Coach Cat
Kristi's longtime coach Eric "Cat" Catalano shares what he thinks the most important part of coaching is, where he finds inspiration, and why he believes in helping his athletes become better teammates and people along the way.
*This is an automatically generated transcript*
Kristi Wagner 0:03
In my opinion, there's a lot of different kinds of coaches. There's coaches that are like, really intense on technical focuses. And there's coaches that are like really into rigging. There's coaches that write kind of crazy training plans. Then there's like guru coaches who kind of people just like flocked to, I kind of feel like you dabble in literally every box,
Eric Catalano 0:26
I was really wondering which one you were gonna be waiting anxiously to, like, hear what you're gonna say.
Kristi Wagner 0:34
Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream, they want to turn into a reality. Hi, and welcome to the other three years, I believe this is episode seven. So very exciting. If we were aged, we would have started school. Actually, I think you start school on your five, so we would be deep in school. So this week on the podcast, I have my longtime coach, Eric Catalino, known as Cat by me and everyone on the show. And cat has been the executive director of Saratoga rowing for the last 15 years. And he started the Arion High Performance team that I'm a part of in 2016. And since then, he's coached over 10 athletes that have gone on to race at the World Championships, and many more athletes that have raced at the under 23 and Junior World Championships. So he's very successful coach, and he's also a great person. And I'm really excited to share our conversation, we talk about how he got into rowing, and then coaching and what drives him to be the best coach he can be. We talk about what he thinks the most important things the coach can do are and we share some of his favorite sayings, or cat isms. And I will say I forgot one of the most iconic cat isms, which is that emotions are fleeting and useless, which might sound kind of bad and a little bit of a downer, but he's actually he's actually a real upper kind of guy. So his his little Quotes and Sayings are pretty funny. And it was it was a fun conversation. So I'm excited to share with you first update of where I currently am in my training. So I am actually in Aruba, Italy, and I got here on Monday, we took a red eye Sunday night, Memorial Day, we got to urban the flight was actually not too bad. I slept a little bit, which sometimes you don't sleep. So it was nice to have slept, we've had a few good rows. So far, the lake is so beautiful here and the hotel is awesome. They make like homemade pasta in the basement for us, which is really great. It's hard to have only had a week at home, I think that was really hard for me to only be home for a week I I don't get to see you know, my boyfriend and my friends and family and stuff that much. So it's really hard to feel like okay, I'm finally home, I get to have some time. But last week, it just didn't feel like I had enough time to do any of the things that I needed to or wanted to do. So it was it was nice to be home. But at the same time, it was like really hard to fit in everything that I wanted to do. And it's really hard when you don't have very much time with the you know, the people that you love and care about. So that was really hard. I guess in a compartmentalizing kind of way. I'm sad to be away from home and, and those people but I am happy to be here. I'm really excited about, you know, the training block that we're about to have having, and then we get to race in just a couple of weeks. So it's really exciting. We've been rowing in our quad the past couple of days, which has been really fun. It's a fast boat. So I don't know it's and I'm sitting in the middle of the vote so I don't really have to steer or do any of those things, which is really nice. It's a welcome break. In small boats, you kind of have to do a lot and in big boats, only some of the people have to do this things. So that's been really nice. And it's a small group right now because really just most of the women are here. The men are coming a little bit later. So it's kind of nice, manageable sized group and yeah, we've just been enjoying the Italian weather Italian food Italian water. It's been it's been nice so far the beds are Italian who are European hotels in general are kind of funny. The beds are always pretty small and very close together. So that's always kind of an adjustment. But yeah, it's been, it's been good, and it'll continue to be good. So it's fun. And I'm excited to keep it going. So now it's time for our review of the week. Our review this week is coming from Apple podcasts and see Hamilton 327 says fantastic a super well produced podcast, Kristi has such an interesting and inspiring story. Thank you. It's very nice. And thank you to everyone that has reviewed and rated the podcast, please continue to do so on Apple podcasts and Spotify, subscribe and review and rate. I really appreciate it. And I love reading what everyone has to say. So it's, it's really fun. So yeah, now it is time for the main event, the moment you've all been waiting for my conversation with my longtime coach Kat. So I'm, I'm really grateful for Kat and to have had a coach like him for so long. I feel like it's not that common, where coaches really like build you up to be the best version of yourself. And I feel like he's done that with me and with so many people. And I really wouldn't have made it to, you know, the starting line or the finish line of the Olympics without him and so many other people. But this is an interview with him. So we'll give him this moment. And he deserves it. So yeah, he really just sees the best in every athlete, he coaches and makes us all better athletes and people. So I hope that you learned something from him in this conversation that I'm sharing. I learned from him like every day, so hopefully you do too. Here we go. Here we go. Are you ready?
