Chief coach Robert Weber is driven for success at Cambridge University Women's Boat Club
Robert Weber has a calm and reassuring presence.
There appears to be little that would get the 45-year-old American flustered – even adjusting to the daily battle with the A10 to get into the Goldie Boathouse since his arrival in October.
Weber may be softly-spoken, but there is also an air of authority that comes across in his voice.
“I always thought it would be a great experience to come over here and have an opportunity to coach and work with a high level of athlete in a high-performance environment,” says the new Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club chief coach.
“It was one thing that always struck me during the interview process - it was pretty clear it was athlete driven but there is also a strong desire to continue and have a high-performance programme.”
Just those two sentences tell you a lot about Weber, and what is most notable is his desire to move out of his comfort zone to test himself.
It is a trait that stems back to college days as the Kentucky-born Weber almost fell into rowing while studying at Wabash College in Indiana, one of only three remaining male-only liberal arts college in the US.
He had been recruited to play American football, but after that did not work out he became a varsity swimmer. However, twins at the college suggested to Weber that they start a rowing programme, and that was enough to tempt him in.
“It was tricky as the season’s overlapped so for a while I would be rowing and swimming,” says Weber. “During the course of the day, we would get up at 4.30am as the rowing team would have to drive 40 minutes to where we practised.
“And then we would drive back, have a day of classes and then go to swimming practice in the afternoon. It was tricky when talking about balancing, but I still managed to graduate.”
Taking on many different challenges at one go – such as swimming and rowing – seems to be part and parcel of life for Weber.
He jokingly blames his parents for having him involved in “everything under the sun” as a kid, but it has not slowed down as an adult either, even though coaching was not an initial career goal, more a fun side hobby.
Weber jests that he was “tricked into it” at graduate school by a housemate who was coaching at the College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1997.
The part-time coaching jobs continued here and there, but by 2008 he was offered the opportunity to coach full-time at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania and was head coach from 2010 to 2014 before moving to Hamilton College.
By that point though, Weber was also assisting with the US national squad, and that came about by putting himself forward.
“Everyone asks how I got that gig, and I just say ‘I just asked’. I had the guts to walk up to Tom Terhaar (the US Rowing national women’s head coach) and said could I apprentice with you.
“It was just a phenomenal experience. Being trusted to work directly with some of those athletes was flattering; it was daunting but a real learning experience.”
It was an association that lasted five summers, with Weber being an assistant coach to the US women’s senior and under-23 teams.
During that time at world senior and under-23 championships there was plenty of success, including helping last year’s Light Blues stroke, Liv Coffey, to a world championship gold medal in the four in Korea in 2013.
And they were heights as a coach that Weber could only dream of as a competitor.
“Being perfectly honest, I’m probably living vicariously through the athletes I coach,” he says. “To a certain extent, I think most coaches would probably say that.
“I love having the opportunities as a coach that I didn’t have as an athlete to participate in things like the Boat Race or the World Championships, or whatever it might be.”
It is when we move on to the appeal of rowing, and Weber’s over-riding philosophy, that throws more light on the coach.
As a ‘late’ arrival to the sport, maybe you could say that he was not burdened by being chivvied out of bed by parents to get to the water or boathouse in the morning, and so there was no resentment as he got older, just an eagerness to try something new.
There is a certain poetry to how he describes the mystique surrounding the Oxford and Cambridge or Harvard and Yale races, and the picture he paints of those early starts.
“It’s a beautiful sport, especially on nice mornings when the sun is coming up,” he says. “It was just new and the feeling of learning something new.
“Frankly, just getting in the boat and at times when the boat is going – and rowers will talk about it – it’s magical.
“When I’m on the water and coaching a crew that is moving pretty well, I love to get behind them and just watch the blades and see the boat surge ahead.
“There is just something about the sound of it and the visual of it that is pretty powerful.”
With a clear enjoyment for developing a finished product, it is interesting to know whether there is greater satisfaction in honing an individual or a crew.
Medal success shows up on a CV, but does the knowledge of nurturing an athlete to be the best they can be mean more?
Weber feels it is impossible to rank them, believing they are as important as each other and that is where his overarching philosophy comes to the fore.
“I want the athletes I’m working with to succeed,” he says. “I’m motivated by the idea of helping to give them some of the tools that they need to succeed.
“I like to think that there are more measures of success than winning. You talk about the weakling that shows up and the next thing you know he is sitting in the Varsity eight, that is extremely gratifying.
“I’m driven by the relationships with the athletes, and I think that’s a big part as well that keeps you doing it.”
With that mindset, you can understand why Weber was a good fit for Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club especially at a time when they move into an era of closer collaboration with Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club.
Knocking on the door of the US national team
It was a chance encounter at a rowing convention that introduced Robert Weber to the US rowing national team.
“My wife made me do it!,” jokes the new Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club chief coach as he recalls the start of his association with US Rowing national women’s head coach Tom Terhaar.
“I had asked if I could come and ride in a launch with him some time just to observe a practice,” says Weber.
“I went up and spent a day with him in a January and we were just chatting over coffee afterwards, and it just struck why don’t I just ask.
“So I said could I volunteer with you this summer, and he said sure we can do that.”
There was an instant connection between the pair, and in the first summer, Weber had no expectations of what would lie ahead at Princeton.
“I was just going to ride in the launch, fill the gas cans, bring a coffee in the morning and the next thing I know he has asked me to coach the women’s four at the world championships in Korea,” said Weber.
What followed was a gold medal, and Weber worked with the senior squad for the next three summers, which included bringing over an eight to race in the Remenham Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2016.
It featured athletes who had missed selection for the Rio Olympics squad, including last year’s winning CUWBC stroke Liv Coffey, and they went on to beat Leander and Tees Rowing Club in the final.
“I will be the first to admit that they were very driven and motivated to prove that they were just as good as the crew that was going to be racing in Rio,” says Weber.
“They did a great job and it was really a lot of fun. They had fun and I got emails from a number of them afterwards just saying thank you for doing that - it reminded me of why I love rowing and that was gratifying.”
