> There's a bit of hubris in that too. The coaches are just that confident in their training and coaching that they are willing to take less experienced players

> There's a bit of hubris in that too. The coaches are just that confident in their training and coaching that they are willing to take less experienced players over more experienced, but injured, ones. I didn't read it that way, but that's an interesting take too. Ties into the end of the article that describes the crushing physicality of rowing. I'm not sure I'd ascribe hubris, though: elite level sports is marginal gains theory taken to the extremes. If a coach evaluates two players as "similarly talented as of today" but one player has years of access to elite coaches whereas the other has only played recreationally or in minor regional tournaments, you couldn't look past the potential of the latter. Find enough diamonds in the rough and you'll be rich. And if the reality is that it's not about diamonds in the rough but actually about finding uninjured players, well – that's possibly a sensible optimization to make too.