Comedy Show

Last night Cork Wine & Tapas Bar hosted an amateur Comedy Night as a benefit for New Bedford Community Rowing. One of the regulars who also lives in the same building as Cork, (Chino) has a nephew that lives in Boston and he hosts the Show. They did this about a month ago and apparently bring different comedians each time. There were a total of 5 guys and pretty good! It was almost more funny when a joke bombed, though :) A few of the comics had a great time teasing one table which just happened to have one of our board members. Luckily Anne, as well as Pat, Tom, Sherbie, and a potential newbie rower had great senses of humor!

So we're not sure what the final haul was, but NBCR is to get 10% of the proceeds from food and beverage from the evening and it seemed like a great night that was pretty busy. Thanks again to Mike Galvin and all of the staff at Cork, as well as to all of you that came out to support the club. It was wonderful to see you all there!

Fitness Consulting

I had the pleasure of meeting with Jodi Garies today. She's a trainer at a local gym (Howland Place Fitness) and one of her clients had contacted me regarding taking a Learn-To-Row class. Through a series of emails I called Jodi to see who else she was training also enjoyed using the rowing machine. Not only does she have a few clients that enjoy the erg, but she also has at least one fella that rowed in college.

We exchanged all sorts of fliers and business cards, but I'm also interested in seeing if Jodi can do some personal consultations with some of our athletes. We (the coaches) often see some strange body behavior that is due to things other than muscles. Sometimes it's posture, sometimes it's tightness in areas like IT bands, sometimes it's flat feet. Professionals can diagnosis this sort of stuff much better than we can and can implement a series of exercises or stretches for athletes to do to rectify any issues. With Jodi understanding rowing, she can really tailer the consultations for our athletes. Plus, I think we should get her in a boat!!

Busy Busy Busy!

Are you excited?? Well I sure am. LOTS of stuff is going on here that I can barely keep my head on straight. I met with localoracle.com and we'll now be putting some of our events on their site and they'll shout out our events on their facebook page. I also met with New Bedford Guide and they want to do a few articles on the club and Andrew, if he's willing. (Andrew is one of our junior rowers that has been doing exceptionally well).

I also met with a few women at the YMCA about financial aid and how they deal with it so we can better serve the kids that need financial aid. The end result will always be the same though: No kids will ever be turned away because of money!

We're really looking forward to our Comedy Show this Sunday and have been hearing of a lot of people planning to go. It's SURE to be a really fun evening and I can't wait to see you all there! So yeah, I'm excited!!!! :)

Oh, public transit....

So I suppose that trying to figure out the bus system for our rowers to use this spring would be easier to do when the high schools aren't on vacation and the routes to the schools were actually running... Bah - details!

What we have learned is that NBHS has it's own route in the morning and in the afternoon that pick up and drop off right at the high school. That's fantastic news! It can take kids to the terminal where they can pick up the #2 bus to go right to the docks. The unfortunate discovery was that bus fare is not only $1.25 per trip, but per LEG of your trip. I'm a bit shocked by that but we'll see what we can do to make it easy and affordable for the kids to get to us.

We also discovered that there is a bus stop right in front of Voc-Tech and that it's a straight shot down Ashley Boulevard to Sawyer Street. There are 5 blocks to walk after that, but hey - these are athletes we're talking about!!

So for those that don't drive, have parents that can drive, or know any upperclassmen with cars, the SRTA bus system should do the trick. Unless of course they want a good warm up and either ride a bike or jog to practice..... Great idea!!!!

CRASH B's was a great event

New Bedford Community Rowing brought 6 youth and 5 adults to compete at the biggest indoor rowing race in the country. It was a great day and almost every athlete got their best time. Even those that didn't get their best time still did a wonderful job and made all of the coaches (and myself) very proud! You can review results here: http://www.crash-b.org/web/results-2011/

TGIF

Well, the end to another week has come, but the weekend will still have some more rowing fun. This Sunday is the C.R.A.S.H. B.'s Indoor Race held at the Boston Univeristy Agganis Ice Arena. The doors open at 7:00 am and there will be events running all day into the afternoon. New Bedford Community Rowing will be among the competitors (and spectators) and I invite you join us! There is no cost for admission, just if you want to race. It's great fun and the racers love to have support, mostly in the form of cheering. Hope to see you there!

