Agreed that the story is plausible without the the whipping bit. As another sports example, consider the cox'n in an eights rowing boat. https://en.wikipedia.

Agreed that the story is plausible without the the whipping bit. As another sports example, consider the cox'n in an eights rowing boat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxswain_(rowing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxswain_(rowing)