Eric Catalano 7:00
This is Yeah, I think so. I'm supposed to put you on the pressure situation, not the other way around.
Kristi Wagner 7:08
Don't know if that's really true. This is payback for years of
Eric Catalano 7:12
I knew it would happen. Eventually. It was coming in. I
Kristi Wagner 7:14
didn't know it was coming. And now I know what No, I'm just kidding. So welcome.
Eric Catalano 7:20
Thank you, cat. Yep.
Kristi Wagner 7:23
What is your real name?
Eric Catalano 7:25
Eric Catalan. Oh,
Kristi Wagner 7:26
why do people call you cat? It's from my last name. Catalina who was the first person that ever called you cat?
Eric Catalano 7:34
Oh, that's a good question. It might have actually been Chase. I was EJ before I was cat.
Kristi Wagner 7:40
Really? I actually don't think I knew that. Really? Yeah. Yep. Who called you EJ like in high school?
Eric Catalano 7:45
No, AJ was when I was coaching Bert hills.
Kristi Wagner 7:49
Wow. Yeah, we hear Do you want me to call you EJ? Oh, please. No. Okay. You know, one time I entered I said, I introduced you to someone I said, this is my friend Eric. And you said that's not really true.
Eric Catalano 8:00
Which part? I don't know.
Kristi Wagner 8:05
Clarify. So cat. How do we know each other?
Eric Catalano 8:10
Oh. So I met you when you were like knee high to a grasshopper? No, actually, we're still taller than me. I met you when you're maybe a sophomore in high school. And you started or you joined a rowing program that I was running called row ride race. And you have your own volition signed up to row every morning and bicycle every afternoon and then ride your bicycle to the Canadian Henley across all of New York state of your own volition.
Kristi Wagner 8:47
That is how we met I mostly meant like, what role do you play in my life now?
Eric Catalano 8:53
Okay, so yeah, I am your coach. Growing and technically, I think your boss
Kristi Wagner 9:02
I was gonna say I think you're my coach and my boss. Yeah. Wow, you hold a lot of like, yeah, I should be on my best behavior more than I am. I think.
Eric Catalano 9:12
I think so too.
Kristi Wagner 9:15
Are you nervous for me to ask you these questions?
Eric Catalano 9:18
I am. I'm quite nervous. Why I
Kristi Wagner 9:21
just I was just excited because I consider myself to be very lucky that I have a coach that I've known a long time and that I am 100% Confident. Like maybe believes in me more than I believe in myself. So I'm, I think it's really cool. And I think that you have some like coaching and life wisdom nuggets that you're just constantly throwing at me and everybody and I think it's gonna be cool to share them and share kind of how you got here.
Eric Catalano 9:50
Sure. I appreciate that.
Kristi Wagner 9:54
Don't be embarrassed. Podcasting gets more natural, the more you do it.
Eric Catalano 9:59
No, I'm I'm more nervous, I'm gonna be like, Oh, in that time she threw a temper tantrum, and then you're gonna be like, cut it.
Kristi Wagner 10:07
Now you can talk about my temper tantrums, it's okay. It makes me seem more relatable. Like, this is my worst nightmare.
Eric Catalano 10:13
I gotta get defuse nervousness with jokes. It's not true at all. Just stare at
Kristi Wagner 10:21
you and walk away. Nervousness with irish exit thing. True. Okay, so how did you get into rowing?
Eric Catalano 10:33
Long story? Maybe shy, so I don't have anything else going on today. Yeah, so I was when I was in high school, I was a baseball and basketball player. Not very good at either one. But I was good at math. So over the summer, I went to a math camp. And while I was there, I was also doing creative writing as my second course, and my creative writing instructor was a former Coxon for Princeton. And she shared with us one of her essays, which was just inspiring and, and just memorable. And then when I went to college, I was thinking, Alright, I need to find something to do to stay in shape for baseball, because I was going, I was better at baseball than basketball, which isn't saying much, but, but I was like, I got to stay in shape for baseball. And so I tried rowing, because that particular essay, just kind of told me what it was and introduced me to it. And interestingly, many years later, I was sick, I was a coach and went to a coaching conference. And I ran into Sandra Chu, the person who was who had introduced me, and was my creative writing instructor. And she was also a coach at the time, she was at William Smith. And so we were able to reconnect after several years and stayed in touch for a little bit after that.
