Prior to the 2024 Summer Olympics in France, Hobart Head Rowing Coach Chris Kerber had a chance to sit down with former Hobart Rowing Assistant Coach Skip Kielt, who was with the Statesmen from 2015 to 2018. Since leaving Hobart, he has gone on to coach elite rowers at the California Rowing Club (CRC) with Mike Teti and was been named the Olympic coach for the men's double sculls for the Paris Games. 

Kerber: As an Olympic Coach for the USA Men's Double Sculls (2x), Nathaniel "Skip" Kielt, thank you for your time today. Right off, Congratulations on your recent ascension in the coaching ranks. I speak for all us upstate types - we are not surprised about what you have accomplished heading into the Paris Olympics. You deserve a well-earned hat tip collectively from the rowing world for your transition from working with the Statesmen less than 5 years ago with Head Coach Paul Bugenhagen in 2018 to now coaching at the Olympics.

Tell us about your coaching path.

Kielt: I started coaching at Canisus College. I was the head coach of a brand-new program. I returned to my alma mater, Rutgers, for my first assisting coaching position. I was a Scarlet Knight student-athlete myself and it was a good stepping stone in terms of, 'you get there, and you learn rowing, you learn to coach. Steve 'Pops' Wagner allowed me to evolve on the job with what seemed like little oversight. I knew Pops was always watching, but he gave a lot of leeway. It was a familiar place and I felt comfortable experimenting and learning to do what I needed to do and find my way at the time. My next position was at Hobart and I've told Coach Bugenhagen this – It was beneficial for me to get plugged in at Hobart with Paul in the fall of 2015. There was more pressure on me to learn to be a coach. I continued to find my way as a coach in the sport with a lot more engagement and expectation from Paul that I really thrived in. I was eager to build a program with Paul because we were building something special for college rowers and crews at Hobart. Like several elite coaches around me today, I got a chance to evolve and develop confidence before the stakes got high.

Kerber: Tell me a bit about your three years in Geneva, New York.

Kielt: Coming to Hobart, I felt Paul took a chance on me and showed me the ropes – especially in the area of professionalism and coaching presence. Recruiting was about bringing in the right athletes. And developing the soul of the team by expanding on what we value and developing our culture from there. This piece alone was super important to both of us. I grew and learned to develop my own principles that grew into so many aspects of the sport and the competitive arena. Putting those things to work at Hobart especially with where Paul was taking the program was hugely beneficial. Those years on the Raritan and Seneca building these skills and putting them into practice were formative for me. 

What's funny is, Paul said after I had departed that I left him with a 'team full of Skips.' I guess, I oversaw the recruiting so I recruited guys who aligned with me and what I valued - fun training and a good attitude. I take it as a high compliment. With different sets of athletes, we had some great success. When you are comfortable managing the talent, you can anticipate them and the process a bit more. We know how each other thinks. It works well this way, you must always work at it because no matter what, you still need the talent to win.

Building the program with Paul was a highlight of my early coaching career. It was like the Wild West, undefeated and at the NIRCs we won the three events and the four in 2017. It was a great time and a fun year to work with the athletes then. It was a phase where I had a lot of fun learning, innovating and getting in deep, without big pressure. I feel like those three years formed a lot of how I look at the sport now.
 
Kerber: Compare the club and national team work ethic and life in and outside the boathouse with college boathouses… I'm curious about the parallels you've mentioned.

Kielt: I started as the assistant coach to the Head Coach Mike Teti at the California Rowing Club in Oakland, California, when I left Hobart. The biggest similarity is the basics of the sports don't change. There is still a lot of spirit in the guys and coaching themes are like those found in any energetic university/college program. Rivalries from competing against each other or for the big races with other colleges make the banter fun. One difference is, there is no academic component but most of these athletes here at CRC have legitimate day-jobs so there's still a life-rowing balance that is always being met. Another similarity is in the way the guy's approach training, the hard work is done professionally and with enthusiasm. I find this approach to be very similar at Hobart and other school boathouses
 
Kerber: How about the athletes?

