Our very own Andrew Pereira attending this ID Camp as part of his quest to make the US Junior National Team. Yes, although Andrew is still a novice and really only has a few months of real rowing experience, he has the potential to make the US Junior National Team. The ID Camp is a one-day event where the athletes meet some of the coaching staff and get a bit of information about the National Team process. The athletes are asked to do a 2k test on the erg, and then there are 2 on-the-water sessions for the coaches to assess their rowing technique.
They had about 17 boys attend the Boston camp and thus had 2 groups on the erg. Andrew was in the second group and it was torture for him to wait. He just wanted to get the 2k out of the way. The fastest kid of the camp was in the first group and pulled a 6:19 or something close to that. Andrew was in the second group and pulled a 6:35. He is capable of a faster time, but he's been struggling with a recurring nerve injury in his side. That being the case, a 6:35 was very impressive. Andrew is the only novice rower to attend the camp and he still finished in the top 5 of all camp attendees. Needless to say, while this was frustrating (and painful) for Andrew, he did very well on this portion of the day.
Next up, it was time to get into boats and row. Remember, Andrew has only had a few months of rowing experience, AND he hasn't been on the water at all this season. Coaches Kevin MacDermott, Boris Kosturic, and Bill Berger took out 2 eights and Andrew was in the 3 seat of the boat riding alongside Kevin's launch. Andrew was very focused and a bit nervous as he's used to being on Port side rather than Starboard side but he did well. Toward the end of the row he started to lose his technique a little bit, but I was surprised at how rough some of the 'experienced' rowers were so Andrew didn't stick out at all.
They came in, had some lunch, and then it was time for the second round of water assessment. Andrew was feeling very tired but isn't one to complain so he was ready for the work. He was put on Port side for the second row and was in the boat riding alongside Boris's launch. (side note - many thanks to the coaching staff for allowing myself and Briana Blood to ride along, which isn't usually allowed). This row was a tough one for Andrew. It was clear that he was still having some discomfort from an earlier fractured tailbone as we watched him continuously squirm around on the seat. For those of you in the know about rowing, our boats don't react well to squirming. He became more and more tired as the row went on and that's when it was easier to tell he was a novice. Still, although he had some issues to work on, Andrew did very well and I believe he impressed the coaches. Coach Kevin was very easy going and coached Andrew quite a bit. Later, Kevin told Andrew that he was very coachable and how great an attribute that was.
Andrew has to wait until the beginning of May to know whether or not he will be invited to either the US Rowing Junior National Team Selection Camp or Development Camp. Selection Camp is where the travel team that will compete at the World Championships in Eton will be chosen. Those that are invited to Selection Camp but do not get selected will comprise the High Performance Group and will travel to Germany to compete. Athletes that the coaches don't feel are in the running to make the Worlds squad but are high level competitors will be invited to the Development Camp which is run out of Pittsburgh, PA. These athletes must be young enough to be able to make Selection Camp next year and thus the goal of the Dev Camp is to cultivate these athletes to improve enough to make Selection.
Now...the hard part. What if Andrew doesn't get invited to Selection or Dev Camp? That's actually not a bad outcome. Andrew still has a lot to learn and there are lots of camps run all over the country. They may not be a part of the National Team system, but there are a lot of great camps available. Penn AC Gold which is run by Pat Rufo, a college teammate of mine from UMass Amherst, and is located in Philly. Rufo has offered NBCR one scholarship for any athlete of my choice that meets the time standards for the club. Additionally, CRI will be running 2 consecutive summer camps that have performed well at Nationals and Canadian Henley in recent years.
It is our hope that Andrew gets an invite to Dev Camp and spends his summer in Pittsburgh, and that we can send another athlete to the Penn AC Gold camp. Beyond that, we hope to have several athletes attend the CRI camp, provided we can assist with the funding. If you would like to help sponsor a top-performing athlete to attend a camp, please get in touch with us via email: carolyn@communityrowing.org
Great job, Andrew and we all wish you luck in getting invited to camp!!
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