Kristi Wagner 12:07
That's really cool. I don't think I knew that story, either.
Eric Catalano 12:11
I tell you stories every day.
Kristi Wagner 12:12
I know. I feel like I've heard all of your stories of I don't think I've heard either of these stories that you've told me so far.
Eric Catalano 12:20
Well, that's different context. Yeah. So I guess you just got to meet me in a different context that isn't running around Fitch loop, biking to ice cream or rowing? I guess?
Kristi Wagner 12:29
I guess. So. Were you? Were you going to try to play baseball, like in college,
Eric Catalano 12:37
I had plans to try again, I was not very good. I did win by our team's only game when I was a pitcher, and I won our only game. And that's my claim to fame. In baseball. We only won one game, but I was pitching.
Kristi Wagner 12:55
So then you started growing. But when's the first time you coached?
Eric Catalano 13:00
So I started rowing at this was at Union College. And my coach at the time Jim Couric had was trying to start a local community program, a local high school program. At the time, it was called Erie Canal Athletic Club. And so he started this up there a couple of kids, and needed coaches, and me as a sophomore, but like, really into the technique of rowing. And I think I just kind of asked him enough questions that he thought that I was interested enough to coach other other people. Again, it wasn't very experienced myself. But he said, If I helped coach this high school program, he would let me come for on spring break for free. And that was the beginning. I started coaching and I loved it. And I kept coaching all through all through college, and then changed my major and stuck with stuck with coaching.
Kristi Wagner 14:02
What did you love about it?
Eric Catalano 14:04
I mean, I think it's the things that I still love, it's seeing someone like figure something out when they take a stroke or just like figure something out that they weren't able to do before, is the growth, everyday growth. I like to how direct the correlation is from work to success, as much as we always tell everyone hard work leads to success in some paths. There's a more direct correlation. And, and I really appreciated that part about it. And just like the refinement of one movement, I'm a pretty singularly focused guy. And I think that appealed to me that you could really narrow focus and achieve a lot.
Kristi Wagner 14:44
Yeah, that's true. It's growing is really just one motion over and over again.
Eric Catalano 14:49
Yeah, it's really easy. Put the blade in the water. push really hard. Take the blade out of the water. Repeat.
Kristi Wagner 14:57
In my opinion, there's a lot of different kinds of coaches. There's coaches that are like, really intense on technical focuses. And there's coaches that are like really into rigging. There's coaches that write kind of crazy training plans. Then there's like guru coaches who kind of people just like flocked to, I kind of feel like you dabble in literally every
Eric Catalano 15:20
box, I was really wondering which one you were gonna say, well, here's v waiting anxiously to like, hear what you're gonna say,
Kristi Wagner 15:28
Well, I was gonna ask you like, what, like, what is your? What do you kind of think is like, the most important thing when it comes to coaching.
Eric Catalano 15:38
That's the most important thing. I think that's changed a lot over the years, what I have thought is the most important thing. And I think now, it's just the athletes ability to believe how much they can change. It's like the growth mindset in the athlete is the most important thing. And I think you actually taught me a lot of that, because I think your continued just pursuit. And you've always believed, and I think that belief just given given time, and continued continued growth and the ability to not think that what you've done is, is fixed. You know, a lot of people would, a lot of people think that talent is something you have or don't, but with a growth mindset, talent grows, talent is overrated, overrated.
Kristi Wagner 16:28
But I feel like you do like, care a lot about rigging. Like, I feel like you spend a lot of time riding our boats. And I feel like you put a lot of thought into, like your training plan, like, and you don't just do things that like other people are doing, I feel like you spend a lot of time thinking about like, what you think, is the right thing to do.
Eric Catalano 16:50
I do put a lot into that one, I think that is my job also, as a coach to do if I'm expecting you to do everything that you can. It's up to me to do everything that I can. But one of the things I really like about coaching is the creativity of it. And is the like thinking about training plans? And like, can I create a workout that will get the athlete to believe that they could do this other thing? And not just these are the workouts that everybody does? But how can I structure something so that the athlete when they finish it will believe in themselves a little bit more?
