Dear Westdale,

Hopefully you feel that your practices have been productive so far. The first few weeks of rowing often involve a lot of technical work, drills, half-boat rowing, and lower-rate pieces. There’s a lot to learn in just a short amount of time, so keep your chin up and just remember: all of your crews have come a long way.

Due to limited equipment and the necessity to train in secondary boats for a few days while maintaining the “one practice per day” rule, please be patient as we rotate crews for training purposes. If you have any concerns or questions, you are always welcome to ask your coach(es). We’re here to help.

1) Men’s Team – Boatings for Friday PM & Saturday AM (this week only)
Friday PM (3:30pm) = Arnaud, Lucas, Harrison, James, Will *carpool from school lot at 3pm, by handicap ramp exit
Saturday AM (5:45am) = Max, Kieran, Harrison, Lucas *Tom will be coaching and he has your lights

The rest of the schedule for men’s team boatings will be posted later this weekend, once I’ve had a chance to confirm boating equipment with Steffan in order to replace broken riggers/etc.

2) Change for Swag Orders
For those of you in need of change for your swag orders (three of you in total), thank you for your patience. It takes a while to process everything and also to obtain change so we can provide you with the correct amount. Your change (and overview of the payment) will be available at Monday’s practice (AM & PM).

3) Stretching Addition to all Practices
We (the coaches) have found ourselves discussing flexibility quite a bit this week, so effective immediately, the following 6min 15second routine will be added to your day. Ideally, it would be great if you can do it together at the end of practice, or even at the school. As mentioned, it takes approximately 6:15 to complete. (*men’s team – you’re expected to complete this at the end of every practice as a group)

The Routine:

Whether this is done together in a group or alone, it must get done daily right through to the CSSRA regatta.  Better flexibility equals a longer stroke, which equals more boat speed.

Flexibility in sweep boats is evident when bodies are able to split out (*not the same as lunging*) for full reach and a longer stroke (longer arc of the blade), like in the following picture:

Every gain that YOU make translates into more speed for your crew. Finally, you guys have done FAR too much work since November to have it compromised by a lack of flexibility.

See you all at practice,
Alessandra, Tom, and Mike