Cork Wine & Tapas Bar to support NBCR!!

Yes, Cork Wine & Tapas Bar is doing it again - helping NBCR. :) They've gotten pretty creative and are hosting a Comedy Show! Tickets are $5 and the show will start at 8:00pm. I'm assured by Mike Galvin (the head honcho at Cork) that the Show is really funny. All ages are invited so come join us.

But wait!! It gets even better! Cork will also donate 10% of the nights proceeds from food and drink to NBCR!!! So even if you're not into comedy (but who doesn't like to laugh) or 8:00 isn't a good time for you, you can still help support New Bedford Community Rowing. Grab a few appetizers (I strongly suggest the Philly Cheesesteak Rolls), meet a friend for a glass of wine or a cocktail, or have a family dinner - it all helps!

Demo Days, they are a comin'

Great news! Ryan Sylvia is the Athletic Director for Bishop Stang High School right on the New Bedford/Dartmouth line. He and I spoke this morning and we've come up with a confirmed date for NBCR to do a rowing demo at the school for the students! Several other school are also in the works so watch out - we may come to your school to show you what we do! Stay tuned...

Gearing up for the Big B's!

This coming Sunday is the C.R.A.S.H. B.'S Sprints - an indoor rowing race where athletes from all over the world come to compete. Ages range from 14 years old to 80's with weight classifications for open, lightweight, or coxswains (assuming they weigh the least of all). It's a great, exciting, and sometimes overwhelming event that shouldn't be missed! Whether you want your shot at a hammer (the prize for winning a category) or you just want to watch others duke it out, it's worth the short trip up to Boston. It's being held at the Boston University Agganis Arena and the doors open at 7:00am. If you'd like a schedule or just want to learn more, check out their website: www.crash-b.org

Joyce Goodman

Well, some more news that can be considered good and bad. Joyce Goodman has been the communications person for the New Bedford Economic Development Council (EDC) and has helped NBCR with several different projects. She has decided that she's had enough of the snow and ice and is moving to Arizona! I'm very excited for her and the journey ahead, but very sad that today is her last day. She's a great woman and I'll miss her but I'm sure she's going to have a great time out there. Good luck Joyce!!!

Sad Day for the World of Rowing

We lost Hart Perry on February 3rd, 2011. The article below will tell you a bit about Mr. Perry, but words aren't enough to capture the loss. Some of you may have met him - he attended our September 9th Kickoff Event. It was wonderful to have met him and I'm thankful for all that he did for our sport.

May he rest in peace..

http://www.countytimes.com/articles/2011/02/10/news/kent/doc4d541078c9fc4824099511.txt?viewmode=default

Plugging Away

Yet another grant proposal in the mail, many thanks to Emily Butler, Maura Hammer, and Leigh Terry at CRI for helping me put it together. NBCR is very lucky to have the wonderful support of the administrative staff at CRI. They're good, efficient, and understand our needs. Thank you CRI!

Speaking of CRI - they are hosting a "What Works Summit" this weekend with a ton of guest speakers on a wide range of topics. It's a part of the Institute for Rowing Leadership that they've started. Check it out on their website: www.communityrowing.org There may even be a few spots left for the lectures this weekend! Sign up if you can make it.

Great Board Meeting and Successful Trivia Throwdown!

Last night I got to meet with our board and it felt great to have mostly all good news to report. The membership is rising, the athletes are performing well at races, kids are getting recruited to colleges. Yay! My biggest problem was that we need more ergs to put all of our rowers on! But that's where our Trivia Throwdown comes in. One of our rowers - Bonnie Lippencott - brought 15 of her family members, 2 of which shared the same birthday 18 years apart. They celebrated the birthdays, reunited family members, and supported NBCR all at the same time. (and the cake was delicious..) The Trivia Throwdown raised $210 dollars for NBCR!! Thank you all for coming out and supporting us. With your support, we're able to get those ergs and keep things running. :)

Tragedy at UMass

More information about what happened at UMass - several boats were damaged belonging to the team but also a few rowers stored their personal boats in the structure that collapsed. The team is coming together to move forward but it's a very sad day.