Kristi Wagner 17:25
Yeah. And I feel like, I don't know, in my opinion, because you've spent a lot of time coaching like high school athletes. And I feel like in high school, you can, or traditionally people are a bit more creative than maybe in the elite rowing space. Yeah. But I feel like that kind of collaboration between like high school and elite rowing and college rowing also, like, we do things that nobody else, or the I haven't seen other people doing in the elite rowing space, but it's helped. I don't know, it's helped me to like bridge gaps that I feel like it takes other people longer to bridge like,
Eric Catalano 18:02
I don't know, give me an example.
Kristi Wagner 18:06
I mean, like, the most recent example would probably be the micro pause, like, I don't think you actually want us to stop. So for some context, in rowing, we, it's a continuous motion, but you really don't ever want to stop. So cat has this analogy of like, a bike wheel is spinning, and you're trying to tap it along. And instead of like, you don't want to grab it and push it, you want to just tap it. So you're, you're you're disrupting it, but with the least disruption as possible is basically in my mind what we're doing and rowing, you're trying to the same thing, you're trying to put the blade in the water and not stop moving, you want to keep moving. And but it's hard because it is kind of like an end to the stroke, you come up, put the blade and push, take the blade out. So it seems like there's a beginning and an end, when in reality, you just want it to be this continuous circle. So you had us like, do this pause in the middle of the stroke and then kind of rush into the catch, which that wasn't at all designed to actually make us stop in the middle of the stroke, it was just designed to think about it in a continuous circle instead of where you when you teach somebody, the first thing about rowing, you're like, you start here and you stop here, right? But that's actually not what you want to do. And it was to be.
Eric Catalano 19:19
So that's, that's a great example of one of the things that I like the creativity and one of the things I really like to do is like, if I want you to think something different, like how can I interrupt your other thinking, and and create like in that particular case, like we just had to reframe where the where the stroke started, because we didn't want the stroke to start or end anywhere. So So I gave you an unnatural starting point, you know, in the middle of the recovery instead of at the finish or at the catcher whatever. Yeah, but but I think that's one of the things I really enjoy. We spend a lot of time drilling and and I'll like come up with a drill or drill sequence to interrupt the way you're thinking could try and get you to think another way, and then try and take that way you're thinking and expand it out to a full stroke. So a lot of this things we do are sequences that kind of go through that that same motion, interrupt the old, find a new relate it to the full stroke.
Kristi Wagner 20:24
Yeah. But I feel like the other thing that I mean, I think that you do very well is like, every I mean, I've had, how many Arion teammates do you think I've had over the years? Like?
Eric Catalano 20:37
We've only been around for a while, but, but I mean, I would probably say 30 or 30 100 wasn't horrible guests. I mean, I'm looking at our remember the river table that table I'm trying to like see how many
Kristi Wagner 20:51
30 to 40 or 40? I think it's a little more than that. But yeah, but I feel like every athlete that's come in is like been different. And you've been able to like, Okay, this is like what makes you a good athlete or this, you know, like, individualize drills training program, you know, different things like to every person, it's not like you're looking for one, you're not trying to make us all be one person. It's like, things have really changed over the years.
Eric Catalano 21:19
Yeah, yeah. And I think I try to, I try to build on build on people's strengths. And really, you know, obviously, the drills are, are designed, we have a general sense of what we're trying to do. But I do think athletes are a little bit different. And will approach things a little bit differently. But we do spend a lot of time doing the same drills. But I think people also know, while this one's for me.
Kristi Wagner 21:51
Yeah, yeah, but I don't know. I just feel like a lot of coaches spend time like picking out things they don't like, about the way that people grow, or I don't know, I guess, like play any sport. But I feel like instead you like, find the things. I mean, obviously, you tell me what I'm doing wrong all the time. No, let's be honest. But but like, I don't know, I feel like you're it Bill, you really try to build on like what people are good at.
Eric Catalano 22:23
Yeah. And I think if people are excited about what they're doing, I think if you build on someone's strengths, it's obviously like, they just want to do people love to do what they're good at. And, and the more that you can kind of keep reframing things and expand what they're good at is a little bit better for the athlete mentally than to just keep picking apart what they're bad at.
Kristi Wagner 22:48
Okay, so I feel like I kind of skipped over a bunch of like background stuff. So well. Yeah. Well skip back and forth a little bit. But you started Arion, which Why did you pick the name Arion.
