When Rowing New Zealand’s high performance coaches faced the challenge of preparing geographically scattered athletes for international competition, they discovered something coaches worldwide are learning: the right digital tools don’t just organize logistics—they transform team culture.
The results from their 2025 U19 and U22 campaigns tell a compelling story. When athletes were asked what had the biggest positive impact on their performance, CrewLAB appeared alongside fundamentals like “the training programme,” “equipment access,” and “the crew” itself. Not as an administrative afterthought, but as a critical success factor.
The challenge every coach knows too well
New Zealand’s geography creates a unique coaching challenge. Elite junior rowers train across the North and South Islands, often hundreds of kilometers apart. Between trials and national camps, athletes return to their home clubs for weeks or months of solo training.
This is where most national programs struggle. Athletes lose momentum. Motivation drops. Training quality becomes inconsistent. By the time the squad reunites, coaches spend valuable camp time rebuilding fitness and connection instead of refining racing strategy.
The Rowing New Zealand coaches needed athletes arriving at camp already fit, already connected, and already operating as a team.
What actually worked: visibility creates accountability
The survey data revealed something every coach intuitively understands but struggles to implement: athletes train harder when they see their teammates working.
One rower captured it perfectly: “The check-ins online, seeing everyone else posting their workouts on CrewLAB” was listed as one of the two most critical factors driving performance. Another wrote: “It was awesome to see both how everyone was tracking overall and on each specific workout.”
The science backs this up. It was about connection.
When athletes in Christchurch posted their morning erg session, athletes in Auckland saw it. When someone in Wellington crushed a tough interval workout, the entire squad celebrated in the comments. Distance disappeared. The invisible training others were doing became visible, creating natural peer accountability without coaches having to chase anyone down.
The three features that made the difference
1. The Team Feed: Making Solo Training Social
Traditional coaching tools focus on data collection. CrewLAB’s team feed turned training logs into team communication. Athletes didn’t just record workouts—they shared them. Comments, reactions, and friendly competition transformed isolated erg sessions into shared experiences.
Survey responses showed athletes “enjoyed the interactions with the CrewLAB feed” and that it “helped me stay motivated to train.” When 71% of athletes reported feeling supported during remote training periods, they specifically cited “CrewLAB useful tool” as a key factor.
2. Benchmarking: Everyone Could See the Standard
One athlete noted: “App was good to track training and benchmark against others.” This is crucial. When athletes train alone, they don’t know if they’re working hard enough. Are others doing more? Going faster? Pushing harder?
CrewLAB’s leaderboards and workout tracking gave every athlete real-time context. Using a centralized platform for remote teams meant no one was guessing what “good enough” looked like—they could see it in real time. No coach nagging required—the data spoke for itself.
3. Daily Check-Ins: Building Habits Athletes Actually Wanted
The program included daily wellness check-ins alongside workout tracking. Multiple athletes mentioned these check-ins as contributing to both accountability and team culture.
Here’s what’s interesting: when surveyed, athletes didn’t complain about the check-ins being burdensome. Instead, they asked for more depth—requesting diary features and reflection tools. They wanted to engage more, not less.
As legendary UCLA coach John Wooden taught, excellence is built on fundamentals—and daily check-ins made those fundamentals visible and measurable.
The results: when tools support culture, everyone wins
Rowing New Zealand’s official U22 Team Review listed “CrewLAB app & team communication tools” under “What Worked Well,” alongside strong training programming and positive team culture. That’s significant. The coaching staff recognized CrewLAB wasn’t separate from building team culture—it was fundamental to it.
Athletes backed this up. When asked about team culture specifically, they cited the “strong team rapport and fast bonding” and “supportive environment with shared goals.” The digital tools didn’t replace in-person connection—they extended it across time and distance.
The performance results followed. Athletes reported arriving at camp fitter than previous years. One noted: “It was definitely a step up from my school programme but my performance improved. Programming enabled us to compete and the fittest probably we have ever been.”
What other coaches can learn
The Rowing New Zealand experience offers three actionable insights:
Make training visible. Athletes need to see their teammates working. This creates natural accountability without micromanagement.
Leverage positive peer pressure. When athletes see others posting workouts, grinding through tough sessions, and celebrating progress, they want to match that energy.
Choose tools athletes actually want to use. Survey responses showed athletes found CrewLAB “easy to use” and wanted more features, not fewer. When technology enhances rather than complicates the athlete experience, adoption isn’t a problem.
The bottom line? Rowing New Zealand’s coaches didn’t just organize logistics better—they created conditions where athletes chose to work hard because they felt connected to something bigger than themselves.
That’s not about fancy technology. That’s about smart coaching enabled by the right tools.
Want to see how CrewLAB can help your program build accountability and team culture? Visit www.crewlab.io or reach out to learn how national programs worldwide are using team visibility to drive performance.
