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!!
No comments:
Post a Comment