Eric Catalano 23:02
So I actually went through a lot of different trials and like ideas, and I really wanted something that would have to do with horses, because Saratoga, like a town of horse, you know, horses, and I love the idea of something with the water. But I also wanted something with excellence. I had found in Greek mythology, there's a horse that is a fast and powerful horse that was fathered by Poseidon. And so it was like kind of connected the water and the horses. And it was named Arion. And actually, the advanced rowing initiative of the Northeast came after the word Arion had not before. But I did want something that was like a one word thing. I regret a little bit the amount of pronunciation that it has gotten incorrect pronunciations that I regret a lot about that. But I think in our first years, some of the athletes in this room were expressing frustration about the about the amount of times that it was mispronounced. And I did have faith that eventually we would be so strong that we that everybody would just know. Yeah, and and we've just had to keep working for it. So extra incentive to be fast.
Kristi Wagner 24:28
So when did you first like have the idea to start a high performance group in Saratoga,
Eric Catalano 24:35
probably in 2015, maybe even 2014. This is a little bit of all of this program is a little bit selfish, which I don't love to tell other people but I was at Saratoga and wanted to just continue growing as a coach. And that's when I left Saratoga and went to Radcliffe and was coaching with a lightweight Oh for 207 and then got really excited about Coming back to Saratoga with a new challenge of being the executive director and like running the organization. But when I came back, there was was this new challenge. So I was very excited about that. And, and then just over time, I wanted to find another way to like, keep growing. I didn't want to leave Saratoga to do it, I didn't really want to go into collegiate coaching at the time again, and I thought I wanted to continue growing. And thankfully, the Board of Directors was willing to hear me out trying to bring the kind of athlete that I wanted to coach to Saratoga rather than me having to leave Saratoga to go. And I think the board, I mean, I hope the board didn't want me to leave. So they said, Okay, so I could bring the bring the athletes here, I was looking to stretch myself, and by creating the program, and then it did really like match up nicely with the needs of the Saratoga Rowing Association and the organization. Saratoga is I consider a very strong rowing presence now. But, you know, 20 years ago, the number of people who knew about rowing was pretty low. So we don't have like that. We didn't have didn't have a deep culture in Saratoga. So I really wanted to kind of create that culture in the town by bringing additional athletes here.
Kristi Wagner 26:15
Yeah, so then it was pretty quick from like, the time you had the idea to when the program actually started, like only a couple years.
Eric Catalano 26:23
Yeah, yeah, I do. You know, as soon as we kind of put together the pieces and realize like, this is not only going to be beneficial for me, but beneficial for Saratoga, rowing and it met the missions of the of the club to grow Saratoga as a premier just rowing destination. It kind of met checked off a lot of boxes for the organization. So we really kind of jumped right into it and and had made some I want to say bold moves, but like literally like knocked on the door of the guy who owned the piece of property that I wanted wasn't for sale, like knocked on the doors, like, can I buy this piece of property from you? And then as soon as that Yeah, as soon as we got the go ahead with that, we started tearing it down and building what we needed to build. And, and I don't want to say recruiting, I did kind of tuck up a little bit of of it. At Canadian Henley and a couple of places I started trying to spread the word. But really it was a it was when when you came in 2016 Post Olympic trials with a couple of athletes who had been training with you that we really kind of been that was the beginning. The beginning of the coaching portion of it. Yeah, Kristi number one,
Kristi Wagner 27:52
Kristi number one, I don't think I was actually the first person though. I think some of the other girls got got to Saratoga before me when I was in college. Instagram was starting and it was, I don't know, I feel like there were a lot of like new social media platforms at the time. And so I was like, this one's not gonna last like I don't you know, like, it was like Vine and like, all these things, whatever Snapchat, I just started and I was literally we ride the I wrote at Yale and we ride the bus like a thing. We were at the bus to practice and it was on the bus with my friends. Like you have to get instagram and so I like got it like the name just like Kristi was taken there. Like tried Kristi one. So like Kristi want like just the number one. Yeah, that was also taken. So then they're like, Oh, well, like do like Kristi like, like a hashtag one because like you hashtag which I don't think you can actually have a hashtag in your name or whatever. But so then I just wrote Kristi number one, like, and that was not taken. So then that's been my instagram name. Nice since that day. Yeah, but I think people think that I think I'm number one have a lot of confidence.
