High School Crew

[Anonymous]

My DS' school does not offer a mens crew team. Could anyone share information about club options?

[Anonymous]

Tbc is fantastic...thompsons boat club....great coaches, great camaraderie, but a tough schedule for the summer....early mornings and sometimes 2 practices a day. Highly recommend...kids love it and compete in a couple of summer regattas and then nationals.

[Anonymous]

It was some of my fondest memories of high school. Crew is a tough sport and I loved every minute. As a teenager I hated mornings but still didn't mind the brutally early practices and races. It was not my ticket to college and didn't work out that way for any of my close friends. I rowed for the first semester freshman year but choose to stop in college with the course workload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its a regatta this weekend. Its a tough one for a parent to watch happen. The 4:30 mornings 6x a week makes me wonder if it is worth it. My son loves the sport plans on crewing this summer as well as club crewing hopefully in the fall.

Ok, tks....our next regatta is on the 25th in Lorton. Hoping it will be warm this time around.

That's a tough practice schedule, hang in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree the sport is great. What happens when you have a terrible coach? My son missed practice and texted the coach that he would miss the am practice. Unfortunately, the number was wrong so it never got to him. Now my DC is off the 1st boat and probably won't race this coming weekend. They won't even put him on the novice boat. He has been in purgatory this whole week. The coach will not acknowledge him at practice. The sad thing is my DC crewed this summer and this fall to get ready for his first spring crew season. He is the only one who has experience among the Freshman team. Character building ? Stick it out hopefully the tide changes.

Though I don't condone moving him out of the boats, at least I understand there could be a rationale - if the coach is making the point that showing up is the most important thing, then you just have to live with it. I certainly don't understand the silent treatment, though. That's just terrible coaching. The coach should explain the rationale - assuming there is one - and tell your son what he can expect moving forward regarding boatings.

That being said, just stick with it! In the grand scheme of things, freshman year means little - there is by far the biggest attrition between freshman and sophomore year, as people who realized crew is not really for them will not return.

I don't necessarily believe that being subjected to poor coaching character-building. But having the determination to stick with things through time tough times is character-building. Plus, if he keeps on showing up and giving his best effort, even if he's not in the top boat, the coach will see that and begin to believe that the missed practice was truly an unavoidable thing and not an indicator of lack of commitment.

[Anonymous]

I think being moved out of the first boat is pretty common if you miss crew practice. He should not be shunned, but there should be consequences for missing practice. An absence in crew impacts a whole boat of kids.

[Anonymous]

Yes, unfortunately missed practice has consequences since the whole boat is relying on each other. And, crew does have a lot of mind games associated with it. It's a great sport, but it requires a lot of mental and physical toughness. It's rough.

[Anonymous]

PP whose son missed a practice - that may have meant that the entire boat could not go out on the water that day, and missed a practice the week of a race. Its a big deal. That is part of crew - all 9 of your are completely dependent on each other. You row when you are cold, hurt, sick, and tired, because if you don't show no one can go out on the water. I am a former rower, and I went running this week even though I have a bad cold, and as I ran I could hear by college coach booming in my head "The best thing for a cold is exercise!" Its kind of true - cleared my sinuses!

[Anonymous]

My DD was sick all last week, but fought through to make it to 5:30 a.m. practice every morning. It is what you have to do for your team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From a spectator perspective, I think it's a lot of waiting to watch your kid whiz by for 30 seconds. Or so I've been told.

Yep, boring to watch but wonderful to do!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something else to consider is the prevalence of injuries. My freshman daughter is on a crew team and probably 1/3 of her team has suffered injuries, ranging from long-term and severe tendonitis to back problems to shoulder injuries. It's tough, tough, tough. That said, it attracts an awesome group of kids -- very hard-working, motivated, serious, down-to-earth. No prima donnas there.

That's surprising. As a 59-year-old rower, I love it because it's a low-impact, full-body workout and seems so much easier on my body than other sports. Also, I turned to crew in college because I blew out my knee playing field hockey. I would assume that kids would be less likely to get injured through rowing than other sports but then the level of workouts at the college level is so much more intense than when I was in college so maybe I'm wrong about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS' school does not offer a mens crew team. Could anyone share information about club options?

Capital Rowing Club has a pretty active juniors program which draws kids from all over the city but especially from School without Walls: http://www.capitalrowing.org/crcwp/join/special-programs/juniors/

Check out the video on this page for a taste of what it's like to row!

[Anonymous]

too expensive. we had to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From a spectator perspective, I think it's a lot of waiting to watch your kid whiz by for 30 seconds. Or so I've been told.

you're right! it should be about the parents shouldn't it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:too expensive. we had to stop.

No diversity at HS level bc of the cost.