Coach Thrasher

Erg Sprints, Studio Sprints, and the Missing Rower

Today I announced that Tito, Keith, and Will are going to represent PARC at the Peninsula Indoor Regatta this Sunday. Everyone else will still participate in a Studio Sprints, at the erg studio. This will give everyone a chance to show how well they can perform athletically. The results from both venues will be a factor in boat lineups for the first water regatta.

Why isn't everyone going to compete at the Peninsula Indoor Regatta? We generally aren't ready for the event on many levels. People have had poor attendance due to various causes: being sick, behind on homework, on travel, or just flaking out. When I look to the attendance record, it dates back to the beginning of November, not just the last couple of weeks. This long term perspective is required for proper training. Some reasons for missing are legitimate, but the majority balance are not. Being behind on homework is not legitimate, for example. Why did you get behind?

To this point, I have held off on judgment of "is this justified, or not". I expect that you are all reasonable and honest, and I want to treat you all as adults, and expect the same from you.

We have instituted a policy whereby anyone that misses practice, and doesn't notify the coaches appropriately, will sit out the next rowing session. This has greatly improved our communication, but hasn't yet improved the overall attendance rate.

Let's fix this. It's time to call "B.S." on missed practices, communication or not. Our spring competitive schedule starts this weekend with the Peninsula Indoor. We need to get in gear to row, as a whole, complete, team, without absences. People not showing sufficient commitment won't be racing. If that means we enter a couple of singles at regattas, well, it'll be awesome for those singles and everyone else will watch from the shore.

I'm looking forward to having a dedicated group of athletes. I want you to succeed, and be competitive at the highest levels. To do that, everyone needs to create a plan to succeed. Every Sunday, you need to sit down and map out the next 7 days of your life. You need to take the time to do this, because it will improve your school, and rowing, and social life.

Think about this, and what I'm asking of you. We'll discuss it further after Thursday's water practice.

Posted at 09:47AM Feb 06, 2007 by jason in Rowing  |  Comments[1]