Eric Catalano 29:01
I'm ej cat three. So I guess I think of number three.
Kristi Wagner 29:07
I thought you're lucky that you liked the number three. I
Eric Catalano 29:09
do like the number three. Yeah, yeah.
Kristi Wagner 29:12
I feel like EJ cat one probably was available.
Eric Catalano 29:15
It probably was.
Kristi Wagner 29:21
Yeah. Wow. So did you think Arion was going to be as successful as it's been? Yes. Like 100% You were like 100%? I am. I am I've never really coached at this level. I there was no program here. I don't have any boats or oars for these people to grow. I'm just going to bring them in. And I am confident that by next summer, people are going to make the national team
Eric Catalano 29:50
I mean, I don't think I had the that. I don't think I had the expectation that it would happen that fast. But uh, like I was talking about earlier. I really feel like, you know, with with a growth mindset and time, like, and hard work, like, I believe that I can do that I, I believe that I could do with the program the same thing that I believe that you can do with your rowing. And and I feel like I had a, I had kind of proved positive and Saratoga rowing. And I guess I did have a lot of a lot of confidence in that maybe too much.
Kristi Wagner 30:27
No, I mean, I don't think it's a bad thing. Like, I guess I also like, had confidence as soon as we came in, and we were, you know, on your plan, and you had us doing all these things, your things, weird things, but it seemed very, you know, on it seemed on purpose. And
Eric Catalano 30:47
you know, I'm not, I'm not afraid to, I'm not afraid to try different things. And, and I think one of my, I guess, I would say it's a strength, like, I don't mind if I try something that it doesn't work, and I like just change it and try something different. But I know, you know, if you reflect on it, like, you'll, you'll find something that works. If you keep keep trying new things. If you just do the same thing over and over doesn't. You're going to get the same result. It's very classic quote.
Kristi Wagner 31:19
Yeah. In order to go somewhere you've never been you have to do something you've never done. Yes. So yeah. Quotes. Why do you like quotes so much? Why do you like inspirational quotes so much? Why do I like them? Yeah. You love like blogs? And?
Eric Catalano 31:38
Yeah, I I think there's, I really like finding the connections across different. Just Just different areas. Like if I can read a business blog, and something applies to me and the way I'm thinking about rowing. Like, I love those connections. And I feel like I'm finding like secret pieces that other people aren't finding, like, if you're not, if you're not, you know, did you know about the book about business, they might find something that's just gonna make make a difference about how you're coaching your team
don't share all your secrets, but I don't know. I I just said I just said to Seth Godin blog recently. I forget what it was though.
Kristi Wagner 32:38
Yeah. I mean, you loved the daily stoic for a while. Yeah. I feel like daily stoic has. Cat I think actually hot take you are like before things go viral. Like I think you might actually like
Eric Catalano 32:53
the guy who's composed complete. I'm so far out of it. I'm ahead of it. I
Kristi Wagner 32:57
literally think that's true. You were like on Instagram before Instagram took off? Yeah. The daily stoic is now like super popular. You were doing it like three years ago?
Eric Catalano 33:07
Yeah. Do you remember? Do you remember when I used to like read from that book from that book? Yeah, but a lot of practice, like every day.
Kristi Wagner 33:17
What was it? Well, you really like the basketball basketball coach. John Wooden John Wooden, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Who is your like, coaching inspiration? More than one, I guess.
Eric Catalano 33:35
I mean, do you mean just like with their? I mean, I don't know the I don't know Gregg Popovich. But from what I've read about how he is, or, I mean, there's some coaches that have fallen from grace that had great books in the great books that I read as well. So I don't know that I have one specific coach that I just want to be but I just want to like you know, take pieces take pieces from from all different, all different areas. And it's not an again, it's not just coaches. i I wish I had more time I used to, I used to read a lot of books, you know, like books from other coaches and Good to Great and now I can listen to podcasts little more. So that's that's helpful. But But yeah, I think picking pieces of coaches I don't have one that I that I want to be that coach. Yeah,
Kristi Wagner 34:39
I mean, I don't think one doesn't necessarily want to be but just like a coach that you're like, wow, they they really do things the right way. Yeah. You know, I mean, was there was there is Do you think there's like a rowing coach that you look up to you more like have looked up to you more than other?
