Racing this weekend

Since several of our kids' racing opportunities have ended up getting cancelled, we decided that instead of giving the kids this weekend to rest (from what??) we would try to find them another race. The Lowell Invitational was kind enough to let us participate in their regatta this coming Sunday. I haven't been to this regatta before but Coach Blood has and praised Jen Bauer of Lowell High Crew for how well she runs events. So we're looking forward to it and are excited to race against 34 other crews that we'll be pitted against next weekend (21st & 22nd) for the District Championships, conveniently at the same location.

Cape Cod Rowing is going to let us put 2 eights on their trailer for a small fee since we're out of their way (thank you, Dan Baker and CCR!). Since most of the races were at capacity, or at least the number of entries wouldn't require having heats, the 8's are all we're going to race. At the Champs, however, we'll be racing the 8's, a girl's 4, and 2 boys 2x.

We also had a parents meeting last night after practice. We had 8 or 9 moms show up as we tried to make sense of our sport and what our goals for their children would be. We talked about how we are trying to help them go to college and for some, to get aid. We mentioned our incredible tutor, Rachel Eisenhaure and how she helped Andrew Pereira bring his GPA from a 3.2 to a 3.8 in less than a year. We talked about how schedules for races often don't come out until the last minute - something many of them were having trouble with. A lot of the parents were used to games so they just needed to know what time the game started and where to go. Regattas aren't that simple so we tried to make it a little less confusing.

Two of the parents, Maria Pereira and Jill Taylor are going to spearhead a Parents Committee to help the coaches with several things. The first is making sure the the kids have the proper food and hydration available at races. They are going to team up on many different areas such as fundraising, carpooling, etc. but it was fantastic to see some parents get so involved. It will really help Briana and I focus on coaching rather than who brought the peanut butter for the sandwiches....