Today at the end of our weight room session we indicated the option to study on your own. The first place I’d like you to go is the written lessons page, to read the 7th (second-to-last) item. That file is a very brief summary of the lift setup checklists. It’s 3 pages, but that’s as short as I could make it considering the amount of knowledge to be conveyed.

Here’s some data on that winter routine.  Practice times and locations stay the same, except Saturdays are in the weight room at Granby High school.  Also, starting next week Wednesdays are just for our men’s side, and Thursdays are just for the women’s side.  There are also a few days on the training calendar when we go home early, so make sure you look for those in advance.

    Our training is entirely on land, with only a few special exceptions.  Winter is about being stronger, more complete athletes, and we don’t need rowing shells for that.  Because of the land focus, late arrivals and early departures are much simpler to work around.  We do still appreciate notification.

    There is no “minimum” attendance standard.  Show up when you can.  Train at home if you can’t be at the boathouse.  When we get to our only race of the winter, for which participation is optional, enough attendance means the team pays your racing fee.  There will be more info on this later.

Fall season finished with a trip to Occoquan.  From the first thumbnail below, you can tell this is not like our local regattas. It’s much bigger and faster. We invest the time and effort so that we can see much better competition.  The hope is to come home a bit more humble and a bunch more motivated.  Neither of our crews were fast, but we did well in relation to our local teams that also traveled.  Both boats had some of the better driving in the regatta, but we’ve got work to do there too.

Students interested in rowing and/or coxing, here are some quick things you need to know (trying to be brief and avoid TLDR territory):

• Practice starts Monday.  Attending creates no requirements of you.  Come try the sport; see if it’s for you.  The answer may be no, but you can’t decide without trying.  Can’t be there day 1?  That’s fine.
• Weekday (M-F) practice is 1530-1800 at the boathouse (Lakewood Park).  Saturday practice is 0800-1100.  There are options for arriving late or leaving early, with adequate justification.  Not all practices are required.
• Bring a water bottle.  Those who need them must bring their inhalers and/or epi-pens.
• Get your sports physical (https://www.npsk12.com/Page/1934) ASAP.  You can’t train hard without one.
• Everyone is welcome at our team (well… except those who would act counter to this maxim).  We have athletes joining from several schools; excellent!
• Don’t see info you want, please ask for it.  Or… almost any question you have about our team can be answered by looking through the website.  FAQs for novices are here: https://granbycrew.com/recruiting/frequently-asked-questions/about-joining/.

We are enthusiastic to have each of you as teammates.  Help us help you join the club. Coach Paul

Looking for a sport for the fall, winter, and/or spring season(s)? Consider rowing. No prior experience is needed.  There are no try-outs.  There are no cuts.  Grades 8-12 (any public, private, or home school) are welcome.  If you’ve got the drive and enthusiasm to keep up with us, we’ll help you become a competitive athlete.  If you practice with us, you’ll race with us. We have a full year’s training planned (calendar is here).

Need convincing? Look at how well the new athletes did in previous years (posted below). Perhaps some past highlights will motivate you. Want more info? Start your reading here. There’s lots more info here. Want to ask questions? Come see us at freshmen orientation. If you’re worried this is a water sport, don’t be.

Want to improve your endurance? We do plenty of that. Want to lift? We do that too. Want to win races? We’ve done that at the Regional and State level. Want to learn while you train? Scroll down the posts below as far as 13Mar2020 to appreciate our emphasis on teaching and learning. Want a college athletic scholarship? Women have a better shot than almost all other sports; sorry men, it’s very rare for you.

The heat is a solid display of decent rowing.  Every crew is pulling hard, but only one of the 6 hulls contains athletes that understand boat-moving.  Our coaches are obviously better at instructing the rowing stroke than they are at color commentary.

As for the final, it is cu…ray…zee!  The race starts at 1:05.  I won’t spoil the rest.

Our novice women took third in a fast field of seventeen crews.  For the first time ever, Granby was ranked (by the league up in northern Virginia) going into the event, reflecting our well-earned reputation for quality novice crews.  And the WN4+ rose to the pressure of expectations, confirming that Granby novices go north to row fast and win medals.  In heats, they took first over boats from much larger programs.

In finals, they extended their margin over the crew they defeated in heats by being the only team to go faster during their their second 1500m of the day.

Our test of the barge went well. It will be an excellent tool in quickly training what we hope will be a very large group of novices joining each year.

Team priority #2 is safesport (#1 is safety).  The video below enables that priority.  Safesport is about treating each other with respect and kindness.  And how we interact often starts with how we speak.  It’s worth taking some notes, and really thinking about the points being made, because this isn’t just about safesport.  Quality speech is a key skill for coxswains, captains, teammates, etc.  Want to do well in future job interviews?  Speech is vital.  Enjoy talking with friends?  Improve the conversations you have.  Oh… one more thing… notice how the video ends with speaking AND listening.  If you want people to listen to you, start by listening to them.  That’s safesport too.

Sitting is bad for you.  Do less sitting.  Can you stand while in class, or while doing homework?  Maybe you’ll discover that’s better for your learning… and your health.