Eric Catalano 34:57
You know, I have often thought that if I went back to college and was going to row like, who I might want to row for? I don't know if I can say that I'm going to put other people. Wow, no, no, no, no, this is. So this is a I'm gonna start with a quote from myself that says when I, like, you know, from my friend myself that only Kristi will recognize when I give someone a compliment, oh, yes, it is not an insult to the other person that's in the room. That makes sense. That's a cat ism, that's a cat ism. So if I say, Kristi, that was a beautiful catch, it does not mean that Christine's catch was not good. Does that make sense? All right. So now, yet do not shake your head. So now, so now if if I say, coach that I think I would really like to row four does not mean you're saying something bad does not mean that I would not like to row for other coaches. All right, so that makes sense. You set us up great here. Okay, thank you. Actually really thought I would like to row for Kevin Sauer. And I just had met him in, you know, in passing at conferences or whatever. And I haven't had like a ton of a ton of interactions with him. But I felt like I felt like I would have would have interacted well in his in his program. So again, I don't I that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to row for anyone else. But
Kristi Wagner 36:40
yeah. Kevin sours the University of Virginia women's coach. He's very, he's a very successful coach. I actually went to UVA. I really like Kevin but I also
Eric Catalano 36:51
I also have said that about Justin more interesting. Who is Trinity Syracuse doesn't coach right now, though. He doesn't coach right now. It's that. I mean, not for him. He's sure he's doing exactly what he wants to do.
Kristi Wagner 37:12
A quick story about Kevin though, did you know that in 2019, when we were in Virginia, he was like, you know, I know you're not like where you want to be right now. But like, you're almost there. Like, you're really close to like turning. Like, you're really close. Like, you should not stop rowing at the end of this quad. Obviously, we didn't know COVID was going to happen. We didn't know the Olympics were postponed. Right? And I was like, This guy's crazy.
Eric Catalano 37:41
Yeah. But that was right. Right. But that's like, that's a good example of someone like who is like,
Kristi Wagner 37:48
I don't know if you remember saying that to me. Yeah, exactly. But
Eric Catalano 37:51
but he took the time. He like saw saw you. And you know, took the time to say that. And I think that's, I think that's really cool.
Kristi Wagner 38:03
Yeah, it was nice. It was very nice. Although he also deleted me from the ready, athlete. That's right. That's right. Cat side hustles started a like recovery app for us to use, like on your phone that you basically say you answered like 10 questions. Just because you wanted to see how recovered we were Why did you start that?
Eric Catalano 38:25
Uh, yeah, it was just a way to gauge again, like I said, I don't mind tinkering with my training plan. I don't mind like making a training plan and being like, you know what, that was too much. Like, I'm not afraid to I'm not afraid to do that. Because I can, I'll just come back and I'll change it. And I know, I might feel like I'm playing with your life a little bit by doing that. But I feel like we all need to. We all need to continue to experiment and continue to grow. And so that was a way for me just to look at it and say, oh, man, those guys are struggling right now. If they if everybody pulls up in the red, you know.
Kristi Wagner 39:06
Now tell the truth. Am I the best person at filling it out?
Eric Catalano 39:10
You're absolutely the best person at filling it out. Yes.
Kristi Wagner 39:14
You have so much data on me. I filled it out every day for like, years. Yeah, yeah. What do you do and with that sitting on all that data?
Eric Catalano 39:23
I think I'm selling it now. Wow. I stalking you. I'm checking when you say you had a great practice on your podcast back to see what
Kristi Wagner 39:38
cat isms was one of the things that I wanted to talk about because I do feel like you have these just things that you say to be and everyone like all the time. I'm curious now
Eric Catalano 39:48
I'm nervous. I don't know what my cat is of czar. Well,
Kristi Wagner 39:51
I think the the one you just said is definitely one when but it's so interesting because Now, I'm going to give you a compliment. I think you've taught me a lot about rowing. But I think you've taught me probably more about life. I don't know if you did that on purpose. But like, it's crazy, because he's like lessons that I think are mostly designed for rowing are actually like, life lessons.
Eric Catalano 40:18
Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the beauty of that's that connection between like, you pull something from here, and it totally applies over here as well. Yeah.
Kristi Wagner 40:26
And I don't know if it's because you spent so much time coaching high schoolers, and I think in high school, but like, I don't think you really owed me or owed any of my teammates that like making us better people. Yeah. But I think that's like, been a huge part. And we talk I mean, you talk to us about being good teammates, and like, all these things. Like, I don't know if other elite teams are doing that. Is it just because you like, don't want people crying in your office? Or?
