowing Club in Sacramento, CA. Every day he does countless things that doctors said were impossible when he was a kid diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Mitch doesn’t call himself a disability advocate, doesn’t want to be an inspiration, and would rather folks didn’t try to tiptoe around his disability. We talk balancing coxing with graduate school, developing a coxing style, team building, motivation on the erg, and shattering expectations.

Read More
culture Rachel Freedman culture Rachel Freedman

Know Where You Row Campaign Connects People, Land, and Water

That place a lot of us call a second home – the boathouse – is on land with a long history. And the waterways we dip our oars in once provided sustenance. Know Where You Row is a campaign across the United States and Canada to explore the spaces and places where we row, which have been – and continue to be – the lands of the native peoples who, for centuries, have stewarded them.

Read More

What do you want?

When we know what our listeners care about, we can create great podcasts and programming just for you!