Rowing tanks, shallow pools shaped like race tracks, are designed to simulate rowing in a boat outdoors. When athletes row on the water, they -- and the boat they power -- move through the water. When athletes row in an indoor tank, they slide on a seat much like an erg while the water flows by them. Powerful pumps move the water, and the flow can be controlled to simulate varied water conditions.

Michigan's tank will have eight starboard and eight port rowing stations, allowing from one to sixteen rowers to row at any given time.

• Rowing Tanks Permit Flexible, Hands-On, and Individual Training

Michigan's tank will have variable speed controls, which means that coaches can simulate different water conditions. Coaches also can vary speeds to give athletes opportunities to refine their techniques in calm conditions and then practice them at conditions closer to race paces. Coaches and teammates actually can get hands-on with athletes, working with athletes on everything from grip to feathering techniques to applications of lateral pressure and other technical elements of the rowing stroke. Mirrors bordering the tank provide instant feedback in ways that video recording strokes on the water cannot. Athletes can row individually or in groups, with or without coaches and coxswains present.

• Rowing Tanks Permit Water Training in Cold or Poor Weather Conditions

Erging (rowing on indoor rowing machines) is a great form of winter training. But being off the water for the winter months limits what coaches and athletes can do. High winds and thunderstorms also occasionally restrict practice even during warmer months. An indoor tank doesn't take weather out of the equation entirely, but it certainly does expand coaches' options.

• Rowing Tanks are Ideal Teaching Tools for Novice Rowers

Michigan Rowing depends on its strong novice programs to develop top athletes and prepare them for Michigan's varsity squads--two of Michigan's three U.S. Olympians began their rowing careers in Michigan's novice programs. A rowing tank simply is the best tool for teaching people to row.

A tank provides an easy way to teach the rowing stroke, it gives coaches complete control over wind and water conditions. It is the only way to employ a hands-on approach, and it eliminates the often chaotic logistics of novice training. Because of its variable speeds, too, coaches can begin rowers in water that nears perfectly still conditions and accelerate the flow of water as rowers gain experience, confidence, and technical abilities.

• Michigan's rowing tanks will be the fastest in the nation

The style of tank dictates the training potential. Many existing tanks don't have enough speed to make them practical training tools, especially for top men's boats. The faster a tank's water speed (the gallons of water per minute that its pumps can move), the better able the tank is to simulate race conditions.

Rowers benefit from training at a variety of paces, especially relative to race pace. The faster a tank, the broader the range of paces at which athletes can train.