Eric Catalano 40:52
That's probably? No, no, I think that's, I mean, I think that when we, when we grow, and we see, we see growth in each other there builds there builds trust, and the relationships that are relationships that are strong, carry trust, and it's going to support you as you grow. But ultimately, growing as a human is more important than any of that. So
Kristi Wagner 41:23
yeah, yeah. Yeah. So what do you think your cat isms? Are? You don't know what the other ones are? I'd say one is definitely if you holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to feel the poison.
Eric Catalano 41:40
Yeah, that's, I mean, are these catechisms? Because I have to keep telling you them or No, no, I know.
Kristi Wagner 41:54
What's another one? I don't know. I feel like I have sense of accomplishment is not an insult. The absence of a compliment is not an insult. You are the product of like the five people that you spend all of your time around. I think about that sometimes, you know, you only have so much time and like to spend you know, in your day in your life like and really the people that you spend your time with are like have this huge impact on you. Oh, yeah. And I feel like if things aren't going well, like sometimes I'll be kind of in like a ride or unhappy or you know, something and be like, because I need to go home like I can't, you know, I need to like spend time with people that I love and that love me and no.
Eric Catalano 42:40
And and I think a normal, normal is always fluctuating does. You go in different groups? I don't think I ever worked Carhart in the 90s, or the 2000s, or the 2000s and 10. And now all I owed is Carhart
Kristi Wagner 43:01
because other people around you are wearing.
Eric Catalano 43:03
Yeah, yeah, that's a silly example.
Kristi Wagner 43:07
That is That's true. That's true.
Eric Catalano 43:11
But I think going back to your life lessons point I did as coach in coaching, juniors, I did really start to realize like, especially with high schoolers, I probably spent more time with high schoolers, most of the high schoolers than their parents did you know there would be three hours a day and they're at school other than that they're at school or they're with their friends or they're doing their homework and like I don't know too many adults that have that that amount of time to spend with with a child on a six days seven six days a week you know, so I think I took the role pretty seriously
Kristi Wagner 43:57
as I think people that spend time with children probably should Yes. Now it is time for Ask Kristi anything. Bom bom bom. So my teammate Lauren asked me if you could grow anywhere in the world. Where would you grow? And I think I'm gonna get a little sentimental with this one. I live about 20 minutes away from Saratoga in Glens Falls New York. With the my boyfriend and my dog, and I drive over this, like overpass that goes over, I think it's part of the Hudson River. I'm actually not sure. On my way to practice every day, and it's, I swear every day this water is beautiful. It's like eight minutes from my house and looks amazing every day. I've always wanted to grow there and I think people have rode there. I just never have. But I think, I don't know. It was just something about driving by places that you've always wanted to row and then finally getting to row there. And it's funny because it's really close to my house. But I think that's the place that I'd want to row that I haven't rode. So yeah, but I don't know, anywhere would be cool. If you have a question for Ask Kristi anything, you can send it to me on Instagram. My handle is at Kristi number one, or you can email it to us the other three years@gmail.com. And you can submit it on our website. The other three years.com. So yeah, so many ways to get in contact with us to ask me anything. Coming up next week, we have part two of my conversation with cat. So next week is the q&a section of our conversation. We had a lot of listener questions come in on Instagram, or texting or stuff like that. So questions other people had for cat and there were some really good ones. So some good questions, some good answers. Some other times cat like to make fun of me. So everything was in there, we laughed, we cried, we had a really long conversation. So don't worry, there's still a lot left to go. But if you enjoyed this week, which hopefully you did, be sure to tune in next week for even more of Krisztian cat. So to end this show this week. And going forward, I have made an executive decision that I'm going to share an inspirational quote that I like to leave us all with. I love quotes, Chris sends them to me before big races and when I hear good ones, I just put them in a the Notes app on my phone. So I have a lot to share. And I feel like it's just a nice way to leave us with you know, a little inspiration. So this week's comes from Tom Brady. I am big Patriots fan because I grew up in Boston. So he said other than playing football. The other thing I love to do is prepare to play football. It doesn't ever feel like a sacrifice to me football's a job but it's never felt like a job to me. Thanks for listening. See you next time. I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our Ask Kristi anything segment, head to our website, theother3years.com