Kielt: Hobart athletes are just at different stages of their development compared to the guys I coach now. We see athletes making leaps that same way we had in Hellstrom Boathouse - in a few years, given the right circumstances, ie. stay disciplined, be consistent, and develop the ability to just 'stick-to-it' no matter what's happening. Staying with it and being able to apply it is still where big gains are seen. The 2024 athletes from CRC that are racing for the National Team or have made multiple Olympic teams – they all have storied paths in their development. You can connect the dots from where they started to where they are now by assessing their process, and so, yeah, I don't think that the athletes are too dissimilar.
 
Kerber: How does it all come together at CRC with athletes from all over the country coming from different programs?

Kielt: The similarities in approach across boathouses is why. In rowing/racing for a club, U23 camp, pre-elite, and senior team, you can get athletes from all over the place - Hobart, Dartmouth, USD, Cal, etc. and you can put them all in a boat together successfully - there's a commonality. Language is the same, the work ethic is the same, the discipline is the same. The enthusiasm for team and especially sport is the same.

I do work with athletes who produce a lot of wattage and have world medals under their belt. For certain, there are different needs across the athletes, and it comes down to how you support and how you communicate with them as their coach to help them individually, but at the end of the day, rowing is rowing, success on the water is weighted way more towards a simple focus on the endurance side vs. overvaluing a sophisticated technical approach to rowing.

Kerber: What were your coaching assignments, highlighting the major themes of learning the profession?

Kielt: Each step was a little more elaborate in terms of making the complicated simple. As the inaugural head coach at Canisius College, it was a challenge to get athletes to practice, and then at Rutgers and Hobart, more established rowing programs, it was moving from the basics of learning and coaching a rowing stroke to even more hands-on coach and culture education. Now, working at a USA Training Center, California Rowing Club, we've supported 14 athletes racing in the 2024 games, and when it comes to coaching on the national team and Olympic athletes, I'll tell ya, I am still getting my ideas from other coaches, but what stands out to me now is "Be yourself." My earliest coach mentor said this to me. It is easy to take that with a grain of salt and maybe throw it away because it seems easier to be yourself when you're young. Staying true to that nature as you go along in your career is super important!
 
Kerber: Speak to me a bit more on your process.

Kielt: As I've said, I have always been learning along the way, and hungry to find out what I know, and ultimately learn what works and what doesn't work for me. That nature of understanding who I am as a coach, where I am in my career has carried me through good decision making, whether leading or coaching at Canisius College, Rutgers, Hobart, CRC, the National Team and ultimately, the Olympics. I think it's just about making good decisions day-to-day. Commit to the process of learning the coaching craft; then develop your authenticity with mentors who help you with accountability and understanding along the way. And honestly, it's more fun this way.
 
Kerber: Mentors, go on, what do you have on this topic?

Kielt: It's important for any coach to have a few links in and out of coaching. I think it's good not to have the whole picture of our sport - keeping the picture small was better for me. The high expectation and energy consumption was about learning and getting athletes to the top in the arena. I feel like I've had the best mentors ever - Steve "Pops" Wagner, or my high school coaches, Tony Brock and Ed Yock; certainly, Paul Bugenhagen was a huge one for me. Then going out to the CRC training center and Marin working with the greats out west, Sandy Armstong, Mike Teti, and Tim McLaren. I am so grateful for these mentors in my career, they supported me and gave me a lot of space to operate. I am not the person I am today, without their guidance, without their friendship. The intuitive knowledge passed along to me in story, or in coaching a crew, or working with a group of athletes has been amazing. It's priceless knowledge what they've given me.
 
Kerber: From Geneva, New York, to Paris, France, there you have it. Thank you for sharing your coaching story Skip. We really appreciate all the insight into the rowing you've provided. Good Luck the rest of the way.