Article about the UMass Crew roof collapse:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/umass_womens_rowing_team_loses.html

Hello!!

Ack! So sorry that I've been absent on the blog! Things have been VERY busy but also very good. I'll try to catch you all up.

Last week we were working on several things for the youth rowers. Andrew Pereira was going to be visiting Northeastern and meeting with an assistant coach (Ted Benford) on Saturday so we worked with him on preparing. Other kids were working on their own college interests and we even had Patryk Backiel come to practice now that indoor track is winding down. He might even compete at the CRASH B's on the 20th!

The visit with Northeastern went well for Andrew and he's very excited about the school and it's rowing program. His mom Maria is ecstatic at how well things are going for him and keeps thanking us but really, it's the work that she and her husband John have done raising him. We're just here to help along the way.

Briana and I would've gone with them on the visit but we were in upstate NY at a coaching summit. Jim Dietz (UMass Women's Crew Head Coach, VP of US Rowing, and extremely accomplished rower himself) hosts an invitation-only, casual coaching summit at the cabin of Ken Santucci (adjunct professor at George Mason U., Coach of several programs, also a great rower). This cabin can house plenty of people but only has a fireplace to heat it, so we've gotta come bundled up. Everyone that goes must bring food: some for the belly, some for the mind. It's an informal weekend of nothing but talk, presentations, and round tables about rowing at all levels, and even includes Canadian rowing. I've gone several times and each time I come away having learned a lot, gaining a few new friends, and having had a blast! I was able to bring Briana with me this year and we came away with a few new opportunities for our rowers and some helpful scientific input on nutrition, injury, and the rowing stroke. MANY thanks go out to Jim Dietz, Ken Santucci, Swede Burak, Mike Purcer, Bill Evans, Chris Chase, Iain Wilson, Mary King, Gretchen Thompson, Vinny Houston, and many, many more that were there. Several of the other UMass coaches as well as Kruizer from Colgate and the Coast Guard coaches were sorely missed but never forgotten!

At this summit, I was able to talk to quite a few people about our rowers and it was amazing how much they wanted to support us and see us get off the ground and be successful. We may try to host a Championship Regatta for several State Universities here in New Bedford. One of the coaches may loan us a pair for Andrew and another TBD rower to train in (because it's really the best training tool and we just can't afford to buy or rent one). UMass Women's Crew will loan us a barge for the summer so that we can run a lot of Learn-To-Row programming. It was amazing to feel the support. Especially from UMass, because as we were all leaving on Sunday, Jim got a call that their "boathouse", which is just a rigid-walled tent, had collapsed on their equipment. Their boats, their launches - all of it was damaged. Luckily, they had just come back from a winter training trip in Florida and some equipment was still on their trailer.

Jim has been coaching the UMass Women for 17 years and talk of a boathouse has been on-going the whole time. Now they've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment because it had to live outside in a structure not meant to be permanent, particularly in a snow region. UMass and the State of Massachusetts NEEDS to build them a boathouse! I wish they would remember Title IX and what they're required to provide for women's athletics...

In any case - despite their loss, UMass has been very supportive and while our trip to their campus this coming weekend has been cancelled, they've invited us out in April for an on-water practice. We're all looking forward to the trip and if we can help in any way, you better believe NBCR will be doing what we can to help UMass Crew.

There's plenty more going on, but I'll leave you with a reminder that we have TRIVIA tonight! That's right, we have our monthly Trivia Throwdown at Rose Alley Ale House tonight starting at 7pm. Come on out and support NBCR!!

Photos from the Cranberry Crunch!

Congrats to all of the NBCR athletes that competed at the Cranberry Crunch. For the youth team led by coach Briana Blood we had Andrew Pereira, Danielle Lopez, Lauren Dufresne and Matthew Dufresne. For the adult squad led by coach Mohammed Jafri we had Jay Lanagan, Pat Ball, Kacie Silvia, Diane Medeiros, Sue Nielsen, Nancy Durfee, and Peter Hawes. Several friends and family members were on hand for some loud cheering and I think we all had a fun day :)